*One Christmas Morning: Eva has spent the past three years burying herself in her work, trying to forget the heartbreaking events of the Christmas that ripped her world apart. And this year, on the eve of her shop launch, the last thing Eva wants is to drive to the wild moors of Cornwall to attend her friends Hallie and Kian’s Christmas party. But at her husband James’ insistence, here they are.
The Lost Manuscript: When Anne-Lise books a room at the Beau Rivage Hotel for vacation she has no idea this trip will start her on the path to unearthing a mystery. In search of something to read, she opens up her bedside table drawer in her hotel room, and inside she finds an abandoned manuscript. Halfway through the pages, an address is written. She sends pages to the address, in hopes of potentially hearing a response. But not before she reads the story and falls in love with it. The response, which she receives astonishes her...Not only does the author write back, but he says he lost the manuscript 30 years ago. This book is written in the forms of letters. Top Pick.
Little House in the Big Woods: Based on the real-life adventures of Laura Ingalls Wilder.
A Christmas Carol: I reread this classic every year. It’s one of my all time favorite stories. Miserly Ebenezer Scrooge, Christmas is just another day. But all that changes when the ghost of his long-dead business partner appears, warning Scrooge to change his ways before it's too late.
A Yorkshire Christmas: Wealthy New York City girl Claire isn’t looking for a Christmas miracle or happiness when she abruptly decides to hole up for the holiday at her godmother’s cottage in a Yorkshire village, and lick her wounds from a disastrous romance but, of course that changes.
Vinegar Girl: Kate Battista feels stuck. How did she end up running house and home for her eccentric scientist father and uppity, pretty younger sister Bunny? Plus, she’s always in trouble at work – her pre-school charges adore her, but their parents don’t always appreciate her unusual opinions and forthright manner.
Mrs. Harris Goes To Parliament: I do love this series. Mrs Harris is a salt-of-the-earth charlady. Her knack of setting things straight often has the tendency to stray beyond keeping things neat and tidy... encourages her to become a voice for the people of Battersea and stand for election herself.
The Christmas Mouse: Mrs. Berry is frightened by a mouse and goes downstairs to sit-out Christmas Eve and is disturbed again by a young run-away boy. This lovely tale still enchants me about the best in human nature. I was given this book when I was 5yrs old and I try and reread it every year.
Bad Summer People: Jen and Lauren rule the town of Salcombe, every summer. They’re adept at manipulating people to get what they want. Their husbands, Sam and Jason, have summered on the island since childhood. This season starts out as quietly as usual until a body is discovered, face down off the side of the boardwalk. None of them would claim to be a particularly good person. But who among them is actually capable of murder? This is a deliciously smart and entertaining read. Top Pick.
*The Golden Spoon: The author of numerous best-selling cookbooks and hailed as “America’s Grandmother,” Betsy Martin isn’t as warm off-screen as on, although no one needs to know that but her. She has always demanded perfection, and gotten it with a smile, but this year something is off. Things go awry as the baking competition begins. At first, it’s merely sabotage—sugar replaced with salt, a burner turned too high—but when a body is discovered, everyone is a suspect.
*The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store: In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, were digging the foundations for a new development, the last thing they expected to find was a skeleton at the bottom of a well. Who the skeleton was and how it got there were two of the long-held secrets kept by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side and shared ambitions and sorrows. McBride shows us that even in dark times, it is love and community-heaven and earth-that sustain us. Top Pick.
So Late In The Day: Each story probes the dynamics that corrupt what could be between women and a lack of generosity, the weight of expectation, the looming threat of violence. Potent, charged, and breathtakingly insightful, these three essential tales will linger with readers long after the book is closed.
John Stamos - If You Would Have Told Me: A universal story about friendship, love, loss, and the courage to embrace love once more, John Stamos’s memoir is filled with some of the most memorable names in Hollywood, both old and new.
The Turn of the Screw: A young woman's first job: governess for two weirdly beautiful, strangely distant, oddly silent children, Miles and Flora, at a forlorn estate... An estate haunted by a beckoning evil. Half-seen figures who glare from dark towers and dusty windows.
Sunset Beach: With no other prospects, Drue joins her father Brice Campbell’s personal injury law firm. When a suspicious death at an exclusive beach resort nearby exposes possible corruption at her father’s firm she starts to investigate. Mary Kay Andrews books are always a yes for me.
