Family Family

Family Family by Laurie Frankel, 386 pages

India Allwood has always wanted to be a professional actress, and at 32, she's achieved the dream, having starred on Broadway, on a hit TV show, and now, in a new film drama. But when she makes an offhand remark in an interview about how the film's focus on the trauma of adoption isn't good, she suddenly has everyone from studio execs to the social media masses calling for her to be canceled. What those people don't know, however, is that India not only adopted her two children, but she was also a teen mom who chose to place her baby with an adoptive family. As these facts start to become public, India's trying to save her career, protect her complicated family, and be true to her beliefs about the positivity of adoption.

It's so rare to find a book that focuses on the joyful elements of adoption and teen pregnancy, so this one is a breath of fresh air. Yes, there are times that stretch believability, but overall, this is a wonderful book about all the many ways that functional families can be formed. Usually, I'm a fan of dysfunctional family stories, but this one is fully a functional family book, and I'm all in. Highly recommended.

Fifty Grand

Fifty Grand: a Novel of Suspense / Adrian McKinty, read by Paula Christensen, 308 p.

Fifty Grand opens with a young, pretty Havana detective pushing a naked American man through a hole in the ice over a Wyoming lake.  Detective Mercado of the Havana Police has tricked her way to Colorado via Mexico in search of the man who killed her father there in a hit and run.  Along the way she meets Francisco, a young Nicaraguan who becomes her friend and protector of sorts.  Posing as a Mexican migrant worker, Mercado, along with Francisco travel to Fairview, an Aspen-like place where Hollywood's super wealthy have their houses cleaned and their drugs ferried by immigrants who live in a state of quasi-slavery, beholden entirely to their handlers and the vicious town sheriff.  One the one hand a suspenseful whodunnit, on the other a sharp critique of American immigrant policy and racism, with a bit of Scientology satire for fun, this was a great listen.  The parts of the novel set in Cuba have a great you-are-there feel, and Christensen's reading was excellent.

Hank and Jim

Hank and Jim: The Fifty Year Friendship of Henry Fonda and James Stewart by Scott Eyman  367 pp.

Henry Fonda and Jimmy Stewart met when they were young actors just starting out. They developed a friendship that lasted in spite of their many differences. Their friendship 4relied more on proximity than conversation. They were happiest just being with each other, frequently not even speaking, making model airplanes and kites, or reminiscing about their days as struggling young actors. Both were very affected by their military experiences that neither discussed; Fonda in the Navy in the Pacific Theater and Stewart flying bombing missions over Europe for the Army Air Corp. The two were wildly different in many ways. Stewart married once at the age of 41 and remained married until his wife's death, Fonda married five times. Fonda was liberal politically while Stewart was very conservative. Stewart had a loving and involved relationship with his twin daughters and stepsons but Fonda's relationship with his children was a prickly one at best. That these two men stayed so close, even during the times they didn't see each other for months or even years is fascinating. Eyman used archival material and interviews with the Fonda and Stewart families and friends to flesh out the story of these two different men who were both legendary actors and devoted friends.

The Hollywood Daughter

The Hollywood Daughter by Kate Alcott, 305 pages

Jesse Malloy grew up during the golden age of Hollywood, attempting to balance the glitz of Hollywood (her dad's a studio publicist) with the constraints of her all-girls Catholic school (her devout mother's choice) and idolizing Ingrid Bergman through it all. Most of this book is told through an extended flashback, a memory that comes to Jesse after she receives a mysterious invitation to the 1959 Academy Awards. The flashback includes several run-ins with Bergman, as well as plenty of ruminations on McCarthyism. I'm not really sure what to say about this book. It's OK, though not nearly as good as Alcott's A Touch of Stardust (which took place during the filming of Gone with the Wind). The Hollywood Daughter, while a serviceable escapist read, just doesn't have the thrill of Stardust. Kinda meh.