Going Home by Ted Lamont

14 Monday Apr 2025

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in England, Fiction, Humor

Tags

death, families, fatherhood, Jews, London (England), toddlers

Not often do we find a book that nails male friendship…..spot on….and so funny!

“Going Home is a sparkling, funny, bighearted story of family and what happens when three men—all of whom are completely ill-suited for fatherhood—take charge of a toddler following an unexpected loss” – Amazon

“A trio of unlikely British men are tasked with unexpected fatherhood duties in the care of a delightfully inquisitive 4-year-old named Joel. The novel’s unforgettable characters and emphasis on caregiving and friendship spread a poignant and joyful message.”—The Christian Science Monitor

“There is so much to love about this book, foremost the poignantly, sometimes painfully detailed portrait of 30-something guys….Joel himself—his way of speaking, his tantrums, his predilections, his memory—is one of the most vivid fictional children since Jack in Room….Their synagogue has a new rabbi, a woman named Sibyl Challis, who is also the best rabbi character in recent memory….A great premise, a great story, but most of all, great characters.”—Kirkus (starred review)

“Funny and poignant, bittersweet and moving…. Going Home made me cry on more than one occasion, and laugh out loud many more times. It’s a terrific reminder that what binds us to our loved ones isn’t blood but the care we take to keep them close, and our ability to show up for them when we screw it up on the first go-round.”—Isaac Fitzgerald, The New York Times

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The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer

01 Monday Jul 2024

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in Fiction, romance

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allied health personnell, death, hospice care, love, NYC (New York)

Clover has lived a mostly shuttered life in NYC with her grandfather. She becomes a death doula (yes, a paying job) and spends so much time with the dying that she doesn’t have much to show for her own life until she meets a feisty woman. This book takes the normally taboo subject of death and turns it into a reason to celebrate life.

“This weird, lovely and sweetly satisfying novel [is] engaging and accessible…Clover’s emergence from a shuttered life is moving enough to elicit tears, and Brammer’s take on death and grieving is profound enough to feel genuinely instructional.” ––The New York Times Book Review

“Brammer writes with grace and heart about the complicated and complex world of grief. The Collected Regrets of Clover explores anticipatory grief, denial, anger, loss, and––as the title suggests––regret. Despite the heavy subject, though, Brammer’s debut is never dark or hopeless…[and] is ultimately a beautiful story of belonging and connection and, cliché though it may sound, what it really means to live life to its fullest.” ––Shelf Awareness

“This is a beautiful tale of a vulnerable, compassionate woman who finds that, in order to care for others, she must also let herself be cared for. Even that cliché feels moving, rather than saccharine, in Brammer’s capable hands.” ––Kirkus (starred review)

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Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera

01 Wednesday May 2024

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in detective, Fiction, murder and investigation, United States

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best friends, death, detective and mystery stories, murder and investigation, podcasts, small cities, Texas

Lucy was there the night her best friend was murdered, but she can’t remember anything. She is also the main suspect. When a podcast host focuses on the crime years later, Lucy returns to find out what really happened. This mystery page-turner has great characters and lots of dark humor.

“Listen for the Lie is a page-turner from the first sentence to the very last. In addition to being a world-class whodunit, full of carefully doled-out twists, Lucy is a terrific character, feisty and funny and, it turns out, brave as hell. It’s great fun. Readers will rip through this one.”―Stephen King

“Every so often, a book comes along that takes you for a ride–now buckle up, because Amy Tintera has written it. Listen for the Lieexplores the cruelest kind of world through the eyes of a woman whose grit is only outmatched by her razor-sharp wit. This bitingly funny and subversive thriller is one of the freshest and fiercest you’ll read this year.”―Courtney Summers, New York Times bestselling author of Sadie

“Original and deliciously dark with a wicked sense of humor. An addictive page-turner that will keep you guessing until the end.”―Alice Feeney, New York Times bestselling author

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The Wildest Sun by Asha Lemmie

13 Wednesday Mar 2024

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in Fiction, Historical Fiction

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death, Ernest Hemingway 1899-1961, father and daughters, Harlem (New York N.Y.)|, Key West (Fla.)|, mothers, Paris (France)|

Author of Fifty Words for Rain, Lemmie takes us from Paris, to NYC, Cuba, and Key West in the footsteps of one sassy, spirited protagonist who is convinced her father is the famous Ernest Hemingway.

