The First Phone Call from Heaven Mitch Albom They teach you, as children, that you might go to heaven. They never teach you that heaven might come to you. I’m known as a pretty persnickety reader. I do mid-list fiction with a little dose of literary fiction thrown in. That’s about it. You know, books …
Behind the Beautiful Forevers Katherine Boo There’s probably nothing I can say about Katherine Boo’s Pulitzer Prize winning book about a Mumbai slum, Behind the Beautiful Forevers that other reviewers haven’t already–the book gives us a staggering view of the poorest of the poor in India. Annawadi, a sprawling slum that sprung up around the Mumbai …
We are all completely beside ourselves Karen Joy Fowler Until she was five, Rosemary Cooke had a sister. Fern, her almost-twin. The two girls were inseparable: they jumped and sang and cuddled and competed for attention. They were joined at the heart with a love that was bigger than even they knew at the time. …
Joyland Stephen King Let me start out by saying I don’t do Stephen King. Really, I don’t. I’ve never seen Carrie, even though the original came out my senior year of high school. I also haven’t seen Cujo or or Pet Cemetery or The Shining. I just don’t do horror. Really. Or anything violent or scary …
The Frangipani Hotel (NetGalley) Violet Kupersmith Our muddy patch of the worlds was already shadowy and blood-soaked and spirit-friendly long before the Americans got here. There’s ancient and ugly things waiting to harm you in that darkness. Writer Violet Kupersmith gives us a peek into Vietnam in her short story collection, The Frangipani Hotel. A little bit Peony …
Under the Wide and Starry Sky (NetGalley) Nancy Horan Take thou the writing. Thine it is. For who/Burnished the sword, blew on the drowsy coal/Held still the target higher … who but thou? I loved Nancy Horan’s first novel, Loving Frank–I got a glimpse into the life and loves of a woman I knew nothing about, …
Orphan Train Christina Baker Kline Vivan Daly and Molly Ayer were both tossed and tumbled as young women. Orphans (at least for all practical purposes in Molly’ case) they endured long, lonely years before they came to rest. Abused in a series of foster homes where conditions ranged from abuse to neglect, they bore the …
The Goldfinch Donna Tartt I add my own love to the history of people who have loved beautiful things, and looked out for them, and pulled them from the fire, and sought them when they were lost, and tried to preserve them and save them while passing them along literally from hand to hand, singing …
What Nora Knew (NetGalley)Linda Yellinrelease date: January 20 Molly Hallberg is sassy. Looking for that promotion. Longing for Mr. Right. Living in New York City. Lounging in the Hamptons. Just like we all want to do, right, ladies? Because that’s probably the draw of what’s sometimes dismissed as “chick lit”, isn’t it? A fun romp through …
The Misremembered ManChristina McKenna There is nothing not to like about Christina McKenna’s The Misremembered Man. It is a love story in every sense of the word … just maybe not the one you were expecting. Jamie McCloone is a lost soul. An orphan for ten years in one of Ireland’s horrendous Magdalene laundries, he …
This is my symphony 