A Book A Week

2015 marked the fourth year of A Book A Week. Over those twelve months, I was able to read many books, discover new authors, and  most importantly. . . connect with other readers. Personally, the year saw me complete my masters degree and begin several new jobs. 2016 is already shaping up to be a great year for the blog! From the start, I plan on reading a few of the books that I simply didn't have time to get to last year. Additionally, I have several new releases awaiting review, author interviews scheduled to post, and exciting new giveaways to host. But before I kick off 2016 with my first review, I thought it would be fun to look back on 2015 and list my favorite books of the past year!

Here are my top 5 books of 2015 listed in no particular order:

Beneath the Surface by John Hargrove

This non-fiction book by a former SeaWorld trainer provides an inside look at the company's treatment of their animals and the people tasked with caring for them. John Hargrove chronicles his years of working for the company and the corporate reaction to the tragic death of veteran trainer Dawn Brancheau. The book is a riveting expansion of the author's interview in the documentary Blackfish that provides new details and offers fair solutions. Read the full review here. 

Not on Fire, but Burning by Greg Hrbek

In the most emotionally moving novel that I encountered in 2015, author Greg Hrbek presents a poignant and layered family drama that explores loss, grief, and prejudice. These difficult topics are approached with a poetic prose that allows the text to flow effortlessly from the page and to imbed itself into the deep recesses of your soul. Read the full review here.

Fortune Smiles by Adam Johnson

Adam Johnson follows his Pulitzer winning novel The Orphan Master's Son, with this eclectic collection of short stories. The stories showcase Johnson's masterful skill and provide unique contemplations on life and the human condition. With this release, Johnson is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors! Read the full review here. 

Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee

This was perhaps the most controversial novel of 2015. The details surrounding the novel's discovery, publication, and content seemed to overshadow the fact that this was one of the best novels of the year! In the book, Lee challenges our perception of her beloved characters and forces us to face the realities of racism, politics, and gender inequality. Like the classic novel that preceded it, I believe that Go Set A Watchman will stand as a great work of American Literature and further cement Harper Lee's status as a legendary author. Read the full review here. 

Slade House by David Mitchell

While this novel never attempts the same scope or depth of Mitchell's larger tomes, it is a taut and welcome departure that matches the imaginative originality of the author's best works. The fact that Slade House is a spooky story that never takes itself too seriously only adds to the delight of reading it and makes it one of the most enjoyable novels of 2015. Read the full review here. 

And so we end the last chapter of 2015 and begin the adventure of a new year. What were your favorite books of 2015, and what are looking forward to reading this year?

"What they're doing down there is mourning. As millions of people across the infinitude of the grid shall always be mourning, coping with every imaginable variation of loss. Every loss deserves a telling."

8-11 was the day that changed everything. Twenty-year-old Skylar was watching from her apartment window when she noticed the object falling from the sky. Before she could reach the young boy she was babysitting, the night's sky was illuminated by the brilliant flash of the mass impacting the earth. The Golden Gate Bridge was reduced to rubble, and a haze of ash and debris enveloped the city. As soon as she ascended to the chaos on the streets, Skylar's fate was sealed. The toxic air polluted her lungs and she, like so many others that day, fell victim to the catastrophic tragedy.

Several years later the world is still coping with the effects of that incident. Authorities were never able to determine what exactly caused the disaster and have no idea who, if anyone, was responsible for the attack. Some claim that the object was a missal or a bomb. Others swear it was an object from outer space. In the end, whatever the object was doesn't really matter. The events of that day have caused an immense shift in the daily lives of everyday people. They now, "live, day to day, with the chance of something violent, something tragic happening at any moment."Motivated by this constant fear, post-incident America has responded in a historically misguided way. Much like Japanese Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Muslim Americans have been corralled into camps. As Americans search for any scapegoat to place their anger and grief upon, Muslims become the victims of hate and distrust.

Skylar's family has found her death to be unbearable. So much so that her parents, Mitch and Kathryn, have erased any trace of their deceased daughter.  Whether they have done this consciously or not is unclear, but they constantly tell their youngest son, Dorian, that he does not and has never had a sister. Dorian was a toddler on 8-11, so he has no recollection of Skylar. But the young man is beginning to suspect that his parents are hiding something from him. He has vivid dreams of a young woman watching a blinding flash from an apartment window in the city. His parents refuse to acknowledge any questions about the girl, but Dorian persists that evidence of a sister must exist somewhere.

Dorian's life becomes even further conflicted when his elderly neighbor introduces a young boy, Karim, who he has adopted from one of the Muslim camps. Dorian is instantly filled with hate for the boy. "Hating . . . not him exactly, but the idea of him, or the idea of people like him -- and though he has been taught to not believe in the sameness of all such persons, a logic as inborn as the structure of his DNA connect each and every one of them. . ."

Karim is equally troubled with his new life. In the camps, he was indoctrinated with the teachings of self-sacrifice to reach eternal paradise. The Sheik had Karim memorize a number that he was to use to contact the camp after he settled into his new home. Once contact was established, Karim would begin the process of planning for a suicide bombing mission. But as he assimilates to his current situation, Karim begins to realize that he may have more similarities than differences with the people he has been taught to hate.

In Not on Fire, but Burning, author Greg Hrbek explores the ways in which people deal with the grief and fear that comes from loss. He changes between first and third person point of view as each of the characters are explored. At first, this can be a bit disconcerting, but the changing perspectives soon fall into a steady rhythm that allows for a breezy pace. By shifting to the different characters, Hrbek provides intimate insight into each of their situations. While they are all connected as participants in the main narrative, the characters are further united by the same internal conflict. Each character is trying to reconcile societal decorum with their own conscience. This makes for a layered drama that delves beyond the main story. Through this extensive character study and an almost poetic prose, Hrbek crafts an exquisite novel that works as a metaphor to America's reaction to the events of 9/11 and a stunning exploration of the human reaction to tragedy.

For more information, visit Amazon and GoodReads.

(2015, 29)