“The Wildest Sun is an emotional, hypnotizing, and powerful ride.”—Shondaland, “The Best Books for December 2023”

“From France to Cuba, from war to revolution, The Wildest Sun is a moving meditation on the stories we tell others, the stories we tell ourselves, and how we break free of the past in order to write a brighter future. Simply marvelous!” —Janet Skeslien Charles, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Library

“The Wildest Sun is an epic quest for identity and a tender search for selfhood as a woman and a writer. Asha Lemmie is a master of the heart and with her we meet the vulnerable Delphine as she searches for the larger-than-life man who might be her father. Through decades and across continents, The Wildest Sun is an inspiring and compelling novel. Lemmie’s insightful observations into the writers life with its hopes, fears, and creativity is the lifeblood of this courageous journey for the truth.” —Patti Callahan Henry, New York Times Bestselling author of The Secret Book of Flora Lea

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Sometimes People Die by Simon Stephenson

04 Wednesday Jan 2023

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in detective, England, Fiction, murder, murder and investigation, mystery, suspense, thriller, Uncategorized

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death, London (England), medical fiction, murder, opioid abuse, patients, physicians, serial murderers, thriller

Returning to practice after a suspension for stealing opioids, a young doctor takes the only job he can find: a post as a physician at the struggling St. Luke’s Hospital in east London…. Drawing on his experiences as a physician, Simon Stephenson takes readers into the dark heart of life as a hospitalist to ask the question: Who are the people we gift the power of life and death, and what does it do to them? (Amazon)

“This timely novel has it all: it’s a chilling literary thriller, an emotional dive into the joys and stresses of our health care workers, and a genre-bending story with a perfect dose of gallows humor. I loved this book.. and never want to visit a hospital again!”—Matthew Sullivan, author of Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore

“Enjoyable…the novel’s tone shifts from dread to suspense as the narrator turns amateur sleuth when the facts don’t seem to add up.”—Publishers Weekly

“The witty writing, quirky protagonist, and anecdotal descriptions of real-life medical villains combine to make Sometimes People Die a delightful read. I loved it.”—Kathy Reichs

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Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

04 Monday Jan 2021

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in 20th century, Fiction

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brothers, California, death, depressed persons, faith, families, Ghanaians in U.S., grief, mentally ill mothers, psychiatry research, women medical students

Gifty is a PhD candidate in neuroscience at Stanford. She studies addiction and depression in mice, but both exist in her family as well. Gifty is very much a contemporary, forward-looking character—a Ghanaian-American woman who is excelling in science at one of the best schools in the world—but she is also drawn by memories of faith and family in Alabama where she grew up. Quite different from her first book, Homegoing. A compelling read.

“Unforgettable… Transcendent Kingdom has an expansive scope that ranges into fresh, relevant territories—much like the title, which suggests a better world beyond the life we inhabit.”—BookPage [starred review]

“Gyasi’s wise second novel pivots toward intimacy… In precise prose, Gyasi creates an ache of recognition, especially for readers knowledgeable about the wreckage of addiction. Still, she leavens this nonlinear novel with sly humor… The author is astute about childhood grandiosity and a pious girl’s deep desire to be good; she conveys in brief strokes the notched, nodding hook of heroin’s oblivion…final chapter that gives readers a taste of hard-won deliverance.”—Kirkus Reviews [starred review]

“Yaa Gyasi’s profoundly moving second novel takes place in the vast, fragile landscape where the mysteries of God and the certainties of science collide. Through deliberate and precise prose, the book becomes an expansive meditation on grief, religion, and family.”—The Boston Globe

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Once We Were Sisters: A Memoir by Sheila Kohler

19 Friday Jan 2018

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in Biography, Travel

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1961-1994, death, sisters, South Africa, travel writing, women authors

On the first page in the first one hundred words, the author has given the reader the end of the story. But the writing is so fluid and so many intriguing topics are touched on – sisterhood, motherhood, the yearning for the impossible, the regret of unfulfilled relationships, the desire to write it all down and the exotic but troubled location of South Africa during apartheid – that the reader feels compelled to read on to discover the full story.

