celebrating books & the literary lifestyle
I’ve read so much WWII historical fiction, but I’m always looking for something new in this genre that gives me an additional perspective. This new book by Kristin Harmel, an author I’ve previously enjoyed, is set in the Champagne region of France during German occupation:
Mixing past and present, love and betrayal, this is the story of two couples who run a winery and another that run a restaurant, each making different choices to survive while serving the Germans.
Continue readingI want to recommend new historical fiction about an American actress who married the Prince of Monaco. It was delightful:
Meet Me in Monaco: A Novel of Grace Kelly’s Royal Wedding by Hazel Gaynor and Heather Webb
Grace Kelly is attending the Cannes Film Festival in 1955 when she first meets Prince Rainer of Monaco. This story covers their awkward first meeting and builds to the royal wedding that captured the world’s attention while intertwining a secondary story about “normal” people who meet because of Kelly’s visit to Cannes.
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This is a companion post to one from my archives: Ode to vinyl records.
In an effort to declutter and minimize, I have been going through my house: selling, tossing, and donating. This week, I ended up staring at the bookcase that held my CD collection.
Like many people, I have not listened to an actual CD for years…but going through my collection renewed my appreciation for my CDs. Because these CDs were really important to me at really important times in my life.
Continue readingThis title is likely to get some attention, as it did laying around my house, but the book I just read, Stoner (New York Review Books Classics) by John Williams is not about drugs at all; the main character William Stoner doesn’t event drink alcohol.
William Stoner moves from his modest family farm to attend the University of Missouri in 1910, initially to study agriculture but instead he falls in love with the study of English literature. He stays on to get his PhD, joins the faculty, and teaches for 40 years. This is a serious novel about a professor who experiences personal and professional agonies but also times of determination and exuberance.
Continue readingI picked up The Cuban Affair: A Novel by Nelson DeMille because I was eagerly anticipating a cruise to its settings (Key West & Cuba).
Mac, a 35-year-old veteran has settled in Key West as a fishing boat captain. When he is approached by an anti-Castro group to charter his boat to Cuba for a dangerous mission under the guise of a fishing tournament, Mac accepts the job with the hopes of earning $3 Million for his trouble.
This book is set during the “Cuban Thaw” (2014 or 2015) when America was relaxing its restrictions related to Cuba. But between the time I picked up this book and actually read it, my own travel plans suddenly changed due to President Trump’s policy reversal that Americans can no longer travel to Cuba.
Continue readingI have read so much WWII historical fiction it’s nice to come across more post-WWII historical fiction. Recently I have read a couple of novels set during this time period in New York but just yesterday I finished The Gown: A Novel of the Royal Wedding by Jennifer Robson. I want to thank Aunt Jean for the recommendation; her book club was reading it!
As the title suggests, this book is set in 1947 as Great Britain anticipates the royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth (now Queen Elizabeth) to Lieutenant Phillip Mountbatten.
Continue readingA family friend “Fred” often recorded his reflections in the back of his books. “MY BOOK, MY NOTES” he announced before noting reflections, disagreements, favorite paragraphs etc. I do this with a dog-ear to a page and on this blog but not to Fred’s detail.
Fred and my dad would exchange books, several at once. My friends do this too. Recently, my parents passed me a book of Fred’s they found while cleaning out shelves. They thought I might enjoy reading Fred’s notes in the back of The Death of Santini: The Story of a Father and His Son before I was to pass it along to Fred’s daughter. Fred had also noted in the front of the book that it had been a gift from her, Christmas ’13.
And yes I did enjoy Fred’s notes in the back – so much so that I ended up reading the book itself. I loved this book. How Conroy writes about both the horror and humor of his dysfunctional family is completely fascinating.
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I recently picked the perfect vacation read! It was: City of Girls: A Novel by Elizabeth Gilbert.
What makes the perfect vacation read? For me, it is a book that passes the time during travel but still tempts me to pick it up when I could just as easily sit and watch the waves roll in. Also, I need some substance; my perfect “beach reads” are not mindless.
This new book by the author of Eat, Pray, Love is set during 1940s New York, in the theatre district. This was especially fun for me since I just read another book with similar setting.
Vivian is 19 and has recently been kicked out of college. Not knowing what to do, her affluent parents send her to New York to stay with her aunt who runs a midtown theater. Vivian quickly gets another kind of education.
Continue readingI spent the last couple of days (this was a very quick read) plowing through a memoir by Tiffany Jenkins: High Achiever: The Incredible True Story of One Addict’s Double Life
Through lies and ingenuity, Jenkins managed to stay high on opioids for several years while living with a sheriff’s deputy, but her desperate acts result in her withdrawing on the floor of the county jail, surrounded by her boyfriend’s friends. And this is where the memoir begins! The following pages detail her journey from a secret junkie to an extremely unpopular inmate to, finally, a life of sobriety.
Continue readingI requested early access to The Chelsea Girls: A Novel by Fiona Davis because I loved this author’s previous book, The Dollhouse. Thank you, NetGalley!
This new work of historical fiction is set in 1950’s New York. The Chelsea Hotel is a haven for artists, actors, and creative types. Hazel (an aspiring playwright) and Maxine (an aspiring actress) live there after returning from a USO tour in Italy where they entertained soldiers towards the end of WWII. While Hazel pens a play inspired by their time in Italy and Maxine (now a big star) takes the leading role, the novel moves into McCarthyism and its quest to find communist infiltration in the “arts” and the effects, immediate and longer-lasting, of these investigations.
Continue reading“Screenwriters became typists to earn a buck. Brilliant actors sold shoes to make a living.”
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