Beartown: We enter a small forest town - where Hockey is omnipresent - we meet inhabitants who carefully share only select parts of themselves - they monitor who knows what - who they are to their parents, coach, children. The Son who can’t share who he loves, the Mother who wishes she’d shown her love, the Father who is unsure what to say. We see a community who is afraid. I listened to this book in 2-1/2days - a page turner - I found riveting characters and as a hockey parent I understood the ever present sport - because hockey is a lifestyle. Top Pick.
Us Against You: This 2nd volume in the Beartown series had me staying up late and like it’s predecessor I listened to it in 2-1/2days - another page turner. We find a new coach in Beartown but, the rivalry with Hed is even more frenzied. By the time the last game between them is played, a resident of Beartown will be dead and people in both towns will be forced to wonder if, after all they’ve been through - was any of it worth it? Top Pick.
The Winners: This 3rd and final volume in the Beartown series is the longest at 21hrs and 23 minutes. Fredrick Backman holds us in suspense for the first 3+hrs. as we wait for the identity of a Beartown resident who has died. We meet new characters who are woven in seamlessly who we care deeply for and old friends return. This novel made me cry more than once and at it’s end we will mourn for more than that single resident it’s the saddest of the series. Top Pick.
The Year of Magical Thinking: Several days before Christmas 2003, John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion saw their only daughter, Quintana, fall ill with what seemed at first flu, then pneumonia, then complete septic shock. She was put into an induced coma and placed on life support. Days later–the night before New Year's Eve–the Dunnes were just sitting down to dinner after visiting the hospital when John Gregory Dunne suffered a fatal coronary. This powerful book is Didion's attempt to make sense of the "weeks and then months that cut loose any fixed idea I ever had about death, about illness . . . about marriage and children and memory . . . about the shallowness of sanity, about life itself." The book follows the first year without her husband of 40 years - while managing their daughters fragile health. Top Pick.
The Color of Water: Who is Ruth McBride Jordan? A self-declared "light-skinned" woman evasive about her ethnicity, yet steadfast in her love for her twelve black children. James McBride, journalist, musician and son, explores his mother's past, as well as his own upbringing and heritage, in a poignant and powerful debut, The Color Of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother.
Let Me Tell You What I Mean: From one of our most iconic and influential writers: a timeless collection of mostly early pieces that reveal what would become Joan Didion's subjects, including the press, politics, California robber barons, women, and her own self-doubt.
Astor: The Rise and Fall of An American Fortune: The story of the Astors is a quintessentially American story—of ambition, invention, destruction, and reinvention. From 1783, when German immigrant John Jacob Astor first arrived in the United States, until 2009, when Brooke Astor’s son, Anthony Marshall, was convicted of defrauding his elderly mother, the Astor name occupied a unique place in American society.
*The Heiress: When Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore dies, she’s not only North Carolina’s richest woman, she’s also its most notorious. It’s interesting that her adopted son Camden wants nothing to do with his inheritance. This book is written in the forms of letters. Top Pick.
The Mystery Guest: Molly Gray is not like anyone else. With her flair for cleaning and proper etiquette, she has risen through the ranks of the five-star Regency Grand Hotel to become Head Maid. But just as her life reaches a pinnacle state of perfection, her world is turned upside down when J. D. Grimthorpe, the world-renowned mystery author, drops dead on the hotel’s tearoom floor. When Detective Stark, Molly’s old foe, investigates the author’s unexpected demise, it becomes clear that this death was murder most foul. Suspects abound.
Master Slave Husband Wife: The remarkable true story of Ellen and William Craft, who escaped slavery through daring, determination, and disguise, with Ellen passing as a wealthy, disabled White man and William posing as “his” slave.
Remarkably Bright Creatures: After Tova Sullivan's husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she's been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago. Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium.
1776: In this masterful book, David McCullough tells the intensely human story of those who marched with General George Washington in the year of the Declaration of Independence - when the whole American cause was riding on their success, without which all hope for independence would have been dashed and the noble ideals of the Declaration would have amounted to little more than words on paper. Top Pick.
Ethan Frome: Ethan Frome works his unproductive farm and struggles to maintain a bearable existence with his difficult, suspicious and hypochondriac wife, Zeena. But when Zeena's vivacious cousin enters their household as a hired girl, Ethan finds himself obsessed with her and with the possibilities for happiness she comes to represent.
The Secret Book of Flora Lea: I have a few thoughts about the sisters ages and the 1960’s time frame but, that won’t stop me from listing as a favorite. In 1939 Hazel (14) and her sister Flora (5) are evacuated from London to a rural village along the River Thames, Hazel fills their days with walks, games and a fairy tale she’s created about a magical land to entertain Flora. While playing near the river Flora vanishes and Hazel blames herself for her sister’s disappearance. Twenty years later, Hazel in London at the last day of her job at a cozy rare bookstore when she unwraps a package containing an illustrated book called Whisperwood and the River of Stars. Hazel never told a soul about the imaginary world she created for Flora. Could this book hold the secrets to Flora’s disappearance? Could it be a sign that her beloved sister is still alive after all these years? Top Pick.
