Paris for One & Other Stories by Jojo Moyes

Can this really be my first finish of the year?  I know I've started lots of things and then not finished, so maybe.  I guess that says something about this book.

Paris for One is more of a novella.  Nell plans a weekend in Paris for herself and her boyfriend, who proceeds to stand her up.  She goes alone, copes with lots of uncomfortable situations, and finally meets some people and ends up having a great time.  (Of course.)

The rest of the stories are true short stories.  Maybe 10 pages at most.

I enjoyed this book more than I'd like to admit.  Very chick-lit, but Ms. Moyes is skilled at characterization.

4 stars.

After You by Jojo Moyes

I almost didn't read this when I saw it was a sequel to Me Before You because generally sequels stink.  Glad I did though because this novel about Louisa's life after Will dies was excellent.  Again, Ms. Moyes does not go for the happily ever after ending, which I appreciate.

4.5 stars.

Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult

Ruth Jefferson, a black labor and delivery nurse, is charged with homicide when the newborn son of white supremacists dies.

The look inside the white supremacists movement was horrifying.  I can only hope that I will forget some of what I read.  Looking at Ruth's life is similarly upsetting, but for different reasons.  The way Ruth is treated by the white people around her and how she feels she needs to act because of this subtle racism is so sad.

I would have given this 5 stars, but I found the epilogue kind of hokey.

4.5 stars

In the Unlikely Event by Judy Blume

Audio.
Read by Kathleen McInerney
14 hours

In 1952, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, three separate planes crash within 58 days.  This novel weaves the stories of the many people these events touch.

5 stars.

Today Will Be Different by Maria Semple.

Eleanor makes a list of small ways to improve her life, starting now!  Not surprisingly, it all goes awry.

I had a little trouble following all the flashbacks and asides.  I don't remember having that trouble with Bernadette, but maybe I did.

3 stars.

Don't Ever Get Old by Daniel Friedman (Audio)

Read by Nick Sullivan.
8 hours.

Buck Schatz, former tough-guy cop, finds out the Nazi guard who almost killed him escaped Germany with a carload of gold.  Buck, a grumpy 87, and his grandson try to track down the guard and recover the treasure.

4 stars.

Fallen Women by Sandra Dallas (Audio)

Read by Barbara Caruso.   11 hours.

Denver, 1885.  Beret, in NY, receives word that her sister has been murder.  Further, the former society girl, was found working in a brothel.  What led to her sister's downfall and murder?  Beret travels by train to Denver and proceeds to "help" the detective on the case find the killer.

The look at historic Denver was very interesting to me. 

4 stars.