December Roundup

Did someone say roundup? I’ve got a few stellar reads of my own that made this holiday season a thrill a minute, despite my exhaustion.

The Silent Patient lives up to the hype.

I’ve seen this psychological thriller on multiple Best of 2019 lists—ignoring screenwriter Alex Michaelides’s debut novel was no longer an option. This one’s a head-turner. I couldn’t agree more with the blogger who observed, “Rather than investigating a crime, The Silent Patient investigates the mind of a criminal…[it’s] immersive and hypnotic—the kind of confidently drawn suspense story that doesn’t need big, flashy twists to keep you hooked…but delivers an exceptional twist or two anyway.” Honestly, I didn’t see the big twist coming. Looks like there’s a new crime writer in town!

If you loved Evvie Drake, you’ll love Things You Save in a Fire

If you have any time at all to curl up by the fire this Christmas season, consider jumping into Katherine Center’s latest. You’ll appreciate Cassie Hanwell. A natural-born female fire fighter, she has to prove herself in a man’s world. Cassie doesn’t need rescuing on the job; she does, however, need to reconcile her stunted emotions to save her own life. Nice work KC—you know you’ve arrived if Brene Brown is singing your praises!

How ‘bout a Domestic Noir for a change?

One of my favorite followers, Marilyn, recommended Lisa Jewell’s And Then She Was Gone. And I’m so glad she did. It’s true: “Jewell teases out her twisty plot at just the right pace, leaving readers on the edge of their seats. Even the most astute thriller reader won’t see where everything is going until the final threads are unknotted.” While Michaelides had a bigger, better twist, this was still well worth the listen.

Posted by Tracy

Holiday Gift Guide 2019

Our Holiday Gift Guide is here!

Say It Ain’t So Jojo

Interrupting my radio silence to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving, and to give a “proper review” of one of my favorite books of the year. Jojo Moyes’ latest about a handful of strong sassy women serving as Eleanor Roosevelt’s Pack Horse Librarians shined brightly. Glittered actually. Delivering books in the mountains of Kentucky proved as dangerous as it was beautiful. But the librarians prevail, only to deliver hope and literacy to an isolated and book-starved rural people. Sadly, most of their greatest trials come via men and small-minded conventions that stifle and underestimate women—when the librarians refuse to be cowed by either, they feel like heroes to me.

 I LOVED this here listen. Julia Whelan’s inspired voices turned this southern charmer into a must-be-listened-to-even-if-only-for-two-minutes-at-a-time deal. I’ll definitely give this a second go, unless The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek feels like deja-vu. When I met Margery, Alice, Izzy, and Fred (a seemingly perfect male), I had no idea there was trouble afoot in book land. Moyes is being accused of plagiarizing in The Giver of Stars. Say it ain’t so Jojo. If you want to read more about the uncanny similarities between the two fictions, you can check out this article.

Mind you, it is buzz feed news. I guess the best way to determine if there’s any merit to the plagiarism claim is to pick-up a copy of The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek. I loved Moyes latest enough to read it again.  She definitely gives us some stars, five to be exact.

Posted by Tracy

October Roundup

Interrupting my radio silence to bring you four seriously stellar reads that made October a banner book month. For my fellow listeners out there, all four narrators are absolute standouts!

Jojo’s outdone herself.

Jojo had me at Me Before You. She’s been one of my go-to girls for a smart beach read ever since. Then she goes and writes a gorgeous literary tale like The Giver of Stars and she’s suddenly in the running for my favorite book of the year. Word has it it’s on Tray’s list too, but I’ll let her tell you all about it when she writes a proper review.

Oprah got this one right.

Not that she has a bad track record or anything. Let me dispense with the small talk and just get right down to it: this book is beautiful. Every word of every glorious sentence. It wrapped me up in heartbreak, inhumanity, and unabashed hope. Rolling Stone called The Water Dancer “timeless and instantly canon-worthy.” Amen.

Dysfunction at its finest.

Family drama may not make for fun Thanksgivings but it sure makes great lit. The Dutch House is my favorite Patchett to date. Do I need to qualify that statement by saying it’s only my second? I may be new to the Ann Patchett show but I’m well on my way to becoming a solid fan.

Bonus: The audiobook is read by Tom Hanks and he’s magnificent. (would you expect less?)

Double Bonus: Read this book and you’ll instantly feel better about your parenting skills.

Ordinary Grace was no fluke.

Crime-writer turned literary aficionado, William Kent Krueger, has delivered once again. For those who worried Ordinary Grace was a one-off, worry no more. This Tender Land proves Kreuger’s got serious literary chops. While he’s yet to rise to the ranks of Doig and Enger, he’s certainly earned a seat at the table.

Posted by Rachel

Move Over Leo DiCaprio

“Let them start their dreadful wars, let destruction rain down, and let plague sweep through, but I will still be here, doing my work, holding humankind together with love like this.”

I may be wrong, but I feel like love stories all sound the same these days. Has romance always been this formulaic: two people meet; fall head-over-toes in love; ill-fated circumstances keep them apart; against odds, they surmount obstacles; and they live happily ever after. (Maybe I was lucky? I met my husband and we slid into love, no falling necessary.) 

Lovely War is no exception to the formulaic, but it does comes with an unusual  twist—while you're consuming the WWI love stories of both Hazel + James (two Brits whose paths cross in London THE DAY before James leaves for war), and Colette + Aubrey (a Belgian beauty who meets the Harlem native as his African-American troop pleads for a chance in the French battles), you're hearing it directly from the mouth of a woman trying to make amends with her husband during WWII. Did I say woman? I mean Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty. Take that for a twist!  And who doesn’t love a good twist?

