Marilla of Green Gables/ Sarah McCoy

 Marilla of Green Gables/Sarah McCoy

If you are a fan of Anne of Green Gables, like I am, you will want to read anything remotely related to the series. 

This pre-quel story is about Marilla growing up and works its way to probably 15-20 years maybe before Anne with an E enters her life. 

She certainly had her share of tragedy and you can see where both she and her brother Matthew get their strong personalities and sense of purpose. 

The book was well written and author McCoy creates a story that is plausible; we can see Marilla’s later life building before our eyes. 

Enjoy the book, it will add depth to the 

L M Montgomery’s series about Anne.

William Morrow/Harper Collins

Published October 2018

Olive, Again/ Elizabeth Strout

 Olive, Again written by Elizabeth Strout. Again. 

Loved the sequel as much as I loved Olive Kitteridge.  Olive is such a quirky woman, lives in Crosby, Maine. And if you live in Maine, you either know or have met someone like Olive. A no-nonsense, honest as the day is long kind of person. Let’s you know just what she thinks of you. Shakes her head at the things people do. 

I like the way Strout has written these two novels. They bounce around between residents of the town. We learn something about every one of them, the good and the bad things.

And the one common denominator is Olive. And what I take away from these stories is that all of us touch so many lives. So many. Sometimes it helps and sometimes it hurts. Great story, put it on your TBR list!

The Known World/ Edward P Jones

I was late on the bandwagon with this one. But it’s never too late to read a good book.  A Pulitzer Prize winner. 

And although when you read the reviews you may think this is a story about a black slave owner named Henry Townsend, the book actually begins and ends with a slave named Moses.

Woven with historical fact, this work of fiction is a raw look into the lives of the 

people of Manchester County, Virginia before the Civil War.  Centered around the Henry Townsend plantation, it delves into the intricacies of being a free black man, owning land and slaves. 

It’s quite a powerful story and you won’t be able to put it down once you start it. 

This book needs to go into every reader’s TBR pile! 

Published by Amistad Books 2003

No, You Shut Up! /Symone D Sanders

Bold, brash, outspoken and smart, Symone Sanders is teaching a new generation to stand up. 

The title is a quote from Sanders after she was told to shut up on national TV. 

If you are struggling with getting your voice heard, this book is the perfect read for you. 

Just look at her credentials: currently a senior advisor on Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign, a juvenile justice advocate, former CNN political commentator and former resident Fellow at two prestigious political schools. And she lives right in the middle of it all, Washington, DC. ‘Nuff said.

No, You Shut Up

Symone D. Sanders

Harper Collins Publishing May 2020

Before You Go/Tommy Butler

Before You Go / Tommy Butler

This book is filling my empty space right now...and you will only know what I mean, when you read this book. It has profoundly affected me. I should wait a few days before I write a review because it’s so raw. But here goes...

Elliot was a traveler, not in the global sense but in a cosmic sense. He was always ‘different’ as a child and he recognized it even then. His parents covered for him or refused to acknowledge it, his brother teased him and he had no friends to understand him, except maybe Esther.
After college he goes off to NYC to work as an accountant, not what he had planned. He meets two people in group therapy, and forms a deep bond with both. Kindred spirits.
Elliot goes on to have a life...
You will have to take my word for it that this book is worth reading. It is.
You will see in the photo that my hand is on this book. It’s because I am keeping it on my bookshelf for a while, not passing it on just yet. I know I will re-read it someday.

Harper Collins, publisher
Out in August 2020

Guide to the Stars/Claire Comstock Gay

I love to read my horoscope and then say to myself “that’s so generic it could be anyone’s horoscope.”
That’s not what Claire Comstick Gay writes in her book Guide to the Stars.
Of course I went right to the Pisces chapter to see what she said about me. And I have to say I saw myself mirrored back from the pages.  Some of the fun horoscope stuff and then some quite serious life affirming stuff. She writes about Fred Rogers being a Pisces and it was so interesting to see the astrology spin on his character. It’s about being human and how we all get through this life.
Each chapter is a Sign of the Zodiac, so you can look at yours right away. After I read mine, I read some family and friends and yes, some exes chapters. Couldn’t resist.
Whether you believe in Astrology or not,  I think you will enjoy this one:)
Harper Collins, Publisher

True Love/Sarah Gerard

True Love/Sarah Gerard
Honestly, I’m surprised I finished this book. Not only finished it but enjoyed it, I think. It grabbed me and wouldn’t let me go!
I was just into the book about 3-4 paragraphs and I realize that what I’m assuming is the main character, Nina, is cheating on her boyfriend. Names of characters start appearing and without even knowing who they are, I can figure out what’s happening...and it happens so many times!
This novel is a crazy ride. Well written because you can feel the craziness.
Poor girl is looking for love, in all the wrong friends, and friends of friends, and their friends, too.
Fast paced, head shaking, heartbreaking...if you are up to it, I recommend it.
Harper Collins Publisher
July 2020

