Park Avenue Summer by Renee Rosen

15 Friday Sep 2023

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I loved this very funny historical fiction story from the 1960’s told from the point of view of the woman who became Helen Gurley Brown’s secretary when she took over running Cosmopolitan magazine. 

“Where the book sparkles brightest is in Rosen’s complete success in creating a soapy, small-town-girl-in-the-big-city story that includes sophisticated bad boys, designer clothes, and lots of smoking and day drinking. An ode to idealized 1960s New York, this champagne bubble of a novel takes the Mad Menapproach to depicting single, twentysomething women.”—Booklist

“Instantly absorbing, thoroughly researched and a fun, breezy read. It’s like revisiting ‘Mad Men,’ but from Peggy and Joan’s points of view.”—BookReporter

“Renée Rosen is my go-to for whip-smart heroines who love their work. Park Avenue Summer is a delightful summer cocktail of a read!”—Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Alice Network

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The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann

06 Wednesday Sep 2023

Posted by in action, adventure, History, murder, murder and investigation, Non-fiction, Travel

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The Wager is a grand tale of human behavior at the extremes told by one of our greatest nonfiction writers. Grann’s recreation of the hidden world on a British warship rivals the work of Patrick O’Brian, his portrayal of the castaways’ desperate straits stands up to the classics of survival writing such as The Endurance, and his account of the court martial has the savvy of a Scott Turow thriller. As always with Grann’s work, the incredible twists of the narrative hold the reader spellbound. (Amazon)

“The most gripping sea-yarn I’ve read in years….A tour de force of narrative nonfiction. Mr. Grann’s account show how storytelling, whether to judges or readers, can shape individual and national fortunes – as well as our collective memories.”—Wall Street Journal 

“The beauty of The Wager unfurls like a great sail…He fixes his spyglass on the ravages of empire, of racism, of bureaucratic indifference and raw greed…one of the finest nonfiction books I’ve ever read.” — The Guardian (UK)

“His dogged search through ships’ logs and other contemporaneous accounts of the disaster and its mutinous aftermath has turned up the kind of sterling details that make his writing sing; he is also interested in the way these events were recorded and then recounted, with many different people trying to shape the memory of what happened. Grann simultaneously reconstructs history while telling a tale that is as propulsive and adventure-filled as any potboiler.”— The Atlantic

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Olga Dies Dreaming by Xochitl Gonzalez

25 Friday Aug 2023

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Siblings Olga (a wedding planner) and Prieto (a politician) are lifelong New Yorkers navigating their careers and personal lives when they begin receiving messages from their mother, who left them years ago to return to Puerto Rico. Olga Dies Dreaming is both funny and serious, weaving the culture and history of Puerto Rico into a story about love and family.

“Vibrant and raw…Olga Dies Dreaming delivers a roller coaster’s worth of beautiful highs and lows. All told, it’s an experience worth savoring.” ―BookPage

“Liberation is at the heart of Olga Dies Dreaming. The story’s driving tension derives from questions of how to break free…The book’s title is an allusion to the poem “Puerto Rican Obituary,” by Pedro Pietri, which contains the lines “Olga / dies dreaming of a five dollar raise.” But Gonzalez’s Olga will not go meekly to such a fate. Sometimes we must free ourselves ― even from dreams.” ― New York Times Book Review

“Atmospheric, intelligent, and well informed: an impressive debut.” ―Kirkus, starred review

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Look for Me There: Grieving My Father, Finding Myself by Luke Russert

18 Friday Aug 2023

Posted by in adventure, Biography, meaning of life, Travel

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What began as several open-ended months of travel to decompress and take the time to mourn his larger-than-life father (NBC Tim Russert) who died too young morphed into a three-plus-year odyssey across six continents.  Armchair travel at its best.

‘This starts as the story of one father and one son, and soon grows into something much deeper and more profound: a meditation on loss, and grief, a search for home, a journey to find a missing hero that leads the author finally back to himself. It is Luke Russert’s story but in the end, the main character is you, the reader.’ — Wright Thompson, senior ESPN writer and bestselling author of Pappyland and The Cost of These Dreams

‘A rich and compelling account of family, grief and coming of age. Luke Russert turns tragedy into rich lessons of life.’ — Tom Brokaw, legendary journalist and author of The Greatest Generation

‘In Look For Me There, Luke Russert traverses terrain both physical and deeply personal. On his journey to some of the world’s most stunning destinations, he visits the internal places of grief, family, faith, ambition and purpose–with intense self-reflection, honesty and courage.’ — Savannah Guthrie, co-anchor Today

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Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

11 Friday Aug 2023

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A modern love story about two childhood friends, Sam and Sadie, who reunite as barely-out–of-college adults to become partners in the intricately imagined world of video game design, finding an intimacy in their digital worlds that eludes them in their real lives.  

P.S. I never played a video game in my life but was swept away by this magnificent story and female heroine.