Move over Leo DiCaprio, the Inception of love stories is here. If you’re craving a refreshing dose of love and strife for the World War junkie in you, grab a copy of this multi-layered romance. You won’t be sorry. Julie Berry does a marvelous job of twining together real-life hardships of the war with true love. Best part is, it's a clean read—one you can definitely recommend to your mother-in-law. 

P.S. For some, this may feel a bit cheesy, but it warms the soul—which we need during winter’s edge, am I right? Hey, can someone pass me a cup of piping hot cocoa?!?

Posted by Tracy’s niece, Michelle

On Sundays We Wear Pajamas

“Life doesn't work that way, Alina. Hatred spreads - it doesn't burn out with time. Someone needs to stand up and stop it.”

If it’s true that a Sunday well spent brings a week of content, it’s gonna be an awesome week! It’s 4:30 p.m. and I’m still in my pj’s. Life is better in pajamas, isn’t it?  Last week was long—way too many post-midnight hours trying to get caught up. I honestly intended to grab some minutes to tell you about Kelly Rimmer’s The Things We Cannot Say.

Let me go a little Amazon on you and share a positive and a critical review of Rimmer’s latest. I’ll start with the sunny one: “Oh my, I could not put the book down. I downloaded it at 7 PM last night and with a few hours sleep, I finished by 11 AM today. Maybe that says it all. I experienced every emotion.” Now for the negative: “This style that alternates between the present and past has been way overdone…because of that, most of the story is predictable; you already know that the present day character is searching into the past during WWII and finds the missing pieces to their past and how they are connected to each other.”  

Here are my two shiny cents: While it is true that dual timeline narratives feel a bit overdone at this point, The Things We Cannot Say boasts two storytellers who are endearing. Kelly connected the two timelines in a way that is often not seen—she fused the contemporary to the historical when an older Alina’s granddaughter, Alice, traveled to Poland.  I’m especially fond of Alina, a spirited teenager who underestimates the Nazi occupation. She is stoic and brave. And her love for Tomasz is unshakable. Will her fierce determination and bright hope enable her to live her dream or will the Nazis ultimately force her to live a lifetime of quiet lies?  You may lose some sleep to find out. But at least you’ll be in your pj’s, right?  

Posted by Tracy

Never Underestimate a Bookworm

"It also meant she thought of books as medication and sanctuary and the source of all good things. Nothing yet had proven her wrong."

I spend way too much time trying to figure out my next best read. I’m the Jimmy Carter of book selecting. Just have to gather a little more information before I make a final decision and download the audible or crack the spine of a shiny new book.  Afterall, a little forethought almost always goes a long way. I simply don’t have time for mediocre pages.

Maybe it’s the lesser of two evils? Spend the time to avoid a literary crime. I’m rarely disappointed.  That’s not to say I always agree with what my homework suggests—can’t say that I see eye to eye with reviewers who compared Abbi Waxman to Jane Austen.  My reverence for Jane runs deep. When Nina Hill was named “a modern-day Elizabeth Bennett,” I couldn’t hit download fast enough.  Nina is quirky. She’s witty and smart and bookish of course. I thought she was lovable too—she’s the female version of Ken Jennings, she works in a book store that refuses to fold, she owns the fact that she finds joy in missing out, and she’s book obsessed.  (She’s hilarious…love her quips about exercise…she’s gonna make you chuckle.) When her quiet life is upended by the news that her now-dead father (that she didn’t know she had) left her an inheritance, life outside the pages takes a real turn.  I’d love to hang out with Nina myself, I’m just not ready to call her Elizabeth—I might be willing to say Tom has some Mr. Darcy in him. 

If you liked Evvie Drake Starts Over, you’ll like The Bookish Life of Nina Hill. The millennial does have a conversation with her book club that I could have done without.  It felt gratuitous to me.  I’d skip over it and stick with the good stuff. And it is good stuff.

Posted by Tracy

Flying High and Coming Home to Roost

"In the beginning there was the word. Toni Morrison took the word and turned it into a song...of Solomon, of Sula, Beloved, Mercy, Paradise, Love, and more. She was our conscience, our seer, our truth-teller"—Oprah after Toni Morrison’s death

It makes me sad, Toni being gone. Who is going to turn words into unforgettable songs? One of the greatest writers of our day has “surrendered to the air and is riding it.”  Maybe it’s time to re-visit Morrison’s pages—to soak up her insights and remind myself that, as humans, we face problems. We all experience heartbreaking dilemmas that have the potential to give us new eyes.

 Speaking of heartbreak and dilemmas, Leonora Shaw faces more than her fair share of both in the psychological thriller In a Dark, Dark Wood. I chose this read because Ware’s name keeps popping up. I, myself, have been in the dark about Ware, the British best seller who admits that the most interesting thing about her is her books, “which are full of murder, family secrets, toxic friendships, and things that go bump in the night.” In a Dark, Dark Wood had all of the above—it did not disappoint. Nora is crime writer who isolates herself after a good love gone bad. When she hesitantly reunites with some old friends for a pre-wedding weekend celebration (called a Hen by Englanders…love them), things go scary sideways in a hurry. It’s been a while since I’ve felt real suspense like Ware inspired here. I figured out whodunit before the reveal. But I didn’t mind. Where Toni turned words into songs, Ware turns them into fear. I’m glad both authors are in the foreseeable future for me!

Posted by Tracy