Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

28 Friday Apr 2023

Posted by in detective, Fiction, murder, murder and investigation, mystery

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Quirky and silly – at times a little convoluted – but still great fun! Felt like an Australian “Knives Out”.

“I absolutely LOVED it. It’s so engaging, entertaining and charming. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything like it. It was SUCH a fun read.”  — Marian Keyes

“Exceptionally clever and amusing. … Stevenson carries off this tour de force with all the aplomb of a master magician who conducts his tricks in plain view.”? — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Exceedingly clever… Read it once for fun and then again to see how it was done.” — CriminalElement.com

“I absolutely loved it. Utterly original, hugely entertaining, and a must-read for every fan of the mystery genre. What an exceptionally fresh, smart, funny book—I’ve never read anything like this before.” — Jane Harper

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All the Broken Places by John Boyne

21 Friday Apr 2023

Posted by in 20th century, Fiction, Historical Fiction

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Ever since the author wrote his bestseller, The Boy in the Striped Pajamas he knew he would one day write the story about his older sister, Gretel.  I could not put this book down – it’s the best I have read in ages!

“When is a monster’s child culpable? Guilt and complicity are multifaceted. John Boyne is a maestro of historical fiction. You can’t prepare yourself for the magnitude and emotional impact of this powerful novel.”—John Irving, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The World According to Garp

“Clear your calendar. Get All the Broken Places and just don’t make any plans, other than to read and read and read.”—Washington Blade

“A powerful novel about secrets and atonement after Auschwitz… All the Broken Places is a defence of literature’s need to shine a light on the darkest aspects of human nature; and it does so with a novelist’s skill, precision and power.”—The Guardian

“What an incredible feat of storytelling. All the Broken Places is a stark confrontation of evil, an examination of guilt and deflection, and an old-fashioned page-turner. John treads the finest of narrative lines with skill and grace and proves himself yet again to be among the world’s greatest storytellers.” —Donal Ryan, #1 international bestselling author of The Queen of Dirt Island and Strange Flowers

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All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me by Patrick Bringley 

12 Wednesday Apr 2023

Posted by in Biography

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A beautifully written memoir about a man who goes to work as a security guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art after the death of his brother to help deal with his grief. The book is also full of his observations on the museum’s amazing art collection, and the interesting people he meets and works with.

“Exquisite… A beautiful tale about beauty. It is also a tale about grief, balancing solitude and comradeship, and finding joy in both the exalted and the mundane.” —The Washington Post

“An empathic chronicle of one museum, the works collected there and the people who keep it running — all recounted by an especially patient observer.” —The New York Times Book Review

“As rich in moving insights as the Met is in treasures, All the Beauty in the World reminds us of the importance of learning not “about art, but from it.” This is art appreciation at a profound level.”—NPR


“This absorbing memoir is also a beautifully written manual on how to appreciate art, and life. It’s a must-read for art lovers” —Tracy Chevalier, author of Girl with a Pearl Earring

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Foster by Clair Keegan

05 Wednesday Apr 2023

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Just 95 pages……. Keegan’s short stories are now being published as stand-alone books. Her work is a staple on school curriculums. She can tell a story in a paragraph. What she notices is honed to such precision.  Her 2021 novella , Small Things Like These at 114 pages is shortlisted for the Booker Prize.  Treat yourself.

A story of astonishing emotional depth, Foster showcases Claire Keegan’s great talent and secures her reputation as one of our most important storytellers. (Amazon)

“As good as Chekhov.” — David Mitchell

“An immensely powerful snapshot novel…this work mines the recesses of human fragility with a compassionate and deft pen, its combination of simple language and sweeping empathy landing with the force of a saga…a rich, compassionate work.” — Library Journal (starred review)

“Pristine… Both concise and gut-wrenching. [Keegan’s] superficially simple prose persuasively conveys a child’s sometimes-innocent but always careful and insightful observations of the world…A heartbreaking but deeply humane story about parents and children.” — Kirkus, starred review

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Book of Everlasting Things by Aanchal Malhotra 

27 Monday Mar 2023

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April 2023 “Novels and Night” book club choice at the Weston Public Library

“Mesmerizing…At the heart of Malhotra’s sweeping debut novel is an indelible love story…A transcendent study of the blurring of personal and political, as ordinary people deal with catastrophic historical events.”―Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“At once sweeping and intimate. With gorgeous prose and careful research, Malhotra brings to life a world rich with Indian perfumery, Urdu calligraphy, and a romance that defies time and space. A stunning book that reminds you of what it is to fall in love.”―Jenny Tinghui Zhang, author of Four Treasures of the Sky

“A long and luxurious tale of love, loss, memory, and place, told against a backdrop of tumultuous historical events…It will be difficult indeed to forget this exquisite story.”―Library Journal (starred review)

“A majestic, evocative exploration of the persistence of memory and the human connections that transcend even death.”―Booklist (starred review)

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Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal

