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