The Graybar Hotel (NetGalley) Curtis Dawkins Simon & Schuster release date: July 4, 2017 I saw the cover of Graybar Hotel on NetGalley, where I request reader copies and was intrigued–but passed it over thinking the stories might be a too edgy. But here’s what initially caught my interest: author Curtis Dawkins is “an MFA graduate …
The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper Phaedra Patrick MIRA Books Over the past few years, old folks have squeezed their way into readers’ TBRs and onto bookstore “Staff Recommends” shelves. I’ve met so many Old Friends. Like Ove and Britt Marie; Miss Queenie and Harold Frye; Etta and Otto. And I’ve loved them all, I …
Evensong (NetGalley) Kate Southwood G.W. Norton Last December my money market company sent me a cheery email reminding me to file for a required distribution–they also told me my estimated life expectancy was 27.5 years. Merry Christmas to you, too, Fidelity! Still, as I approach the end of another decade, I find myself looking back …
The Last Days of Cafe Leila (NetGalley) Donia Bijan Algonquin Books When I was in high school, I read Thomas Wolfe’s You Can’t Go Home Again in junior English. I don’t remember much about the novel except for its melancholy. And I’m guessing I’d appreciate the novel much more now that I’ve lived a few lives myself. …
Diet Land Sarai Walker Mariner There may not be a woman in the Western world who hasn’t, at one time or another, had an issue with her weight. I know I have. For years I was too skinny. Then just right. Finally got a little-meat-on-my-bones okay. Putting-on-some pounds-better-watch-it. Downright overweight. Plenty has been written about …
The Shadow Land (NetGalley) Elizabeth Kostova Ballantine Books release date: April 11, 2017 I’ve never read horror –or monster–stories. (Except I do love my Frankenstein!) Most teens go through a scare-the-wits-out-of-me reading phase, but not me. So you wouldn’t think I’d fall for a book about Dracula, but I did. And let’s face it. The Historian got so much …
The Twelve Lives of Samuel Hawley (NetGalley) Hannah Tinti Dial Press release date: March 28, 2017 The story opens with Samuel Hawley teaching his twelve-year-old daughter Loo how to shoot a rifle. While she knew not to touch them, guns were part of the backdrop of her life, hidden all over the house and cleaned nightly …
Elle leaned against the fender of the Plymouth watching fireflies blink over the field across the highway. She had pulled onto the shoulder over an hour ago with a flat tire; it was nearly nine, but the air was still close. Her tank top stuck to her back where it had been pressed against the …
Himself (NetGalley) Jess Kidd St. Martin’s Press release date: March 14, 2017 Jess Kidd’s first novel Himself is a poignant and darkly funny story about a Mahony, a n’er-do-well Dubliner, who travels clear across the island to the idyllic village of Mulderrig to discover what happened to the mammy who (apparently) abandoned him on the steps of an …
I’m participating in Taking On a World of Words blog hop this week by answering three Ws: what I’m currently reading, what I just finished reading, and what I think I’ll read next. Comment with your own Ws below, and be sure to hop over to Sam’s blog to connect with other readers on her WWW …
This is my symphony 