Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe (★★★★☆)
Audiobook • Spotify • Contemporary Fiction • 2024
Short synopsis: Faced with an unplanned pregnancy, unemployment, and looming eviction, Margo turns to OnlyFans, drawing on her estranged father’s wrestling advice to craft a successful online persona.
This was a great book, and one I wasn’t sure I wanted to read until everyone else started raving about it. They were right! Margo was an utterly delightful character and while some may get annoyed with her naivete, especially in the beginning of the book, I honestly couldn’t get enough of her. She felt so real. She became a mother at 20 and has to figure everything out on her own because her friends don’t want to help and her mom is useless. I loved her character arc and the way we see her become more and more comfortable in her role as a mother—and as a businesswoman. I found the scenes between Margo and her mom to be so difficult to get through; a toxic mom/daughter relationship always breaks my heart! But the true standout in this novel is the relationship between Margo and her father. I don’t want to give too much of the plot away, so I’ll just say that as someone who is also estranged from my father, I really enjoyed this part of the plot. This is a book I would confidently place in the hands of most readers, so give it a try! (The audiobook is excellent, too. It’s read by Elle Fanning and she didn’t make up silly voices for the male characters. I want all of my audiobooks to be read by her!)
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (★★★☆☆)
E-Book • Owned (Amazon) • Fiction • 1948
Short synopsis: Through six turbulent months of 1934, 17-year-old Cassandra Mortmain keeps a journal, filling three notebooks with sharply funny yet poignant entries about her home, a ruined Suffolk castle, and her eccentric and penniless family. By the time the last diary shuts, there have been great changes in the Mortmain household, not the least of which is that Cassandra is deeply, hopelessly, in love.
This novel started out strong for me, but it petered at the end. In the beginning, I adored Cassandra and her witty journal entries. She gave me real Anne Shirley vibes and I settled in for a sweet story about a poor family. Unfortunately, the story took a turn for me about halfway through. Characters I previously loved started making very dumb decisions and while there is a redemptive character arc, I think I was just so frustrated by the end that I didn’t really care. There were some really fun scenes in this book (the bear! the kidnapping!) that kept it from being a slog. And I think the author did a great job of portraying the emotions and mistakes of teenage girlhood—I had to continually remind myself that Cassandra is young and is doing the best she can. Her brain is still developing and she’s bound to make really dumb decisions at this point in her life. All in all, I’m glad I finally read this book but it’s not one I’m going to be recommending to many people.
All That Is Mine I Carry With Me by William Landay (★★★☆☆)
Print • Library • Mystery • 2023
Short synopsis: In 1975, ten-year-old Miranda Larkin comes home to find her mother mysteriously missing, leaving behind no signs of struggle. Decades later, Jane Larkin’s remains are discovered, reigniting an investigation that forces her now-grown children to confront the chilling possibility that their father, a criminal defense attorney, may have been involved in her death.
I have complicated feelings about this book. I picked it up because multiple recommendation sources had raved about it so I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. And it just didn’t really work for me. The book is divided into multiple sections and there’s a different narrator for each section, which was hard to wrap my head around at first. There were some odd stylistic choices like not having chapters and halfway through the book, he stopped using quotation marks. (I really hate books that don’t have quotation marks. Just use them!) I thought the story was pretty bland and unsatisfying, especially because it was easy to understand what had happened to Miranda’s mother and nothing really gets solved beyond that. I was expecting something different, I guess.
What are you reading?
Ok, I’m keeping All That is Mine on the “nah, I don’t feel like reading that list”. Margo was a delight to read, and I can’t wait to check out Rufi Thorpe’s other books.
I enjoyed ICTC, but what you said that if someone asked me for a book recommendation this probably wouldn’t be top of the list. I had never heard of it before CBBC. I loved Cassandra, but I got bored with the other characters in the book.
Lisa and Engie both really loved All That Is Mine I Carry With Me, so I guess it depends if you align with their reading tastes. (Lisa and I usually align so this is a rarity for us!)
