October 2015 saw me recovering from back surgery: clear-headed and alert, but limited in my activities. A perfect month for reading!

A couple of library reserves with the word ‘Last’ in the title arrived so I gathered up as many other ‘Lasts’ as I could find. In total, between mysteries and others, eight of the twelve books I read were titled ‘Last’-Something. The theme gave me a wide range of books.

I’ll cover the mystery books in a separate post.

1. THE LITTLE SHADOWS by Marina Endicott (Fiction, Literary, Historical, Canadian)

I do love Marina Endicott, who departs from her usual current day settings to tell this story set on the vaudeville circuit of the Canadian prairies and Montana in the years 1912 to 1917. It follows the fortunes of three sisters who form a singing and dancing act.

It’s a thoroughly absorbing story and I thought the ‘placard’ chapter titles were a delightful touch.

This was first recommended to me by the late Kevin from Canada.

4½ stars

2. LAST MAN IN TOWER by Aravind Adiga (Fiction, Literary, Indian)

When a real estate developer offers to buy out the residents of Bombay Co-operative Housing Society Tower A, planning to use the site to build a luxury apartment complex, initially not everyone wants to leave; many of the residents have lived in the tower for years, and many of them are no longer young. But it’s an everyone-or-no-one deal.

As tensions rise among the once civil neighbours, one by one those who oppose the offer give way to the majority, until only one man stands in Shah’s way: Masterji, a retired schoolteacher, once the most respected man in the building.

There are humourous moments but the story takes a dark turn as one by one the community turns on Masterji, and the suspense rises to an almost unbearable level. It’s a rich story peopled with a large cast of well-developed characters. I very much enjoyed this book.

Although it was Oxford County Library’s monthly newsletter that first alerted me to this book, I thereafter read Lisa’s excellent review at ANZ Litlovers.

4½ stars

3. THE HEN WHO DREAMED SHE COULD FLY by Sun M. Huang, translated by Chi Young Kim, illustrated by Nomoco (Fiction, Literary, Translated, Korean)

Called a Korean ‘fable for our time’, this is the tale of Sprout, a self-named battery laying hen who has one dream: to be a yard hen so she can hatch an egg and raise a baby. She escapes a mass cull operation, and finding herself outside the fence, finds an egg in the hedge to sit on. She hatches a duckling, which she raises, to find that it is accepted as neither duck nor chicken.

Although it examines themes of freedom, motherhood and prejudice, its effect on me was only so-so.

Thank you to Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea whose review first prompted me to add this to my TBR list.

3½ stars

4. LAST NIGHT AT THE LOBSTER by Stewart O’Nan (Fiction< American)

Lisa at Lit and Life recommended this short novel about a Red Lobster restaurant in a Maine mall on its last night of business. The last shift sees a motley crew present (many have already found work elsewhere), and a blizzard that keeps away the supper trade.

It’s character-driven, but there’s not a lot of time for character development. Again, I was mildly disappointed.

3½ stars

5. THE LAST PILOT by Benjamin Johncock (Fiction, Historical, American)

The last pilot is set in 1960 and 1961, during the early days of the American space program when US Armed Forces pilots were ‘testing-driving’ jets over the Mojave Desert and dying at an alarming rate in crashes.

Johncock has peopled his novel with the real players in the game – the real astronauts, the real bar owner, and so on, except for the main characters of Jim Harrison and his wife Grace. This fictional couple desperately want a child and think constantly about new life even as the news in the bar almost weekly seems to be the death of another colleague.

There are problems inherent in using actual historical figures that limit the possibilities for the fictional ones. The story never seemed to really take-off (no pun intended). In addition, I was irritated that the author moved between calling the protagonist ‘Jim’ and ‘Harrison’ for no apparent rhyme not reason. There was also a mention of placing clothes in large black trash bags which were not available for home use until the late ’60s – early ‘70s.

On the balance, I found the book to be somewhat interesting (the actual history) but ‘meh’ as far as the story.

3½ stars

6. THE LAST DAY by Emily Organ (Fiction)

When George was 11, he dreamt the day of his death – and now it’s here.

That much is included on the author’s website – and that much, I remember. But, honestly, although I finished the book, it seems that I thought it only so-so at the time, and now cannot remember another thing about it.

3 stars

7. THE LAST KINGS OF SARK by Rosa Rankin-Gee (Fiction)

I included this in my reading because of the setting on Sark, one of the Channel Islands, from which my mother-in-law’s family emigrated,(Guernsey), and because it has lovely cover.

The story follows three teenagers over the course of a summer on Sark. It’s beautifully written but the plot ends about halfway through and then the book drones on and on.

2 stars

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I love months like this because I can choose such a variety of books, some of which I’d never have gotten to otherwise. Have you ever had a month when you read on a theme such as the word ‘last’ in the title?

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