Some unsolicited thoughts and opinions from a mother and daughter who love reading and talking about books!

Categories

APPLES NEVER FALL

Nov 18

Nov 18 APPLES NEVER FALL

Fiction, Mysteries and Thrillers

For someone who alleges not to enjoy mysteries, I find myself recommending two more this month! Apples Never Fall is Liane Moriarty’s latest novel and perhaps her best. Moriarty tells the story of the Delaney family: Stan and Joy, a seemingly perfect couple who have been happily married for 50 years and their four adult children, all successfully launched into their own lives. Life is good for the Delaneys until Joy disappears one day, leaving no note. After two weeks, foul play is suspected and all signs point to Stan as the guilty party.

BEAUTIFUL WORLD, WHERE ARE YOU

Oct 21

Oct 21 BEAUTIFUL WORLD, WHERE ARE YOU

Fiction, Popular Books

Sally Rooney faced a huge challenge in writing her next book after Normal People, the bestseller published in 2018 that won the British Book Award for Book of the Year and was made into a mini-series on Hulu in 2020. I think Beautiful World, Where Are You is even better than Normal People.

MOTHER DAUGHTER WIDOW WIFE

Oct 21

Oct 21 MOTHER DAUGHTER WIDOW WIFE

Fiction, Prize Winners & Finalists

Mother Daughter Widow Wife is another of this year’s Pen/Faulkner finalists for the fiction award. The novel is a tightly crafted story about a young woman, Lizzie Epstein, who wins a prestigious fellowship to the Meadowlark Institute, a multi-disciplinary lab working on memory research. In short order, Lizzie finds herself the favorite fellow of Dr. Benjamin Strauss, the Institute’s director.

THE GLASS CASTLE

Oct 21

Oct 21 THE GLASS CASTLE

Memoirs/Biographies, Non-fiction

If you loved Half Broke Horses, you're going to love The Glass Castle, Jeannette Walls’ memoir about growing up all over the American Southwest. Walls captures with humor and a sense of adventure what could have been quite a traumatic childhood, and allows the reader to see the events through her childhood eyes and not judge.

EMERGENCY CONTACT

Oct 21

Oct 21 EMERGENCY CONTACT

Emergency Contact is one of the first books I’ve read that successfully integrates texting into the narrative in a way that actually furthers the story and is believable, not gimmicky. I remember watching the first season of House of Cardsand feeling that finally someone had figured out how to integrate texting on tv. I felt a similar relief and excitement with this book.

Sep 28

Sep 28 DEAR EDWARD

Dear Edward’s premise is horrific and if you are afraid of flying, avoid it at all costs. But if you can stomach the trauma, this book is riveting, tragic and entertaining. The story is split into two alternating parts. The first details the lives of multiple passengers on a giant flight from New York to L.A. The second is the story of the twelve-year-old boy who is the sole survivor when that plane crashes.

THE NIGHT WATCHMAN

Sep 28

Sep 28 THE NIGHT WATCHMAN

Fiction, Prize Winners & Finalists

Louise Erdrich is a prolific American writer who really hits her stride in The Night Watchman.There’s a reason that this gem won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Louise Erdrich has filled her novel with a cast of memorable characters who live on the Turtle Mountain Reservation in rural North Dakota in 1953. Their stories will stay with you long after you finish the novel.

Sep 28

Sep 28 HOMEGOING

Historical Fiction, Fiction

Homegoing is Ya Gyasi’s stunning debut novel which begins in Ghana in the 18th century and follows two Ghanian half-sisters and their descendants through seven generations up to the present in the United States. (The sisters don’t know of each other’s existence.) From this description, you would expect a very long novel. In fact, Gyasi has structured her book so that each chapter is almost a distinct short story.

WHEN THE STARS GO DARK

Aug 26

Aug 26 WHEN THE STARS GO DARK

Fiction, Mysteries and Thrillers

If you’re a faithful reader of the L&L Review, then you know that crime novels and mysteries are not my go-to types of book. When the Stars Go Dark is both – and it is gripping. McLain’s novel reminded me of Northern Spy by Flynn Berry (reviewed June 17, 2021), perhaps because both books’ main characters work brilliantly to resolve the mystery of crimes, while dealing with the all-too-familiar, but very real, stresses of motherhood and family.

Aug 26

Aug 26 GREAT CIRCLE

There is no question that Great Circle requires a commitment—at 589 pages. And I read it at a pace slower than any book I can remember reading in my recent past. But while I was reading it, I had five weeks of the delightful company of my L&L co-editor and her two small children. Quiet times for reading were few and far between. Despite the slowness with which I read it, however, I found myself consciously slowing down as I came to the end of the book. I simply didn’t want it to end.

THE SECRET LIFE OF GROCERIES

Jul 15

Jul 15 THE SECRET LIFE OF GROCERIES

I initially bought this book for my son-in-law because grocery stores are in his realm of professional expertise. I am so glad that I asked to borrow it back from him after he had read it. I found Lorr’s non-fiction examination of the American supermarket fascinating on many levels.

THE SECRET LIVES OF CHURCH LADIES

Jul 15

Jul 15 THE SECRET LIVES OF CHURCH LADIES

Fiction, Short Story Collections, Prize Winners & Finalists

If you read only one collection of short stories this year, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies should be the one. This group of nine stories is Philyaw’s debut publication and deserves all of the accolades that it has received, including winning the 2021 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction.

HOW TO LOVE A JAMAICAN

Jun 17

Jun 17 HOW TO LOVE A JAMAICAN

Fiction, Short Story Collections

I have found in my limited reading of short story collections that when I find one I really enjoy, I tend to read them even faster than I would a novel. There is something about finishing a story and knowing that the next one holds an entirely new set of characters and problems that keeps me turning pages. Alexia Arthurs drew me in over and over, and I ended up reading the entire collection in about a day and a half.

FINDING FREEDOM

Jun 17

Jun 17 FINDING FREEDOM

Memoirs/Biographies, Non-fiction

I recently heard Erin French being interviewed on NPR and my ears perked up. I realized that she is the chef/owner of The Lost Kitchen, a tiny, impossible-to-get-into restaurant in Freedom, Maine. Ranked among the best restaurants in the United States, we live close enough to go there for dinner – if only we could get a reservation. But the restaurant’s immense success isn’t the only reason French was being interviewed. She recently released Finding Freedom in which she tells the back story to her success: how she worked long years at her father’s diner; broke away to go to college; and returned home after her second year, pregnant and determined to raise the child on her own.

THE ICARUS GIRL

Jun 17

Jun 17 THE ICARUS GIRL

From the description of this book, I was a bit hesitant to begin reading it. How could a book about an eight-year-old girl dealing with an imaginary friend have enough depth and plot to hold my interest? It sounded more like something I would read to Charlotte. My fears were truly unfounded, however, and I found The Icarus Girl suspenseful and full of emotional depth.

Jun 17

Jun 17 NORTHERN SPY

Spy novels and thrillers are not my go-to genres of book. But my trusted friend Jane recommended Northern Spy so I took the plunge. Set in modern- day Belfast, Northern Ireland, Northern Spy deftly lays out the story of Tessa, a single mother and producer at the BBC.

May 20

May 20 THE ORCHARDIST

I learned about The Orchardist from one of our L&L Readers, Kathleen, who included it on a list of her top five books of the year that she emailed to us. (Shuggie Bain, reviewed in March 2021, was also on that list.) Thank goodness for reader recommendations or I may have missed this truly unforgettable book.