I really don’t know why I’m so late to the party when it comes to reading Dennis Lehane’s novels.  I knew he was a Boston author.  Maybe I thought his books contained too much violence. Whatever the reason, I want to make sure our L&L readers don’t make the same mistake I did.  

With an author as prolific as Margaret Atwood, I know it’s unlikely I’ll ever read her complete works. And although she is Canadian literary royalty, I hadn’t picked up one of her books in a long time. So when I came across The Year of the Flood in a little free library, I grabbed it, only to discover it was book two of a trilogy! 

We’ve read several short story collections and the most recent was Curtis Sittenfeld’s Show Don’t Tell.  I’m a big Sittenfeld fan and can recommend her novels, as well as an earlier short story collection, You Think It, I’ll Say It.  (read review here) Sittenfeld’s prose is succinct and spot-on as she puts her characters into relatable situations and we observe their very human responses. 

Thanks to non-stop social media recommendations and the book’s silly cover design, I didn’t expect The Wedding People to have so much emotional depth or narrative finesse. However, it ended up being my favorite read over the winter holidays. So if you’re like me and get skeptical when a book is ‘too’ popular, don’t let that stop you from reading Alison Espach’s delightful novel.

When a Pulitzer Prize winning playwright publishes her first novel, and that novel is recommended by Lin Manuel Miranda, it doesn’t take long for me to request it from my local library and devour it as soon as it arrives. This slim and poetic debut is heartbreaking and hopeful in equal measure, and certainly not to be missed.

Two friends recommended The Correspondent to me and it was one of my favorite books of 2025.  I’ve since learned that its journey to becoming a bestseller mirrored the experience I had.  The book wasn’t picked for any celebrity bookclubs or placed on anyone’s most-anticipated books list.  Maybe because the novel consists entirely of letters and emails, some readers were scared away.  But, wow, for those of us who took the plunge, what an incredible book!