The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store / James McBride (2023)
What it is: an incredible saga slash murder mystery
Did I like it: so, so much!

This book caused a lot of discussion before I had read a single page, as I had purchased it thinking it would fill the five-word title position of the reading challenge. But counts a symbol as a word? I asked this question to just about everybody I bumped into, friends searched the interweb to find out what “the world” thought, discussions were had and opinions were divided. Then I decided to let the Word word-counter have the final say and that’s why the book was put in the award-winning category instead.

This book won the National Book Award and there are so many blurbs, proclaiming this to be a masterpiece. And I’m happily agreeing with all of them: this book is wonderful, incredible, and highly recommended.

The story starts with human remains that are found in a dried up well in the ‘70s in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. To find out the who, how, and why behind this, the story dives into the history of the Chicken Hill neighbourhood which decades before is the poor part of town where immigrant Jews and African Americans live. This is how we get to the title, because The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store is located there, and it is run by Chona. Chona is married to Moshe, who owns and runs a theatre.
There are a lot of characters that are introduced at different points in the story. And the story jumps through time so you really have to pay attention but that’s not difficult with a captivating story such as this.
The set-up is done wonderfully, and the main story is that of the community coming together to protect Dodo. Dodo is a young boy who became deaf in an exploding stove accident. His deafness puts him on the side-lines of society and because he lost his mother in the accident as well, the people of Chicken Hill embrace Dodo and take care of him. Nobody takes to him as much as Chona, who walks with a limp and knows what it means to be ignored by people. Her husband Moshe is less eager to help out, afraid of retaliations, but he can’t refuse Chona anything and along with his trusted janitor Nate, embraces Dodo as well.
An incident that involves both Chona and Dodo has the “people in charge” decide that Dodo isn’t well and dangerous and should be committed to the local asylum. When the people of Chicken Hill learn about this, they band together and try to keep Dodo safe. The story gets rough and real and it makes you hate characters and cheer on others.

As said, the story contains a lot of characters but the way they and their lives are described down into the finer details, is beautiful. The story is both heart-warming and heart-breaking, it punches you in the gut and it lifts you up. And it makes you say these kinds of things.
There is such a particular flow to this book, it just grabbed me and wouldn’t let go until long after I had finished it. Gosh, I love it when books do that.

Friend P: I’m reading a book, and it’s ah-may-zing and you should read it too, you’ll love it.
Me: We can swap, because the book I’m reading is so beautiful and I know you’ll love it.
Friend P: shows copy of The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store.
Me: pulls copy of The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store out of my bag.

The library of borrowed hearts / Lucy Gilmore (2024)
What it is: lukewarm bookish romance
Did I like it: nope

This story counts no less than five different points of view.
There are: Chloe, Jasper, Catherine, Noodle and Zach.
Despite all these people, there are two clear main characters, namely Chloe and Jasper.
Chloe and Jasper are neighbors and that’s about the only thing they have in common. Jasper is an old grouch who keeps any frisbee and ball that flies over the hedge into his garden.
Chloe is struggling to get by on the meagre salary of a library worker, paying off student loans for a half-finished library degree, while also paying the bills to keep herself and her three younger siblings clothed and fed.
Then one day in the library she finds a rare book amongst the ones selected to be sold off and takes it home to sell herself. At home she discovers that the book has writing in the margins. With there being two different styles of handwriting, she realizes the book was used by two lovers to communicate.
Chloe is hooked by the love story but when Jasper-the-Grouch insists on buying the book at any price (he hands her a blank check) it’s easy to deduct that he was one of the two writers. This makes Chloe more determined to find out everything and uncover the mystery identity of the other writer.
Then in the past is the story of another librarian, Catherine.
And in the now is also the point of view from Noodle, who is one of Chloe’s siblings. He had gotten himself into some trouble and was rescue by Zach, a mountain man, who also becomes a teller in the story.
All in all this book has a lot going on, even though the story (stories) are not complicated. Noodle’s and Zach’s storylines were okay but only used as catalyzers for other people to keep meeting or get moving. Therefor they were clearly the weaker parts.

I had bought this book, all excited about the title, the cover, and the premise. I managed to keep myself from tearing into it and saved it for my holiday. In fact, it was the only book I allowed myself to pack*.
But oh boy, what a disappointment. The so-called mystery that is teased on the backflap is solved within two chapters and the twist at the end could be seen from chapter three onwards. What is left, are two lukewarm love stories. The problem with that is that love stories should sparkle, burst with chemistry, and have you rooting for the main characters. Alas, one of the main characters here is Chloe, who scored high on my scale of annoyance: she’s feeling so sorry for herself that she’s leaving a trail of self-pity wherever she goes. Sure, the circumstances that made her her siblings’ legal guardian were tough but she’s stuck in a martyr role and that’s not a good color on her. And the message about the family struggling financially is driven home hard in the first couple of chapters and it was just too much.
Because so many people got to tell their point of view, I felt sorry for the two siblings who weren’t given that position. They were also complete scene-stealers whenever they did pop up.

The idea of the story is a nice one. The execution unfortunately not the best as it packed no punch. As far as I’m concerned the best thing about this book is the cover.

*that’s a mistake on my end; never again!

I must betray you / Ruta Sepetys (2022)
What it is: YA recent historical fiction
Did I like it: foarte mult (which is Romanian for very much)

Wonderful friend P, knowing I have never been to Romania, sent me this book and explained that it was meant to fill the no. 1 position of the new reading challenge. It makes me one lucky and incredibly grateful Bookworm to have friends like this!