“A searing and intimate memoir about love turned deadly.” —The BBC

“In this intimate, exquisitely written memoir, the author’s first work of nonfiction, she explores the impenetrable bond that can exist between sisters. . . . In spare, delicate prose, Kohler brings a seasoned novelist’s skills to this deeply moving, compelling memoir.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

“It’s fitting that the book is written in the present tense, because [Kohler’s] sister is forever with her. Their relationship changes shape yet lingers, as do the important questions about women and violence.”—Oprah.com (5 Powerful New Memoirs)

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The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

14 Monday Dec 2015

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in Fiction

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Tags

death, psychological fiction, sisters, widows

A woman reflects on her life, particularly her relationship with her late sister, who died after driving off a bridge. The novel alternates between past and present, and includes a “novel within a novel” that adds to the mystery surrounding the two sisters’ lives. Margaret Atwood is an acclaimed writer, and this is my favorite of her books that I’ve read.

“Absorbing… expertly rendered… Virtuosic storytelling [is] on display.”–The New York Times

“Brilliant… Opulent… Atwood is a poet…. as well as a contriver of fiction, and scarcely a sentence of her quick, dry yet avid prose fails to do useful work, adding to a picture that becomes enormous.”–John Updike, The New Yorker

“Bewitching… A killer novel…. Atwood’s crisp wit and steely realism are reminiscent of Edith Wharton… A wonderfully complex narrative.”
—The Christian Science Monitor

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Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng

04 Wednesday Nov 2015

Posted by Weston Public Library Staff in Fiction, mystery

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Tags

Chinese Americans, daughters, death, detective, grief, mystery, Ohio

After reading the first three words, the first sentence and the first paragraph, the reader will know what happened to the central character in this book. But then the question is Why? and then How? and then For What?

Celeste Ng, in her first novel, has gracefully written a poignant and heartbreaking story of family, ethnicity, communication and grief that the reader will be compelled to read in one sitting.

“If we know this story, we haven’t seen it yet in American fiction, not until now… Ng has set two tasks in this novel’s doubled heart—to be exciting, and to tell a story bigger than whatever is behind the crime. She does both by turning the nest of familial resentments into at least four smaller, prickly mysteries full of secrets the family members won’t share… What emerges is a deep, heartfelt portrait of a family struggling with its place in history, and a young woman hoping to be the fulfillment of that struggle. This is, in the end, a novel about the burden of being the first of your kind—a burden you do not always survive.” – Alexander Chee, The New York Times Book Review

“Wonderfully moving…Emotionally precise…A beautifully crafted study of dysfunction and grief…[This book] will resonate with anyone who has ever had a family drama.” – Boston Globe

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Tag Archives: death

Going Home by Ted Lamont

The Collected Regrets of Clover by Mikki Brammer

“This weird, lovely and sweetly satisfying novel [is] engaging and accessible…Clover’s emergence from a shuttered life is moving enough to elicit tears, and Brammer’s take on death and grieving is profound enough to feel genuinely instructional.” ––The New York Times Book Review

“This is a beautiful tale of a vulnerable, compassionate woman who finds that, in order to care for others, she must also let herself be cared for. Even that cliché feels moving, rather than saccharine, in Brammer’s capable hands.” ––Kirkus (starred review)

Listen for the Lie by Amy Tintera

The Wildest Sun by Asha Lemmie

Sometimes People Die by Simon Stephenson

“Enjoyable…the novel’s tone shifts from dread to suspense as the narrator turns amateur sleuth when the facts don’t seem to add up.”—Publishers Weekly

“The witty writing, quirky protagonist, and anecdotal descriptions of real-life medical villains combine to make Sometimes People Die a delightful read. I loved it.”—Kathy Reichs

Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi

Once We Were Sisters: A Memoir by Sheila Kohler

The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng