I finished “The Golem and the Jinni” by Helene Wecker on Friday. I’d read about it on several Best Books of 2013 lists, and the premise — a djinn and a golem trying to find their way in New York City in 1899 — sounding interesting. Unless it’s a really amazing year in books it’ll be one of my favorites of 2014. It was so lovely that I wanted to start it again as soon as I’d finished it. Not that it’s an altogether happy story, with its themes of alienation and anger, but it’s very well composed, and I really enjoyed the characters.

It took me awhile to get into this Kate Atkinson’s “Life After Life.” The protaganist is born into the same life over and over again, with a different outcome each time. Like “Groundhog Day” served in lifetimes rather than a single day. It skips back and forth from year to year quite a bit, and I think it would’ve been easier to keep up with where I was if I’d read a hard copy book instead the Kindle version. I enjoyed the book, but I was still a little confused at the end of it. “Life After Life” is the third book set during The Blitz that I’ve read in the last two months, and it made me want to seek out some solid non-fiction on the subject.