I don’t think there is a family on the planet that hasn’t experienced some devastation or other: illness, betrayal, deception, loss. (And sometimes, sadly, all at once.) But some of us fight the undertow and rise above those waves–and some of us are caught in the rip current and end up alone, far from where we …
White Houses Amy Bloom Random House The story begins April 1945, just weeks after FDR’s death. Lorena Hickok, Eleanor Roosevelt’s dear friend, is readying the apartment–Eleanor needs to gather herself after the President’s funeral with all its pomp and obligations for the widowed First Lady. She is tired. Bereft. (She only learned after his death …
The Grave’s a Fine and Private Place Alan Bradley Random House release date: January 30, 2018 It’s certainly no secret that I have a little crush on Flavia de Luce. How could I not? She’s brilliant, confident, beguiling, and misunderstood. (I’m pretty sure I’ve reviewed all of her books on this blog!)) I couldn’t have …
A Constellation of Vital Phenomena Anthony Marra Hogart I confess to knowing nothing about the conflict in Chechnya. Okay, like many Americans (I’m assuming) I know a little. I know Chechen rebels took hostages in a Moscow theater. I know the Boston Marathon bombers were radicalized ethnic Chechen-Americans. But my eyes always glazed over whenever …
The Floating World C. Morgan Babst Algonquin Books October 15. Forty-seven days after landfall. The Boisdore family is collapsing, the levees of their carefully constructed life breached by the destruction that was Hurricane Katrina. The patriarch Vincent, once a renowned New Orleans furniture carver, drifts in and out of dementia, one moment clear-thinking, the next …
I didn’t give it a second thought when friend Denice emailed the first week in September to ask if I would take time off work to hear writer Elizabeth Berg speak at the Kent District Library in November. I’m sure you can guess my answer. What better way for an English teacher to spend a personal …
The Story of Arthur Truluv Elizabeth Berg Random House Elizabeth Berg’s new novel The Story of Arthur Truluv is, as the title suggests, a story about True Love–not necessarily the love you’ll find in sappy Valentine cards, but the kind of love that is even greater. Like the love that reaches across generations, old to …
Wonder R. J. Palacio Knopf I might very well be the last reader in the U.S. to have read Wonder, writer R. J. Palacio’s best-selling first novel. I’m kind of out of the middle-reader loop at this stage in my life, and I found the title by clicking on a trailer that popped up on my …
The Best Kind of People Zoe Whittal Ballantine Books The story is an all-too-familiar one: a beloved teacher is charged with improper behavior towards female students. Headlines scream. Families crumple. Lives disintegrate. I’d venture a guess it’s happened in just about every high school at one time or another. And if a parent or administrator …
Are You Sleeping? (NetGalley) Kathleen Barber Simon & Schuster Kathleen Barber’s new novel Are You Sleeping is a little bit mystery, a little bit thriller, and a lotta bit pop culture–the story is great vacation reading. Or, since the fall and winter are fast approaching, it would also make a good blizzard read! (Does anyone …
This is my symphony 