Monogamy/Sue Miller

Annie met Graham and fell for this big, burly, larger than life man. Married him and lived with him for thirty years. He died in his sleep and she was devastated. Until the get together after his funeral, when a woman acquaintance was found crying uncontrollably in Graham’s study.
Right away Annie knew....and then she had to pretend she was grieving... and that was just the beginning.
Great story, great read. Enjoyed it and recommend it.
Harper Collins Publisher/
September 2020

All the Light We Cannot See

All the Light We Cannot See
Anthony Doerr

This one. Wow. Pulitzer Prize Winner? Yes, every word of it. Put this on your TBR list, peeps.
So well written...Werner, a young German boy. Marie-Laure, a young, blind French girl. In the middle of WW2 and the French Occupation. So it’s not a light read. But so worthy of reading.
Most of the chapters are short. Some only little more than one page. It jumps between characters, between time, between countries. And towards the end of the book it moves you very quickly through events and the intensity drives you to keep reading.
(For me, way into the next morning)
I’m not going to get into the story, I want you discover this one on your own.

Fabulous

Fabulous by Lucy-Hughes-Hallett

Love a good book of short stories. It’s the kind of book to carry along with you on a day of errands when you know you will be in line waiting for your turn.
That does not mean the stories are any less meaningful or powerful than chapters in a novel. They can be even more so, packed full of power in fewer words.(remember Brokeback Mountain/Annie Proulx?)
Hughes-Hallett has given us stories of ordinary people, going through extraordinary circumstances. Drawn from fables, bible stories and Roman myths, you may recognize some of them and others you won’t. But truly all interesting reads.
This author has won many awards for her writing.
Published by Harper Collins Jan 2020

The Astonishing Life of August March/Aaron Jackson

Fantastical. You will have to believe that a newborn baby boy, thrown into the trash in the dressing room of a grand theater in NYC, can not only survive but thrive. INSIDE the theater. An elderly, spinster seamstress found the baby, decided to keep him for her own but couldn’t bring him home...
Alittle Pippi Longstocking, alittle Crawdad Sings, alittle Benjamin Buttons. Maybe some Garp thrown in.
But I have to tell you, I loved this book.
As I read all the incredible things happening in this kids life, I cheered him on! I wanted him to win, against all the odd and odds. And I believe you will, too. Look for it in bookstores in April.
Harper Collins, publisher
Author Aaron Jackson is a writer and comedian. This is his first novel.

Everlasting by Katy Simpson Smith

I will say right up front that I liked this book but it’s not an easy read. Historical fiction with a dash of modern philosophy. There are four interesting characters, all from different centuries spanning two thousand years.  A Christian child martyr, a monk on crypt duty, a Medici princess and a modern day biologist. There are common threads that connect them, and I think that was the hardest part reading the book. As I read, my mind searched for hidden meanings and a common anything to bring the story together. It takes awhile, but once you have read a few chapters, you will want to read more!
Each main character has a connection to Rome, a connection to faith and a connection to love in one form or another. And one more connection that I’m not going to mention;)
Author Katy Simpson Smith has a PhD in history and you can tell, details of the time period are authentic and you will feel enlightened on many levels.
I’m not sure I can even explain why I think this is a must read. It’s reading on a higher level...does that make sense?
Author Simpson Smith wrote The Story of Land and Sea, which I also enjoyed.
Look for it in March 2020/ Harper Collins, Publisher

The Lost Diary of M/ Paul Wolfe

So, I read this book over the weekend because I couldn’t put it down! The M in the title is Mary Pinchot Meyer, mistress of JFK, ex-wife of Cord Meyer, CIA.
The author, Paul Wolfe, takes us on a wild ride in this one. It is written as Mary’s hypothetical diary during the time she spent with JFK. Hypothetical, because the CIA found her diary after the assassination and destroyed it. FACT. I had to keep reminding myself that this book was historical FICTION because I absolutely believe this is the way history was made 1960-63. (In the author’s notes, Wolfe reminds us more than once it is fiction)
Great book, well written, fast paced, intriguing and plausible.
Starts out with Mary writing to her friend in Japan, if you are reading this, then I am dead”...then she tells us who did it. Chapters are titled by dates, and as the dates count down, you want to keep reading because you know it’s coming to November 1964. The book ends with Mary P Meyer’s unsolved murder less than a year later.
Can’t say enough, coming to book stores next month, Harper Collins, Publisher...a must read!