20 Monday Mar 2023

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March 2023 book selection for the “In the Mood for Love Book Group” at the Weston Public library

“I loved this novel―it’s so big-hearted and earthy and funny. Best of all, it turns many preconceptions upside down, and opens up a world that so many of us have only glimpsed. A rattlingly good story.” — Deborah Moggach, author of THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL

“Jaswal tackles serious themes (arranged vs forced marriage, traditional vs modern culture) with a light and funny touvh. A page-turner your commute will thank you for.” — Glamour Magazine

“By turns erotic, romantic, and mysterious, this novel of women defying patriarchial strictures enchants.” — Kirkus Reviews

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This is Happiness by Niall Williams

11 Saturday Mar 2023

Posted by in Fiction, meaning of life, nature

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How did I miss this book in 2019?! Travel back to a simpler time in a small Irish parish with a young boy/man living with his grandparents.  Niall Williams’ language and turn of phrase will keep you savoring every twist and turn of the character’s experiences made so real you will think you are right there with him. A portrait of community and the power of stories.

“Warm and whimsical, sometimes sorrowful, but always expressed in curlicues of Irish lyricism, this charming book makes varied use of its electrical metaphor, not least to express the flickering pulse of humanity. A story both little and large and one that pulls out all the Irish stops.” ―Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“Williams has the eye of a poet and the raconteur’s knack for finding a tale in the most unpromising nook of everyday life.” ―The Daily Mail

“The beauty and power of Irish author Niall Williams’ writing lies in his ability to invest the quotidian with wonder. A truly peerless wordsmith, he even makes descriptions of gleaming white appliances and telephone wire sing…the book is hilarious among its many other virtues. Buy, rent, get your hands on this book somehow and savor every word of it. Its title says it all: Plunging into This is Happiness is happiness indeed.” ―BookPage, starred review

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The Late Show by Michael Connelly

01 Wednesday Mar 2023

Posted by in action, crimes against, detective, Fiction, murder, murder and investigation, mystery, suspense, United States

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This was my first time reading the prolific Michael Connelly, and I loved this mystery that introduces us to Renee Ballard, a detective in LA working the overnight shift. Ballard is a great character and the cases she tries to solve in this first story are compelling.

The Late Show introduces a terrific female character: Detective Renee Ballard…The pacing of Ballard’s debut story is breathless…Ballard is complicated and driven enough to sustain the series Connelly doubtless has in mind for her.– “New York Times”

A hard-hitting police procedural that captures the imagination from page one.– “RT Book Reviews (4 stars)”

The most intriguing mystery in The Late Show, though, is Ballard herself. Connelly is too skillful to hand us her resume in one document dump; instead, he fills out her portrait with a subtle hand over the course of the novel, a little background here, a glimpse of her temperament there, the revelation of her unusual living conditions sketched in between.– “Tampa Bay Times”

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Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka 

22 Wednesday Feb 2023

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A man is set to be executed for murder, and as he waits out his final hours, we hear from him and the women in his life on how he ended up here. This dark, thought-provoking novel is hard to put down. 

“Kukafka crafts a disturbingly remorseless killer in Packer but infuses the events that draw readers to his final moments with raw empathy and lingering questions about human evil and the destruction left in its wake.”— Booklist (starred review)

“Unshakable, deeply compassionate . . . Kukafka wrings tremendous suspense out of a story that isn’t a whodunit or even strictly a why-dunit, suspense born out of a desire to see these women transcend the identities consigned to them. . . . A contemporary masterpiece that sits alongside The Executioner’s Song and Victim: The Other Side of Murder in the library of crime literature.” — Library Journal (starred review)

“At once blistering with righteous anger and radical empathy, Notes on an Execution is destined to become a contemporary classic.” — Esquire, The Most Anticipated Books of Winter 2022

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If I Survive You by Jonathan Escoffery

15 Wednesday Feb 2023

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A beautifully written collection of linked stories about a Jamaican family living in Florida that explores race, class, relationships, and trauma.

“A blazing success. . . . A profoundly authentic vision of family dynamics and racism in America . . . These eight stories are completely immersive, humorous yet heartbreaking. . . . Escoffery brings an imaginative, fresh voice to his deep exploration of what it means to be a man, son, brother, father and nonwhite immigrant in America.” ―BookPage (starred review)

“If I Survive You is a collection of connected short stories that reads like a novel, that reads like real life, that reads like fiction written at the highest level. This is a compelling hurricane of a book that sweeps the past, present and future together into one inextricable knot. This is where Jonathan Escoffery’s career begins. There are no limits to where he will go.” ―Ann Patchett, author of The Dutch House

“Escoffery’s debut of interconnected short stories confirms his already prize-winning status . . . The writing and characters are nuanced, with moments of brevity and humor but much more pain and trauma. Trelawny is a wonder, constantly trying to improve himself and yet battered again and again by his own actions or more likely, those outside his control, just like the ever present Miami hurricanes.” ―Booklist (starred review)

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