Anyone can write a book. Just tell yourself a story a pebble at a time. Stephen Mack Jones In most circles of friends there’s that One. You know, the one who tells great stories–and acts out all the parts. That friend who is self-effacing, no matter how successful they might be. The one who has a …
Ordinary Grace William Kent Krueger Atria/Simon & Schuster A born and raised Midwesterner, I am drawn to novels set in my part of the world. Ohio. Michigan. Wisconsin. Minnesota. There is something magical about stepping into a world you know, of finding a story that captures the ethos of a place you love. When I …
On Brassard’s Farm Daniel Hecht Blackstone Publishing Ann Turner wants to get away from it all–her job (middle school teacher), her ex-husband (cheating scumbag), her city life in Boston (harried and superficial). With a small inheritance, she looks for a piece of land. Just a little place in the middle of nowhere. Vermont, maybe. Breathe …
Hotel Silence Audur Ava Olafsdottir trans. Brian FitzGibbon Grove Atlantic Jonas Ebeneser built his life around the narrative of family: husband, wife, and child sustained by a Great Love. But then his wife reveals a secret that causes him to question everything. They divorce. Add to this the fact that nearly every day Jonas visits …
Paris By the Book Liam Callanan Dutton Paris By the Book is a love story, plain and simple. About a girl and her guy. A reader and the author. A bookseller and her shop. A mother and her children. An artist and Paris. Leah was trying to finish her masters thesis on Albert Lamorisse’s 1956 movie …
The Bad Daughter Joy Fielding Ballantine Books Every year I read at least one mystery just to keep myself open to the idea of reading whodunits and thrillers and all books mysterious. This year’s is Joy Fielding’s The Bad Daughter. (Of course I might also have chosen the book because of the title, so there’s that. Years …
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 …
Did you know … Alan Bradley started writing after he retired from a career in TV engineering and production. Bradley never planned on writing more than ten Flavia de Luce novels (*yikes*) because he can’t imagine her as a teenager. He has considered, however, Flavia at 70 looking back at her life. The author is … Canadian! …
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 …
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 …
This is my symphony 