celebrating books & the literary lifestyle
These are the newest books I’ve recommended.
Occasionally I ignore a book until I can’t anymore. Of course I heard the buzz and reviews of this particular book for months, but I wasn’t in the mood for a “southern novel.” So I just kept on reading other books. Until a couple of weeks ago when this book literally ended up in my house:
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
Continue readingIt’s been a long winter, and I am ready to start my “spring reading” which means I will compile a new list of the most intriguing new books to read. As I read through this list, I will post about the books I want to recommend (usually this isn’t all of them although I had great luck with my winter reading list!!). And today I am happy to write that I can already recommend a book from my spring list:
American Princess: A Novel of First Daughter Alice Roosevelt
This is historical fiction by Stephanie Marie Thornton as the subtitle implies about a first daughter starting in 1901. I did not know anything about the oldest daughter of Teddy Roosevelt before reading this book. Apparently she obtained celebratory status with the press reporting her every move (many of these moves being rebellious) and even had the color “Alice Blue” named after her.
Continue readingNot often can I finish a book in only one day due to work, kids, etc. but I just did…
I started reading Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love by Dani Shapiro yesterday before dinner, and I finished it early this evening.
This is a memoir from an already established writer who (just for fun) sent in a DNA test to Ancestry.com, as many of us have. But instead of finding out an interesting variation from what she expected, she found out her beloved and deceased father was not actually her biological father.
Continue reading
WWII is a favorite genre of mine. Although a couple of years ago I read SO MUCH of it that I needed to take a break from it, but not before I started this WWII fiction reading list that I add to occasionally.
Today I am happy to add this book to my running list of WWII historical fiction that I recommend:
The Ragged Edge of Night by Olivia Hawker
Continue readingThis is my third year of blogging on “Leslie’s Bookcase” and my year-end tradition is to announce my favorite five books of the year. To keep this process consistent from year to year, I only consider books published within the past year. And I can’t read ALL the books so this honor is obviously limited to the books I have read and posted about.
And here are my favorite books of 2018:
Continue readingDecades ago I sat at a bar next to a older man who – with great pride – pulled a stack of library cards out of his wallet.
“I’ve moved a lot in my life, and the first thing I did in any new town was get a library card,” he said.
Writing this post triggered this memory I hadn’t thought of in years but it speaks towards the variety of people who use libraries. This man was a character although an intelligent one. And at that point in my life (early 20s) I wasn’t necessarily using my library although I had grown up visiting the library. These days, however, I am there at least once a week if not more. So when I heard great things about a book that is about libraries I had to check it out! And add it to my winter reading list.
Continue readingI can’t believe I forgot to put A Ladder to the Sky: A Novel on my winter reading list, but I read it as soon as I remembered!
A book by the same author, John Boyne, made my favorite books of 2017 list and this new book is a contender for this year’s list. Check back; my list is coming soon!!
Maurice Swift, a truly unforgettable and unique protagonist, is a charming psychopath who steals others’ ideas because although he can write well, he can’t come up with his own plots.
“There’s something in all our pasts that wouldn’t want revealed. And that’s where you’ll find your story,” his first mentor tells him. The book’s title is a reference to a proverb about ambition: “It’s like a ladder to the sky. A pointless waste of energy.” Maurice’s ambition leads him to do things you wouldn’t believe until you start anticipating just what he’ll do next and how far he’ll go!!
The book is entertaining, disturbing, funny, thought provoking, and irresistible.
For me personally it had two traits that I loved:
Through the last page, this book is brilliant. Bravo bravo – I hate that I don’t still have this book to read tonight.
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An engaging “domestic thriller,” The Winters: A Novel
I thoroughly enjoyed the suspense as I anxiously read up to the point when this love story went wrong.
And a reader knows it’s all going to “go wrong” as soon as a young woman who works in the Cayman Islands at a boat charter (honestly I can’t even remember her name; the book is from her point of view) meets Max, a wealthy politician who recently lost his wife in a dramatic accident.
This younger woman moves back with him to the East Coast and his mansion on a private island, and at this point the novel becomes extremely reminiscent the classic novel Rebecca and its Manderley both in scenery and plot details. This is not a retelling of Rebecca but there are many similarities and references.
I’m happy to recommend the second book I finished reading off my winter reading list:
A Well-Behaved Woman: A Novel of the Vanderbilts
After the civil war, Alva Smith and her family are left with nothing but their good reputation. During this same time, the Vanderbilts have made a fortune from shipping and railroads but are shut out of New York “society” despite their millions. So…a match is made between Alva and William Vanderbilt.
After their marriage, Alva successfully maneuvers society and finds her own passion for architecture. But as she learns, a place in society and all the money anyone could want (even more millions by this point) don’t equal happiness, and she must take more drastic measures…
I enjoyed The Kennedy Debutante
This novel focuses on the life of “Kick,” the daughter of Joe Kennedy Sr, American Ambassador to the Great Britain, and sister to Joe Jr., Jack, Bobby, etc. She was charismatic and beautiful, and she captivated London society in the late 1930s when the family was stationed abroad. The book begins as she and her sister Rosemary are “presented” to the King and Queen as debutantes. Another fun work of historical fiction I read this year covers this annual spectacle.
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