Lies She Told by Cate Holahan

Lies She Told is another "twisty" tale with an unreliable narrator. For folks who found Gone Girl somewhat tiresome, if only because there was a substantial section of the book, right before the twist, that seemed a little static, this book might be a better choice. It's more simply told, it's very well-paced from the very beginning, and it's only 288 pages. I must admit that I'm a big fan of less than 300 pages.

There were certain aspects of this book that I found very engaging. It's a tale within a tale: chapters alternate between the story of Liza, a psychological suspense author who is trying to "stay in the game," and continue writing through a seeming slump in inspiration, sales, and visibility, and the Beth, the protagonist of the novel Liza is writing.

While Liza, the author, is writing her book, we see that she is suffering from anxiety that her publisher will drop her for low sales, and she is constantly anxious about continuing to write, finishing her chapters, meeting her deadlines, and negotiating her relationship with her editor - even when she is suffering from migraine headaches. She is anxious. She dreads attending a conference where she will attempt to promote her last published book, which did not sell well. This "day-in-the-life" snapshot of a midlist published author was clever and funny, and I enjoyed it. And underneath the plot, and the suffering of the characters (both the author, Liza, and her character, Beth, are married to men keeping secrets from their wives) I felt a kind of breathless exuberance.

I was surprised again that I picked up on some clues and foresaw some elements of the plot. That's not like me; I'm usually quite surprised to find out who the killer is.

Nevertheless, the closing chapters of the book are suspenseful and full of revelations that I did not see coming.

I think this book will entertain folks who love a twisty tale but found Gone Girl too long. The fast-paced narrative makes it a good choice for travel.

Lies She Told is author Holahan's third book; the first were Dark Turns (I love a book title that telegraphs the delights to be found inside) and The Widower's Wife.

Outcasts United: A Refugee Team, An American Town by Warren St. John

This nonfiction book written by a reporter from the New York Times, is part sports story, part human interest story, part sociological study.

My book group read this book, and it was chosen because the author was doing some promotion locally. It's obvious to me that promotion works: I just read a sports book!

It's also a wonderful thing to visit this book, written in 2009, about immigrants working together and about what they can contribute to a community.

In this book, of course, part of what the refugees in the story are offering are their soccer skills, honed in alleys and streets and dusty fields. But something else these refugees offer to the people who are helping them and others around them is resilience, strength, gratitude, and love of family.

In Clarkston, Georgia, refugees are resettled in inexpensive apartment complexes on the edge of town. Gradually, their numbers grow and their presence begins to change the nature of the town.

Refugees have many problems. They have to work in order to support their families, but they often speak little or no English. Refugees are lent the money for the tickets to the U.S.; they receive only three months of assistance. They've often experienced terrible trauma, witnessing acts of violence and sometimes witnessing acts of violence against members of their own family.

A Jordanian immigrant, Luma Mufleh, a graduate of Smith College, moves to Georgia because the weather reminds her of her home. She is a former soccer player and a huge fan. She starts coaching soccer because she enjoys it so much and feels inspired by her own coach as a child, an American woman married to a diplomat living in Jordan.

Eventually, she stumbles upon the immigrant community in Clarkston, and decides that she would like to coach soccer there. She recognizes that poverty and trauma place special stresses on these refugee kids, and that's part of what motivates her.

This book is the story of how she succeeding in overcoming her teams' lack of experience of team discipline, their occasional need to act out, the lack of funding for equipment, and succeeded not only in helping all her soccer players to play better soccer, to have a social and comforting experience where they can make new friends, be kept busy doing something that they love and kept out of trouble, and learn to work together as a team with people from different backgrounds, and leadership skills.

I fell in love with the book around the third page. I just felt absorbed in the stories of Luma and wanted to learn more about her and the young men she was working with in her soccer program.

My book group found the writing style here somewhat plain. I too, initially saw St. John's writing style that way. However, by the fifth page, I was completely engrossed. I was just so curious about how Luma would solve the team's problems, how she'd manage her relationship with the YMCA who subsidized the program by renting a field for the team and providing a bus, and her relationship with the young soccer players in her program.

Some of the problems that Luma encountered were that the community center where the YMCA rented a field for her really didn't want the team to practice there. Eventually, the community center ended the relationship, leaving Luma's team with no place to play. No specific reason was given, I think, but the inference I drew was that the refugee children on the team were viewed as outsiders to the community.

Since the events chronicled in the book, things have changed in Clarkston. While many residents moved away, new residents who appreciated being in a diverse community moved in. A new mayor, a younger man who embraced Clarkston's diversity, was elected.

I googled Luma and found that she is attempting to raise money for a new facility to provide soccer programs for children in Clarkston. I think that that sports facility would be an asset to the community, and I cannot help being pleased that the diversity that immigration brings is now valued in Clarkston.