Everything I Know About Love/ Dolly Alderton

When I started this book, after a chapter or two, I almost put it aside. The drunken escapades of a twenty year old...not for me. But I liked the writing style of the author, it was raw and honest. So, I kept reading. Although our life circumstances were very different, I started to feel a connection as Dolly went through her twenties, an emotional connection. To loves and loss, confusion, anxieties, carelessness..it was all right there. The feeling still that I’m a kid on the inside, but my outside is the old lady, is not limited to any one generation.
I heard myself say..oh no Dolly, don’t go down that road again..then I knew I was hooked...glad I stuck with this book.
Look closely at the title. It doesn’t say everything there is to know. It says everything I know by Dolly Alderton. And well worth the read.
*Note: The author is English, so there are references made in the book that you may not get. I was ok with that.

                                           Comes out next month/Harper Collins, Publisher

Valentine ...Elizabeth Wetmore

What a great first novel. Author Wetmore has a way with words, to put it simply. I read every word of this book, literally. Her descriptions were so real, that you believed you were from Odessa, Texas. Her characters were as real as your next door neighbor. When she describes the sky looking like a nasty bruise, I saw it. When she describes a chain-smoking drunk, I smelled them.

The book starts with an horrific event. The chapters, titled by character, unfold a very complex story. The oil boom in Texas, the drifters that came into town, the dust and dirt and grease that became the air you breathed, not a pretty picture. The story is heartbreaking, no way around it. But it also shows how resilient humans are... 

This book will be out in April 2020. Harper Collins, publisher. Mark your calendars!

If Only I Could Tell You

If Only I Could Tell You
Hannah Beckerman, author

Two sisters, Lily and Phoebe, haven’t spoken for almost 30 years.
Their mother, Audrey has given up trying to fix them. She sees her two granddaughters, always separately.
A secret, so big and devastating, has taken its toll on three generations of this family.
This is a well written story about lives torn apart and lives healing again. Recommended.
William Morrow/Harper Collins publisher

Singing My Him Song / M McCourt

Malachy’s brother Frank introduced us to the McCourt family in his novel “Angela’s Ashes”. Then Malachy wrote his first novel about his life in America, “A Monk Swimming”...The McCourt family lived a poverty stricken life growing up in Ireland, and when Malachy came to the USA as a young man, he was determined to change all that. He was a bartender, a hooligan, a sometime actor. Unfortunately, he was an alcoholic , too. Divorced from his first wife and estranged from his children , he was spiraling downward.
Down and out and unemployed, you can’t help but rout for Malachy McCourt:)
I loved this book, as I loved reading his first book and his brother Frank’s books. This McCourt boy had a wild and crazy life.

If You Lived Here You’d be Home by Now

In August 2015, Washington Post reporter Christopher Ingraham was looking for a story when he came across a list of American counties classified from the ugliest to the most scenic. In covering this story, he wrote a sentence that would change his life.
“The absolute worst place to live in America is...Red Lake County, Minn.”
He received many responses from Red Lake residents, and accepted an offer to visit. The visit made a big impact on Ingraham and he made a life changing decision...to move his family from Washington, DC to Red Lake County, Minn.
The book is a story about his life there..the changes he made and the life lessons that changed him. What he learned was that statistics and numbers do not tell a complete story.
Inspiring and a great read. Harper Collins Publisher, September 2019

The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

Cyril Conroy brought his young family from poverty to riches and with his new money he bought The Dutch House, a beautiful estate in the suburbs outside Philadelphia. It was meant as a surprise for his wife, Elna. But it was more of a shock that Elna did not recover from and sent her running away to a country far from her husband and children. 

The children Maeve and Danny formed a strong, unbreakable bond, and managed to grow up without their mom, with the help of two house keepers and a nanny.

And then dad Cyril brings home Andrea, marries her and set in motion the very undoing of their family.

...I loved this book. I haven’t been reading as much as I used to, and this book reminded me why I love to read. 

Relationships between family, decisions that drastically change a life, love found and love lost...kept me reading until the last word.

I highly recommend this novel and look forward to the next one written by Ann Patchett!

Harper Collins, publisher

Due out September 2019

Another Side of Paradise/Sally Koslow

In 1937 Hollywood, gossip columnist Sheila Graham's star was on the rise, while literary wonder boy F.Scott Fitzgerald's career was slowly drowning in booze.
A match made in heaven you say?
This is a great story, told in the first person and written in a way that brings you back to the late 30's early 40's Hollywood...with plenty of name dropping.
Graham, who had quite a life history of her own, falls in love with Fitzgerald while he is still married to his institutionalized wife Zelda, and lives with him until his death.
I thoroughly enjoyed this read and I think you will, too.
Published by HarperCollins for release in May 2018
Author: www.SallyKoslow.