“Utterly brilliant. In this sweeping, gorgeously written novel, Gabrielle Zevin charts the beauty, tenacity, and fragility of human love and creativity. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is one of the best books I’ve ever read.” —John Green, author of The Anthropocene Reviewed

“Zevin… returns with an exhilarating epic of friendship, grief, and computer game development…. Zevin layers the narrative with her characters’ wrenching emotional wounds as their relationships wax and wane… Even more impressive are the visionary and transgressive games… This is a one-of-a-kind achievement.”—Publishers Weekly, starred

“Riveting… Zevin has written the book she was born to write, a love letter to every aspect of gaming…Zevin’s delight in her characters, their qualities, and their projects sprinkles a layer of fairy dust over the whole enterprise…Sure to enchant even those who have never played a video game in their lives, with instant cult status for those who have.”—Kirkus, starred

“You don’t have to be a gamer to appreciate the pulsing heart of this best-seller: In a story spanning three decades and references from Oregon Trail to Macbeth, Gabrielle Zevlin has written a modern, definitive story about work, love, and friends for whom you’d do and risk everything.”—Keely Weiss and Halie Lesavage, Harper’s Bazaar

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Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane

04 Friday Aug 2023

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Set in summer 1974 at the start of the Boston busing crisis, Small Mercies is an intense, gripping mystery about a woman trying to find her missing daughter after she disappears the same night a young man is killed. The novel explores issues of race, family, education, crime, and features one of the most memorable characters I’ve met in a while: Mary Pat, the South Boston mother at the center of the story.

“This taut, gripping mystery is also a novel of soul-searching, for the author and reader alike.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“Powerful, unforgettable…[a] remarkable novel about racism, violence, and parental vengeance.” — Library Journal (starred review)

“A complex, multidimensional tragedy of epic proportions . . . Lehane straddles the line between historical fiction and thriller as dexterously as anyone, and this is his best work so far.” — Booklist (starred review)

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The Midcoast by Adam White 

24 Monday Jul 2023

Posted by in action, adventure, Drama, Fiction, murder and investigation, United States

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A propulsive drama that cares as deeply about its characters as it does about the crimes they commit, The Midcoast explores the machinations of privilege, the dark recesses of the American dream, and the lies we tell as we try, at all costs, to protect the ones we love. (Amazon)

“Looking for an addictive summer read? This crime drama embedded in a moving portrait of two Maine families marks the debut of a genius storyteller.”—People (Book of the Week)

“The Midcoast is a suspenseful, funny, and chilling uncovering of small-town secrets within a propulsive family drama. . . . A perfect summer read about a perfect vacation haven.”—Angie Kim, author of Miracle Creek

“In deft, knowing, and crystalline prose, Adam White writes, in essence, the novel about the Maine coast, a winsome, perplexing, and ultimately shadowy place that doesn’t give up its big secrets easily.”—Richard Ford

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Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson

17 Monday Jul 2023

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In a wealthy section of Brooklyn Heights lives the Stockton family, where each of the three adult children navigates love, marriage, and their careers, including the spouses who marry into this unique family of great privilege. This is a well written book to bring to the beach this summer.

“A charming, funny, and keenly observed story about New York City’s one percent—and what it means to find yourself among them, whether by birth or marriage.”


—Town and Country “Love is at the heart of this sparkling debut novel by Jenny Jackson, which excavates old money and contemporary problems with satiric flair.”
—Southern Living

“This novel…is laugh-out-loud good….Love and money have always mixed like oil and water (not well), but Jackson finds new humor and warmth in her particularly witty debut.”—Harper’s Bazaar

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The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese

05 Wednesday Jul 2023

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Doctor-writer Abraham Verghese is one of my all-time favorite authors.  It has been 14 years since he wrote his best seller, Cutting for Stone.  Come to Kerala, India and one family who suffers from The Condition –  where one family member every generation dies by drowning. Follow Big Ammachi as she survives tragedy and triumph for seventy years, starting as a 12 –year-old bride to grand matriarch, along with her country.

“Instantly and utterly absorbing is the so-worth-the-wait new novel by the author of Cutting for Stone . . . Verghese—who gifts the matriarch his mother’s name and even some of her stories—illuminates colonial history, challenges castes and classism, and exposes injustices, all while spectacularly spinning what will undoubtedly be one of the most lauded, awarded, best-selling novels of the year.”—Terry Hong, Booklist (starred review)

“One of the best books I’ve read in my entire life. It’s epic. It’s transportive . . . It was unputdownable!”—Oprah Winfrey, OprahDaily.com

“A masterpiece. Put it on your bookcase next to A Passage to India by E.M. Forster or anything by the brave and brilliant Salman Rushdie. Indeed, put it next to any great novel of your choice. Sprawling, passionate, tragic and comedic at turns . . . Verghese, probably the best doctor-writer since Anton Chekhov, upends all of our expectations . . . You won’t want it to end.”—BookPage (starred review)

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Someone Else’s Shoes by Jojo Moyes 

28 Wednesday Jun 2023

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When two women accidentally take each other’s bags at the gym, it sets off a series of events and misunderstandings. Sam and Nisha are two mothers in their 40s living in London, each dealing with personal issues in their careers and families. I always enjoy reading Jojo Moyes, and this was more comedic than some of her other books, while still being thoughtful and poignant.

“[Someone Else’s Shoes] showcases Moyes’ ability to portray emotion and female friendship with themes of love, betrayal, family, and hope. It is action packed and will have readers rooting for Nisha and Sam.”—Booklist, STARRED review

“This is a novel about women of a certain age who suddenly find themselves invisible — to their spouses, to their colleagues, to the world — and find pleasure in being “seen” by each other.”—The New York Times

“Nobody writes women the way Jojo Moyes does—recognizably real and complex and funny and flawed—which is what makes her novels an auto-buy for me.”—Jodi Picoult, #1 New York Times bestselling author

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