Last week I finished:
I'd read so much about Jane Harper's The Dry when it came out last January that I finally bought a copy myself. Then I chickened out because I just didn't want to read a book focusing on a triple murder, no matter how good. With Harper's second book due out in early February, a book I'm very intrigued by, I wanted to read her first book before the second. And I'm so glad I did. This is the first in a series featuring officer Aaron Falk. In this one he returns home to Kiwarra, Australia to attend his friend Luke's funeral. The friend, his wife, and their young son were murdered, and the murders were pinned on Luke. Luke's parents ask Falk to look into the crimes to be sure it really was Luke who committed them. A subplot is the long-ago death of Aaron and Luke's friend, which many always assumed Falk had something to do with. The reader gains information for both cases simultaneously. This is a very well done mystery. It's well-written, the characters are believable, and the plot moves briskly and keeps you guessing. This one also has a strong sense of setting, one of my favorite things to find in a book. Set in drought-stricken Australia where tempers are high and money is short, you can feel the oppression and punishment of the place. I listened to this on audio, which was very good. I might suggest reading it though, so as not to miss anything. While the murders and crime scene are described in detail, there isn't a lot of dwelling on the details afterward. Still, this is a grittier book than some may be used to. There's some brawling, and there's some scene-appropriate swearing. I highly recommend this book if you're looking for a good mystery/thriller, and now I'm really looking forward to Harper's next book, Force of Nature. My rating: 4.5 stars.
I purchased a copy of Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat for the library, and ever since paging through it when it came in, I'd wanted to read it. But it was checked out every time I looked, so I bought my own copy. The book made a rather large splash in the cookbook world when it came out, and I can see why. It really is a comprehensive look at the four elements of good cooking: salt, fat, acid, and heat. These, the author argues, are the four ways you can create, change, or bring out the flavor of food. She gives ample attention to each element, then includes 200 pages of recipes. (The book is well over 400 pages.) I was most interested to learn about acid, and I was not disappointed. Most of the recipes aren't really things I'd make myself, but there are a number of recipes for salad dressings that I'm glad to have. Also, there are charming illustrations throughout and whole-page pullout charts of flavor profiles and other things that are fascinating. I had a fun time reading through this. The author worked with Alice Waters at Chez Panisse, so she knows her stuff, and she's conversational and passionate throughout the book. I recommend this one for folks who want to go deeper in their study of cooking and flavors. It was a real revelation reading this that I knew so much of this already just by trial-and-error cooking in the past few decades, but the book taught me why and how what I've discovered is true. I would suggest that you read this one through instead of skipping to the parts you're most interested in, though, so there is a time investment. My rating: 4 stars. 
I read so many Best of 2017 lists that included The War That Saved My Life (though it came out in 2015) that I just had to read (actually, listen to) it myself. I have to tell you, I just do not understand the fuss. At all. I was disappointed with the oversimplified, unbelievable plot, that I really didn't want to finish it. Also, there was a lot of child abuse, and I don't know how a young girl could get through the book without being a little shattered. The story is this: Ada Smith is born with a clubfoot, and because of this, her mother confines her to their one-room flat with only a window over the streets of gritty London for entertainment. The mother is verbally, emotionally, and physically abusive (and that is all she is; the author doesn't give her a single redeeming quality nor describe a single moment of her being anything but abusive). This is 1939, and Ada's little brother, Jamie, whom she raises, is her only connection to the world. When London evacuates their children to the countryside in preparation for German bombing, Ada and her brother Jamie sneak onto one of the evacuating trains. Oh, because Ada taught herself to walk on her clubfoot after crawling all her life. They're taken in by a nice woman in the country, and the children bloom. Then mum comes back to take them home and the abuse starts again. Etc. It ends ambiguously enough to set up the second book in the series, The War I Finally Won (released last fall). I just couldn't like this book. It felt like it was ticking off boxes on an inclusivity checklist. In addition to the poverty, abuse, and Ada's disability, there are hints at the kindly caretaker being a lesbian which made me squirm. This isn't something I'd encourage a young girl to read. The one redeeming quality of the book is the complexity of Ada's feelings toward her mother and the caretaker. That part of the story was well done. But overall, it was much too black and white and uncomfortable for me, and I couldn't imagine giving it to a nine-year-old. My rating: 2.5 stars. 
In contrast to The War That Saved My Life, I also finished The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street, which was much more to my taste. The Vanderbeeker kids (who are bi-racial, but the races aren't identified), twins Isa and Jessie, Oliver, Hyacinth, and Laney, and their parents live on two floors of a brownstone in Harlem. Above them lives an older couple who adore the children, and above them lives the landlord, Mr. Beiderman, who has told the Vanderbeekers he will not be renewing their lease, and they have two weeks to pack up and leave. Oh, and it's Christmastime. Mr. Beiderman, whom no one has seen, and whom the children call "the Beiderman," dislikes the children and their noise. The children go into overdrive developing plots to win over the Beiderman so they can stay in their beloved home. Will they succeed? And what will they learn along the way? This book (the first in a series) reminds me of The Penderwick series. If you love the Penderwick girls, you'll like this one, too. It's a good, clean story full of humor and feelings and kid drama. I recommend it for the third and forth grade audience. My rating: 4 stars.
Last week I abandoned:
I'd been wanting to try a Wooster and Jeeves book (or anything else by P. G. Wodehouse) for a long time. Then, after reading Good Night, Mr. Wodehouse, earlier this month, I downloaded a fee copy of My Man Jeeves to my Kindle for February. And I started reading it early. I read about 15% of it before I decided I just wasn't enjoying it. I'm not giving up on Wodehouse, though--there are a LOT more titles where that came from.
What I'm reading this week:
I've started two more of my February reads early. I'm loving both My Lady Jane (definitely a reading wild card for me) and Church of the Small Things.
My audiobook:
This week I'll be listening to Wiley Cash's The Last Ballad.
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