The Wright Brothers: On a winter day in 1903, in the Outer Banks of North Carolina, two unknown brothers from Ohio changed history. But it would take the world some time to believe what had happened: the age of flight had begun, with the first heavier-than-air, powered machine carrying a pilot. Who were these men and how was it that they achieved what they did? Top Pick.
*The Vaster Wilds: A servant girl escapes from a colonial settlement in the wilderness. She carries nothing with her but her wits, a few possessions, and the spark of god that burns hot within her. What she finds out in the wild alone is beyond the limits of her imagination and will bend her belief in everything that her own civilization has taught her.
Monster: My son was assigned this book for school and it’s written in the form of a screen play. I decided to read it for myself. Steve is on trial for murder. (I do not think the evidence backs up the charges against him) I also do not understand why the author used this technique to tell the story. I did not enjoy this book.
Sandwich: For the past two decades, Rocky has looked forward to her family’s yearly escape to Cape Cod. This year’s vacation, with Rocky sandwiched between her half-grown kids and fully aging parents, promises to be just as delightful as summers past—except, perhaps, for Rocky’s hormonal bouts of rage and melancholy. (Hello, menopause!) Her body is changing—her life is, too. And then a chain of events sends Rocky into the past, reliving both the tenderness and sorrow of a handful of long-ago summers. I liked this book for the first 100 pages… then the themes left me scratching my head. I don’t believe the adult children were written well. Both seem much younger than 26 and 22. Especially the 22 yr old daughter. I wanted to like this book. I did not.
Society As I Have Found It: Well-connected and well-traveled, McAllister describes the habits, trends, and wealth of the upper classes of society. As the author testifies, it was a time of transformative, unprecedented extravagance through the emergence of new technology and new prosperity.
*The Uncommon Reader: Led by her yapping corgis to the Westminster traveling library outside Buckingham Palace, the Queen finds herself taking out a novel by Ivy Compton-Burnett. Duff read though it is, the following week her choice proves more enjoyable and awakens in Her Majesty a passion for reading so great that her public duties begin to suffer.
This Time Tomorrow: On the eve of her 40th birthday, Alice's life isn't terrible. She likes her job, even if it isn't exactly the one she expected. She's happy with her apartment, her romantic status, her independence, and she adores her lifelong best friend. But her father is ailing, and it feels to her as if something is missing. When she wakes up the next morning she finds herself back in 1996, reliving her 16th birthday. But it isn't just her adolescent body that shocks her, or seeing her high school crush, it's her dad: the vital, charming, 40-something version of her father with whom she is reunited. Now armed with a new perspective on her own life and his, some past events take on new meaning. Is there anything that she would change if she could? I’m a fan of the author Emma Staub.
None Of This Is True: Another Lisa Jewell book I loved. The Family Upstairs is in my article Get Your Read On! and this title has joined it as one of my very favorite reads. This is a physiological thriller. While out celebrating her birthday podcaster Alix Summers crosses paths with Josie Fair. They are, in fact, birthday twins. A few days later, Alix and Josie bump into each other again, this time outside Alix’s children’s school. Josie has been listening to Alix’s podcasts and thinks she might be an interesting subject. She is, she tells Alix, on the cusp of great changes in her life. Josie’s life appears to be strange and complicated, and although Alix finds her unsettling, she can’t quite resist the temptation of the podcast. Slowly she starts to realize Josie has been hiding some very dark secrets, and before she knows it, Josie has pushed herself into Alix’s life and her home! It’s a page turner! Top Pick.
The Fortune Hunters: Contrary to what you may think, fortune hunting is no idle pursuit. Like diving for treasure, it’s a real job. Some women strive to be CEOs; others prefer to wed them. You'll meet today's dazzling successes in this book. What kind of woman does it take to make the Midas marriage?
All Adults Here: When Astrid Strick witnesses a school bus accident in the center of town, it jostles loose a repressed memory from her young parenting days decades earlier. Suddenly, Astrid realizes she was not quite the parent she thought she’d been to her three, now-grown children. But to what consequence? It might be that only Astrid’s thirteen-year-old granddaughter and her new friend really understand the courage it takes to tell the truth to the people you love the most.
