Where the Crawdads Sing

Where the Crawdads Sing
By Delia Owens
G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2018, 370 pg., Fiction

Kya remembers the day her mother left. After that, one by one, so did her siblings and finally her father. Alone in the marsh she learns how to survive on her own. The marsh is her home. It is her family, her world. No one knows the marsh like her. Kya only ventures into town when she has to and people there call her "the marsh girl." Very few ever reach out and even less care about her - until Chase Andrews shows up dead. Suddenly the whole town focuses on Kya, Chase's murder, and the brutal quest for justice.

There is a reason this book has been on the New York Times Bestseller list for 50 weeks.  First let's talk about the setting. This book is set on the marshes of the North Carolina Coast in the 1960's and 70's. It is a time of racial and social prejudice. It is also a remote landscape - human wise, but the animal and plant life abound and the marsh is a character in itself. Now let's talk about the language. Owens is practically poetic in her descriptions of the marsh. Sentences echo their subject - from lush march grasses, the flapping seagulls, to rhythm of ocean tides. Owens has captured the what the human senses would describe were the reader to actually visit a marsh - and she has put it on paper. Next let's discuss her characters. Kya is of course the main character and much of the book focuses on Kya's character development, but she also builds each and every other character alongside Kya, piece by piece. While it may seem to be aggravatingly slow each character emerges so complete that they are all but tangible. Owens tops this off with a rich and captivating story line. Chapters move back and forth between the present - Chase Andrews murder - and the Kya's past in order to tell the story. Both story lines move side by side until they intersect; the overarching question being "who killed Chase Andrew's?" I was positively captivated by this book. There is no other way to describe it. It is a must reader. Readers who enjoy historical fiction/drama, mystery,  or coming of age stories.
Reader's should know that this book does contain mature romance, abuse, and strong language.

The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up 
by Marie Kondo
Ten Speed Press, 2014, nonfiction, 213 p.
Kondo is a de-cluttering and organizing consultant from Japan.  In this book she shares her attitudes and secrets for bringing your life in to beautiful order.  Her main suggestion is to keep only the things that give you joy and that by eliminating a large proportion of your possessions you will have a more orderly life.  Kondo is what someone might call an animist, or someone that believes all things have a spirit and feelings. She advocates greeting your home with a cheery hello when you get back from work, and thanking  your possessions and clothes for all their hard work during the day etc.  It was a bit weird, but I did feel like I got a lot of good ideas from the book.  Since reading the book I have already thrown out some clothes that I didn't like and reorganized my underwear drawer, following her folding technique. I remember when this book first swept through the US as a New York Times Best Seller.  Several of my friends starting giving away stuff on Facebook trying to de-clutter.  Although its initial popularity has died down, this is still a good choice for those looking for motivation to put their house, or life, in order.

The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington

The First Conspiracy

by Brad Meltzer and Josh Mensch

Flatiron Books, 2019. Nonfiction, 413 p.

George Washington was waiting tensely in New York City for the British troops to arrive in June 1776 when John Jay and others of his intelligence officers uncovered a plot to overthrow the army and betray Washington to the British. In a forward Meltzer states that he saw the plot mentioned in a footnote of a history he was reading. He was intrigued and went to talk with a Washington historian about it.  The historian said that it was an interesting side note, but that, because of its clandestine nature, there were probably not enough original sources about it to put together a clear picture of what really happened.  Meltzer and Mensch were determined to prove him wrong.

The result is a fast paced story that feels like one of Meltzer's action adventure novels but is based on historical evidence.  As the authors tell the story of the one specific plot, they also recount how Washington, a new commander of the Continental Army, learns the importance of military intelligence and counter-intelligence and develops the framework of operatives that are the forerunners of the modern CIA.  Meltzer and Mensch don't hesitate to add a little extra drama here and there, but are careful to explain which of there assertions are based on primary sources, and which are his own educated suppositions. This is a great choice for both history buffs and those who like Meltzer's fiction but want to take a bite out of a more meaty, nonfiction topic.