Perhaps not a completely typical beach read due to its darker subject matter, I nevertheless found myself unable to put The Pilot’s Wife down for the three days it took me to binge read it. The story begins with a knock at the door in the middle of the night, which is never good news for anyone, but especially not for the wife of an airline pilot.
I borrowed Sea Wife from my mom the minute she finished reading it because she strongly endorsed Gaige as a writer (read review of Heartwood here) and particularly this book. Gaige drew me in immediately with her premise of a family of four leaving their lives behind to sail around the Caribbean for a year.
I loved Charlotte McConaghy’s Migrations which was published in 2020. So, when my friend Jane told me I would love her latest book, Wild Dark Shore, I got right on it. And, although quite different than her first book, Wild Dark Shore is a must-read. The novel is set on a very remote island close to Antarctica with nothing else around it for thousands of miles.
The most astonishing feature of The Names isn’t Knapp’s beautifully written story of one woman’s decision about what to name her son and how that decision affects the rest of his life and the lives of the other members of his family. What is truly remarkable is that Knapp has written three different captivating stories about the same family, each one different from the others because the name she chooses for her son is different.
Heartwood gripped me from its first page and I was spellbound until the end. I didn’t want to stop reading even to sleep at night. I’ve been recommending it to everyone and now recommend it to you our L&L readers!
Eddie Winston is 90 years old and volunteers at a second-hand store, sorting through donations, assigning prices and occasionally pilfering items for himself that he finds particularly touching or tender. One day, he accepts a donation from Bella, a 20-something woman, who has suffered the loss of her boyfriend.
Although my daughter Charlotte has become a voracious reader in her own right, I am holding on tight to our read-aloud bedtime routine that we established when she was a baby. Our book choices vary widely from classics like Mr. Popper’s Penguins and The Little Princess to newer books that we get to experience for the first time together. Polly Horvath’s Library Girl jumped off the shelf at our local bookstore, and Charlotte and I agree that it is one of our favorite stories we’ve ever read together.
At 1152 pages, London is easily one of the longest books I have ever read. And although it took me almost a month to finish, I think it was worth the time and effort. London takes an in-depth look at the geographical, cultural and societal developments in and around London, England starting in the 4th century and continuing to the present day.
Eve Chase sets The Daughters of Foxcote Manor in England in two time periods. She tells the story of the Harrington family who leave their London home in the early 1970s after it sustains a fire. They relocate to their deteriorating country manor for the summer.
Over the past several months, I repeatedly heard All the Colors of the Dark praised highly. I don’t know why it took me so long to read it. Let me spare you from making the same mistake: Read it as soon as you can. This book is a masterpiece. An unforgettable love story that spans 25 years, it is also a mystery that crosses over into a psychological thriller. Chris Whitaker drew me in immediately and kept me turning the pages late into the night.
I want to warn you first thing that this book is incredibly disturbing but also extremely good. Ng sets it in a not-so-distant, dystopian future that seems to be transpiring in many ways even since Ng published in 2022. She observes history and social change with a keen eye. Her predictions feel terrifying but are just a hair's breadth away from the current administration's agenda at this moment.
In Sweetness in the Skin, Ishi Robinson tells one of the most original and compelling coming-of-age stories that I’ve read in a long time. Robinson, who was born and raised in Jamaica, sets the story of Pumkin Patterson in the city of Kingston. At eleven-years-old, Pumkin lives in a small apartment with her grandmother, mother and Aunt Sophie.
When my friend Gevvie recommended Good Dirt, I was excited to learn that Charmaine Wilkerson, author of Black Cake (read review here) had a new novel out. Then when I saw it on display at my local library branch, I knew it was time to scoop it up and dive in. As much as I loved Black Cake, I think Good Dirt is even better.
Real Americans starts out as a better-than-average love story between Lily Chen, a young, unpaid intern at a media company in New York City, and Matthew Allen, a successful, slightly older man. Despite their vastly different backgrounds—she was born in America but her parents are from China and she struggles to get a financial foothold, and his family is wealthy and waspy—they end up marrying and having a child.
When I bought Julie Chan Is Dead at Hudson News in the Billy Bishop airport in Toronto, I was looking for a light read for my trip home to Boston. Reading the book’s flap copy, I thought it would fit the bill. And, although I am not recommending the book as a great piece of literature, I do recommend it as both an outstanding commentary on today’s phenomenon of social media influencers and a real page-turner.
Like so many Reece Witherspoon book club picks, The Last Thing He Told Me is a gripping and entertaining read. While I wouldn’t call it great literature, I absolutely could not put this book down and highly recommend it as a perfect book to take to the beach this summer.
Wow! Huge thanks to my friend Pam who gave me The Frozen River as a gift. It is one of the best historical novels I have ever read. I had never heard of Ariel Lawhon until now, but am already on the hunt for all of her previous books.
Dirtbag, Massachusetts is the most stunning memoir I have read in a long time—maybe ever. I had never heard of the book or the author until recently when they were both praised on a podcast. Of course the title intrigued me, being a proud resident of Massachusetts for most of my life. But when I opened the book, it was Fitzgerald’s writing that grabbed me in the very first sentence.
Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays The Rent was a perfect recommendation that I received from a long-time subscriber to L&L! Listening to the audiobook not only got me through packing up our house to move, it also made my heart extremely happy.
I picked up Galore from my shelf with some trepidation because the only other book by Michael Crummey I had read, Sweetland, was excellent but bleak and depressing. But Crummey is my father-in-law’s favorite author, so I wanted to give him another try. I’m so glad I did because this book is a wonder.