The Chalet: The French Alps, 1998 Two young men ski into a blizzard but only one returns. Now 20 yrs later four people who are connected to the missing man find themself in the same resort. Each has a secret but who has blood on their hands and which is a killer in waiting? A friend suggested this title because of my home. But, I really enjoyed the mystery. Top Pick.
Expiration Dates: Daphne Bell believes the universe has a plan for her. Every time she meets a new man, she receives a slip of paper with his name and a number on it—the exact amount of time they will be together. The papers told her she’d spend three days with Martin in Paris; five weeks with Noah in San Francisco; and three months with Hugo, her ex-boyfriend turned best friend. Daphne has been receiving the numbered papers for over twenty years, always wondering when there might be one without an expiration. Finally, the night of a blind date at her favorite Los Angeles restaurant, there’s only a name: Jake.
Once Upon A Time:The Captivating Life of Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy: Amidst today’s cultural reckoning about the way our media treats women, Elizabeth Beller explores the real person behind the tabloid headlines and media frenzy. When she began dating America’s prince, Carolyn was increasingly thrust into an overwhelming spotlight filled with relentless paparazzi who reacted to her reserve with a campaign of harassment and vilification. I enjoyed hearing about Carolyn’s childhood.
*The Flower Sisters: Daisy Flowers is fifteen in 1978 when her free-spirited mother dumps her in Possum Flats, Missouri. It’s a town that sounds like roadkill and, in Daisy’s eyes, is every bit as dead. Sentenced to spend the summer living with her grandmother, the wry and irreverent town mortician, Daisy draws the line at working for the family business, Flowers Funeral Home. Instead, she maneuvers her way into an internship at the local newspaper where, sorting through the basement archives, she learns of a mysterious tragedy from fifty years earlier…On a sweltering, terrible night in 1928, an explosion at the local dance hall left dozens of young people dead, shocking and scarring a town that still doesn’t know how or why it happened. Listed among the victims is a name that’s surprisingly familiar to Daisy, revealing an irresistible family connection to this long-ago accident. The premise was good but, the author and editor missed the mark on many details. The language of the characters for the time period. focusing on non- main characters and blatant mistakes regarding the time period. This was a freshman effort and I have not recommended this book to anyone.
*The Wedding People: It's a beautiful day in Newport, Rhode Island, when Phoebe Stone arrives at the grand Cornwall Inn wearing a green dress and gold heels, not a bag in sight, alone. She's immediately mistaken by everyone in the lobby for one of the wedding people, but she’s actually the only guest at the Cornwall who isn’t here for the big event. Phoebe is here because she’s dreamt of coming for years with her now ex-husband. Phoebe has hit bottom and wants to be at the Cornwall where she plans to die. Meanwhile, the bride has accounted for every detail except for Phoebe―before you know it Phoebe is one of the wedding people. I found it a page turner and a lovely look at human connection and being gentler on ourselves. Top Pick.
Minnie Driver: Managing Expectations: A beautifully crafted collection, filled with stories of her upbringing between England and Barbados; her post-university travails and triumphs—from being the only student in acting school not taken on by an agent to shooting to fame in one of the most influential films of the 1990s (Good Will Hunting) and being nominated for an Academy Award; and finding the true light of her life, her son and the heartbreaking loss of her mother. I found this book after hearing Minnie interviewed on Table for Two podcast. Minnie has her own enjoyable podcast.
A Christmas Carol: I don’t usually repeat a book within this time period. But, it’s one of my all time favorite stories and I’ve got Christmas on the brain I was thinking about decorating last week so I jumped onto to Hoopla and chose the version read by Arthur Lane. It was quite enjoyable!
*The Book Club Hotel: The Maple Sugar Inn is fully booked with guests but widowed far too young, and exhausted from juggling the hotel with being a dedicated single mom, Hattie Coleman dreams only of making it through the festive season. When Erica, Claudia and Anna—lifelong friends check in for a girlfriends’ book club holiday, it changes everything. Their close friendship and shared love of books have carried them through life's ups and downs. But Hattie can see they're also packing some major emotional baggage, and nothing prepares her for how deeply her own story is about to become entwined in theirs.
Marrying the Ketchups: Here are the three things the Sullivan family knows to be true: the Chicago Cubs will always be the underdogs; historical progress is inevitable; and their grandfather, Bud, founder of JP Sullivan's, will always make the best burgers in Oak Park. But when, over the course of three strange months, the Cubs win the World Series, Trump is elected president, and Bud drops dead, suddenly everyone in the family finds themselves doubting all they hold dear.
I’ve read/listened to 47 titles - four more than last year although Thanksgiving is a late this year.
Top Picks!