Margo was SO GOOD. I’m glad you raved about it – you were the push I needed to give it a try!
Oh wow- your review of All That is Mine made me definitely NOT want to read it! Margo has now been recommended by several reliable sources, so maybe I will read that one. And, I liked ICTC more than you did. It started and ended strong for me. I’m glad that was book club pick.
Right now I’ve started the second book in the Ken Follett Century trilogy, Winter of the World.
I’m glad I finally read I Capture the Castle – it’s one I had heard mentioned in literary circles for a long time, so now I know what the fuss is all about.
Margo is a fun story – a good one to slot in between your Ken Follett books!
That is too bad that All that is Mine didn’t work for you. I loved it and found it so difficult to put down. I had forgotten about the quotation mark aspect. That bugs me, too, usually but I must have overlooked it!
I just finished “Dust Child” which is set in Vietnam during and years after the war. It is a sad story about the impact of war on the Vietnamese people, and especially focuses on the children that American soldier fathered but then abandoned or didn’t know about. But it was well done overall. Earlier in the week I finished “The Wedding People” which I LOVED.
I was so surprised to see you gave it 5 stars because our tastes usually align! But I’m glad it really worked for you.
Ooh, I might need to add Dust Child to my TBR. I’m really interested in reading more books about the Vietnam war after reading The Women.
I didn’t get Anne Shirley vibes from Cassandra, if I did I probably would have liked it more. I didn’t hate it, but I was kind of meh on the whole thing. I didn’t feel connected at all to any of the characters. But I’m glad I read it because I had never even heard of it before.
I’m in the (long) queue for Margo, I’m looking forward to it.
I’m reading Brooklyn right now, and so far it’s excellent. Colour me surprised, because it’s written BY A MAN. Who even am I????
I only got the Anne Shirley vibes from Cassandra at the beginning of the novel, and then it slowly petered out, haha. I wanted a lot more from this story, but I’m glad I finally read it!
OMG, look at you, expanding your horizons by reading a book by a man! Haha!
I’ve not heard of the two books outside of our CBBC.
As you know the ICTC book was great until that one scene… aft that it was downhill for me too.
It was fun and witty and then it was lamenting and and a slog.
But it was still so fun to read together.
It WAS fun to read together! I’m glad I read it, but yes, it really went downhill when THAT SCENE happened and just never recaptured the magic.
I have Margo’s Got Money Trouble on my holds too. It sounds like such a delicious read.
I liked I Capture the Castle – I thought it was fun. Except that bit about locking the father in the tower. That was bizarre to me. But I have to say, I kind of don’t have a lot of patience for coming of age stories – I just want characters to grow up and stop screwing things up.
I’m currently reading Homegoing. I think you might have been one of the people who told me to move it up to the top of the pile of “books I already own and need to read” pile. It’s sucked me in.
OOH, I hope you really enjoy Homegoing. It’s a tough story but such a brilliantly written book.
I’m glad you loved ICTC!
Oh, man, Stephany, we are just book opposites. And I guess that’s good for us. I found All That Is Mine I Carry with Me to be riveting! And I also found the ending super ambiguous and it seems like you didn’t? Huh. I really liked that book.
I’ll admit that ICTC wasn’t quite as good as I remember it being. In retrospect I mostly remembered the first half of the book with how funny Cassandra was, writing in her journal, and what seemed like (at the time – I was young!) a romantic setting in an old castle. Now it’s just a horrifying look at neglect and abuse, but at least we all went through the trauma together.
I think the author MEANT for the ending to be ambiguous but, like, she killed him, right?! She found out the truth and was distraught and killed him. I don’t see any different way for it to be! But maybe I’m mistaken!
I think it’s great for us to know we’re book opposites! If you love a book, I know to read it with lowered expectations. And if you DON’T love a book, it means I should probably add it to my TBR. HA.