• About this blog

feastonbooksblog

~ Time is precious – read the best first

feastonbooksblog

Monthly Archives: July 2019

Ask Again, Yes: A Novel by Mary Beth Keane

29 Monday Jul 2019

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in Fiction

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

forgiveness, life changing events, man-woman relationships

“Mary Beth Keane takes on one of the most difficult problems in fiction—how to write about human decency. In Ask Again, Yes, Keane creates a layered emotional truth that makes a compelling case for compassion over blame, understanding over grudge, and the resilience of hearts that can accept the contradictions of love.”— Louise Erdrich, author of The Round House

“Keane’s story embraces family lives in all their muted, ordinary, yet seismic shades… offers empathy and the long view… Tender and patient, the novel avoids excessive sweetness while planting itself deep in the soil of commitment and attachment. Graceful and mature. A solidly satisfying, immersive read.”—Kirkus (starred review) 

Find this book                          audio cd’s

Daisy Jones & the Six: A Novel by Taylor Jenkins Reid

22 Monday Jul 2019

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in Fiction, Historical Fiction

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

California, Los Angeles, man-woman relationships, rock groups, women rock musicians

An episode of the (sadly, defunct) VH1’s Behind the Music in book form.  Reid’s descriptions will make you wish this fictional band’s songs were real.  The gossipy, often conflicting input from multiple narrators makes it a perfect, juicy summer read.  I enjoyed it even more than Reid’s previous hit – The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.

““I devoured Daisy Jones & The Six in a day, falling head over heels for it. Taylor Jenkins Reid transported me into the magic of the ’70s music scene in a way I’ll never forget. The characters are beautifully layered and complex. Daisy and the band captured my heart, and they’re sure to capture yours, too.”—Reese Witherspoon

Reid’s novel so resembles a memoir of a real band and conjures such true-to-life images of the seventies music scene that readers will think they’re listening to Fleetwood Mac or Led Zeppelin. Reid is unsurpassed in her ability to create complex characters working through emotions that will make your toes curl.”—Booklist (starred review)

Find this book                large print                audio cd’s                playaway

The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai

15 Monday Jul 2019

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in Fiction

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

AIDS (disease) 1981-1990, art museums, brothers and sisters, Chicago Ill., families, France, mothers and daughters, sects

Yale is working at an art museum in 1980s Chicago when he is called to meet an elderly woman who claims to have a priceless collection of art to donate. At the same time, Yale, his boyfriend, and their group of male friends are feeling the devastating effects of the developing AIDS crisis. Years later, one of their friends reflects on this time period as she tries to track down her missing daughter in Paris. This is a beautiful, sad, engaging novel.

FINALIST FOR THE PULITZER PRIZE IN FICTION
WINNER OF THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL
WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE FOR FICTION
WINNER OF THE STONEWALL BOOK AWARD
SHORTLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD

Soon to Be a Major Television Event, optioned by Amy Poehler

 As her intimately portrayed characters wrestle with painful pasts and fight to love one another and find joy in the present in spite of what is to come, Makkai carefully reconstructs 1980s Chicago, WWI-era and present day Paris, and scenes of the early days of the AIDS epidemic. A tribute to the enduring forces of love and art, over everything.”—Booklist (starred review)

 “To believe in something is to have faith, and Makkai dispenses it fiercely, in defiance of understandable nihilism and despair—faith in what’s right, in the good in others, in better outcomes, in time’s ability not to heal but to make something new.”—National Book Review

Find this book                     large print

The East End by Jason Allen

08 Monday Jul 2019

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in Fiction

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

death, Hamptons (NY), high school students, mansions, social classes U.S., suspense, unlawful entry

A Hamptons poolside accident that ends the life of a billionaire CEO’s illicit lover is complicated by a lavish weekend vacation and a thrill-seeking hired boy who breaks in and witnesses everything in secret.

“What a delicious pot of trouble Jason Allen has cooked up in this debut novel! He’s a hell of a writer, negotiating deftly the psychological landscape of his of characters as they struggle to make the right decisions under pressure. Every page is filled with wise insights about social class and the human heart.” -Bonnie Jo Campbell, National Book Award finalist and author of Mothers Tell Your Daughters

“An intense, heart-pounding experience from the first page, with brilliant, complex characters more real than people I actually know. I challenge you to put this novel down once you start reading.”- Simon Van Booy, award winning author of The Sadness of Beautiful Things

Find this book

How to Be a Good Creature: A Memoir in Thirteen Animals by Sy Montgomery and Rebecca Green

01 Monday Jul 2019

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in Biography, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

animal anecdotes, autobiography, human-animal relationships

Sy is the author of the Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness and one of her best friends is Vicki Croke who wrote one of my favorite books, Elephant Company: the inspiring story of an unlikely hero and the animals who helped him save lives in World War.  I knew I was in for a treat.  Animals have so much to teach us about being better humans.

“How to Be a Good Creature is a rare jewel, full of empathy and the profound wisdom Sy has received from animals she has loved over her extraordinary lifetime. This sweet book is a triumphant masterpiece that I’m recommending to everyone.”—Stacey O’Brien, author of Wesley the Owl

“I don’t know anyone whose animal empathies and scientific bona fides I admire more than Montgomery’s—from the curiosity she holds for a tarantula to the tender longing she has for an octopus. Told with characteristic humility and gorgeous language, How to Be a Good Creature is a remarkable achievement.”—Eliot Schrefer, author of Endangered, a National Book Award finalist

Find this book

Subscribe

  • Entries (RSS)
  • Comments (RSS)

Archives

  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014

Categories

  • 20th century
  • action
  • adventure
  • anecdotes
  • Biographical fiction
  • Biography
  • case studies
  • chronically ill
  • Comedy
  • crimes against
  • cuisine
  • detective
  • Drama
  • England
  • fantasy
  • Federal Bureau of Investigation
  • Fiction
  • Future
  • Graphic novel
  • Historical Fiction
  • History
  • homicide investigation
  • Horror
  • Humor
  • London
  • magic
  • meaning of life
  • memoir
  • murder
  • murder and investigation
  • mystery
  • nature
  • Non-fiction
  • poetry
  • romance
  • Science fiction
  • Sports
  • suspense
  • thriller
  • Travel
  • True crime
  • Uncategorized
  • United States
  • western

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
Weston Public Library 781 786 6150

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • feastonbooksblog
    • Join 142 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • feastonbooksblog
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...