The story starts in October 1989 which means Romania is still under the tightly dictatorial regime of the Ceaușescu’s.
Protagonist Cristian Flores is a seventeen-year-old high school student. Cristian lives with his parents, sister, and grandfather in a typical apartment building where they are used to the elevator not working due to electricity outages. They are used to whispering inside their home, knowing that listening devices are everywhere. They are used to having only one lightbulb in the apartment. They are used to standing in endless lines for groceries.
Cristian is an aspiring writer, and he’s being a typical curious teenager, asking questions, challenging the authorities. His grandfather encourages this, his mother freaks out over it, his father doesn’t voice any opinion, and his sister quietly supports him.
Then Cristian’s life gets turned upside down as he gets blackmailed into informing on his friends and family by the Securitate. The stronghold of the regime relied on this network of informers, creating a fear of never knowing who was trustworthy and who was reporting to the authorities.
Left feeling he has no choice, Cristian tries to make the most of his informer status by demanding medication for his terminally ill grandfather in return. He decides to feed his handler a minimum of useful information and at the same time find out who has betrayed him, roped him into this position.
Cristian receives a special assignment from his handler, which is to inform on the son of an American diplomat. Cristian has an “in” because his mother works at the family’s home as a cleaner. He hates his task but is curious at the same time and cannot resist getting to know a teenager from the West. This Dan not only shows Cristian home videos from his friends in the States, but also introduces him to the American Library in Bucharest. Here, Cristian reads Time magazine and to his shock sees a report on neighbouring country Hungary being freed from the Soviet communist grip. This news had not reached Bucharest yet, and it makes him realize just how isolated the country is. It also makes him wonder, if people can fight an oppressive regime in other countries, couldn’t they do that in Romania as well?
Angry with the system and tired of not allowed to be free, he throws caution in the wind and decides to become part of the change. Together with two friends, he joins students in a big protest. This protest becomes the big finale of the story and things move fast and it ends with a big bang.

If any setting is fitting for angsty young adult, it is one that is seeped in paranoia and angst all around.
The story reads easy, the tension building with each chapter. Cristian is a great protagonist, insecure about his feelings, questioning his own actions and dreaming big.
The author obviously did a lot of research, which delivers a setting that is well-written and believable.
This was an amazing read and if you like to read (recent) historical novels, YA or not, do yourself a favor and add it to your TBR list; you won’t regret it!

Black butterflies / Priscilla Morris (2022)
What it is: a beautiful debut
Did I like it: absolutely

This book could be used to fill three different categories as it is set in a country I have never visited, and has a colour in the title as well. But the reason it stood out to me was the word butterflies so I’m using it for the no. 6 slot.

The book is set in modern history, starting in Sarajevo 1992.
It’s spring and there is tension in the air.
Main character Zora is a painter and art teacher and she’s passionate about her job. She’s also optimistic about the tension, figuring it will end well, but gets served a reality check by an incident that leaves her mother in a state of severe shock. As a teacher, Zora is stuck to a school schedule and cannot leave, so Zora and her husband decided that he and her mother will travel to England where their daughter lives. Her husband will stay for a week to help get her mother settled and then he will go back to Sarajevo so Zora will only be alone for a week.
However, two days after her husband and mother have left, Bosnia-Herzegovina is acknowledged as an independent state which is a catalyst for fighting to break out. As a Serb, Zora is proud and relieved to be living in a recognized independent state, but the fighting confuses her: how is a civil war possible in a place where people from different cultures have been living alongside one another for so long?
Suddenly, there are snipers on city rooftops and roads into the mountains are blocked off by the military. The airport has been closed by the military as well and Sarajevo has become a sieged city.
Because her husband can’t travel back the family tries to arrange transportation to get Zora out, but that’s near-impossible and Zora isn’t really trying too hard from her end of the situation: she still thinks it will all pass quickly and she doesn’t want to leave the properties unattended or her students without a teacher.
To escape reality, she works daily in her studio which is located in the national library. This building houses the national library as well. The studio offers her a safe space and she paints with newfound energy. Until one day she’s no longer allowed to go into the building and left standing on the doorsteps along with the librarians. When one of the soldiers recognizes her as his former teacher, he sneaks her in and allows her an hour to pack up anything she can carry.
Upset and confused she takes what she can, and from then on starts painting at home instead. One of the neighbour’s children becomes her private student and because they don’t have canvases they paint on the walls of the apartment.
All the while the situation becomes more and more dire. No phones, no mail, no electricity, no water.
When after months without contact she finally gets the opportunity to call her family in England, it turns out her husband and daughter have more information on her situation than she does herself and it makes her realize just how bad it is. So, when the opportunity arises to get herself listed for an evacuation convoy, she doesn’t hesitate and starts to prepare for her leave. She informs her family, she says goodbye to neighbours and friends, and gives away personal items. But the transport gets delayed twice and by the time a new date is issued, winter has arrived and people are realizing the harsh winter will be brutal. So, more and more sign up for the evacuation, and because the elderly and sick get prioritized Zora gets bumped from the list and has to survive the winter in the city after all.

Zora is naïve and innocent, which makes her clash with the horrible setting of the story. You witness her growing smarter, tougher, and a veteran of survival who eventually has no trouble breaking a pigeon’s neck with her bare hands.
The story is about survival, about the people left behind becoming a community, about people being able to celebrate wonderful things in the most terrible times.

But what about those butterflies?
Although some titles require little to no explanation but for this one, it took a while for it to become clear. I could be heard making an “aah” sound when I found out. And no, of course I’m not going to spoil anything here. The book’s too good to be spoiled in such a rude fashion.