Book Recommendation – The Deal of a Lifetime

If you are looking for a quick read to help you meet your reading goal for the year, I’ve got one. This one has a slight holiday theme and it will make you think. If that sounds interesting, check out The Deal of a Lifetime by Fredrik Backman.

This was one of the rare books that I was compelled to write a Goodreads review about. First, let me share the Goodreads synopsis:

A father and a son are seeing each other for the first time in years. The father has a story to share before it’s too late. He tells his son about a courageous little girl lying in a hospital bed a few miles away. She’s a smart kid—smart enough to know that she won’t beat cancer by drawing with crayons all day, but it seems to make the adults happy, so she keeps doing it.

As he talks about this plucky little girl, the father also reveals more about himself: his triumphs in business, his failures as a parent, his past regrets, his hopes for the future.

Now, on a cold winter’s night, the father has been given an unexpected chance to do something remarkable that could change the destiny of a little girl he hardly knows. But before he can make the deal of a lifetime, he must find out what his own life has actually been worth, and only his son can reveal that answer.

With humor and compassion, Fredrik Backman’s The Deal of a Lifetime reminds us that life is a fleeting gift, and our legacy rests in how we share that gift with others.

Here now is my Goodreads review:

In reading some of the other reviews of this book, I was surprised at them. Many of them speak of how good the concept of the story is. Others complain that this should have been expanded into a full novel. Some held back a five star rating simply because of those things.

One review spoke of how Backman’s books always made them laugh or cry and this one did not. They said that it did make them think, but it “lacked” that emotional element. I have to disagree.

When I was a radio personality I was once told that success came from connecting with the listener. “If you make them laugh, make them cry, make them angry, or simply make them think – then you have entertained them. Then you have connected with them.” This works the same way with books. I have yet to read a Backman book that did not entertain me.

This story is perfect the way it is. You get enough information about the characters and the situation to get what you were intended to get. Would it hit you differently or deeper if parts were expanded? Perhaps. However, for something so simple to still “pack a punch,” says a lot about the story and the writer.

Maybe I connected more with this because of my own situation. I’m divorced and remarried with children from both marriages. I still have a relationship with my older children, but at times I can tell they struggle at times with the situation. There are a lot of feelings that are being dealt with.

Any time that a relationship is ended, whether it be a friendship or a marriage, there will be “What if” questions. It is a given, but life in general is also filled with them, too. As we age and look back, there are always things that we wonder about. “What will my legacy be? How will I be remembered? Did I do enough?”

This book made me ask those questions about myself. It may do the same for you. It is worth the read.

Book Recommendation – The Widow’s Husband’s Secret Lie

My wife suggested this book to me. She is really into Freida McFadden. She told me that she thought I would like it because it was “my sense of humor.”

It is a novella, so it is a quick read. My wife was right. It was a silly book with great satirical humor. There were many times that I laughed out loud.

The book is sort of a “throwaway” book in that it isn’t all that serious. You get that right from the beginning of the book. The humor, the ridiculous lines, the jabs at the author herself, etc… all made for a nice break away from the heavy novels I have been reading.

There is really no thinking necessary as you read this one. I looked at as a way to clean the palate for the next big book. So here is the Goodreads synopsis:

My husband is dead.

I attended his funeral. I watched his casket be lowered six feet into the ground. (Actually, it may have been only five feet, but that still seems like more than enough.) And then we ate an array of finger sandwiches and deviled eggs and miniature beef wellingtons that cost more than my first car.

My point is, Grant is gone. And so are all his many, many deep, dark secrets which I never really ever bothered to ask him about. He is never coming back.

So why do I still see his face everywhere I go?

The Widow’s Husband’s Secret Lie is an utterly addictive, unputdownable, nail-biting, absolutely gripping psychological thriller novella with a shocking, breathtaking, heart stopping, spine-chilling twist that you won’t see coming, will leave you stunned, and will literally have you picking your jaw up off the floor and bringing it to the nearest hospital for major facial reconstructive surgery.

The only issue I had with this book was that I wanted it to be longer. I can see myself enjoying a much longer book with the tongue and cheek stuff that was going on. Really, the way it ended, maybe there will be a sequel? Who knows? I really loved it.

4.5 out of 5 stars

Book Recommendation – The Christmas Guest

Now that it is officially the Christmas season, I’d like to offer up a holiday read for you. If you are looking for a quick holiday mystery to read, let me offer up one to you. I stumbled on author Peter Swanson when “Eight Perfect Murders” came up as a suggestion on Goodreads. That led me to read a few of this other books (The Kind Worth Killing, The Kind Worth Saving, Nine Lives, etc…).

When I saw that he had a Christmas book, I added it to my “to read” list. It’s been on there since just after Christmas last year. Since all the decorations are up, I thought this would be a good book to read by the lights of the tree.

The book is a novella. It is something that I read in one sitting. It wasn’t as good as some of his other stuff, but there was still a big twist in there which helped boost my rating of the book.

Here is the Goodreads synopsis:

An American art student in London is invited to join a classmate for the holidays at Starvewood Hall, her family’s Cotswold manor house. But behind the holly and pine boughs, secrets are about to unravel, revealing this seemingly charming English village’s grim history.

Ashley Smith, an American art student in London for her junior year, was planning on spending Christmas alone, but a last-minute invitation from fellow student Emma Chapman brings her to Starvewood Hall, country residence of the Chapman family. The Cotswold manor house, festooned in pine boughs and crammed with guests for Christmas week, is a dream come true for Ashley. She is mesmerized by the cozy, firelit house, the large family, and the charming village of Clevemoor, but also by Adam Chapman, Emma’s aloof and handsome brother.

But Adam is being investigated by the local police over the recent brutal slaying of a girl from the village, and there is a mysterious stranger who haunts the woodland path between Starvewood Hall and the local pub. Ashley begins to wonder what kind of story she is actually inhabiting. Is she in a grand romance? A gothic tale? Or has she wandered into something far more sinister and terrifying than she’d ever imagined?

Over thirty years later the events of that horrific week are revisited, along with a diary from that time. What began in a small English village in 1989 reaches its ghostly conclusion in modern-day New York, many Christmas seasons later.

The book was a nice read while I waited for the one I had on hold. It wasn’t like some of his other books, but the twist caught me off guard. Once that happens, the rest of the story all falls into place.

I would have given the book 3.5 stars, but the twist brought it up to 4 stars for me.