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NEW BOOK PREVIEW – EARLY 2021

January 18, 2021 /

I say this every year, but 2021 is bringing several new books by my favorite authors. This list below is truly exciting to me. I can’t wait to get started!!

Here is what I’ll be reading during the first three months of this NEW YEAR:

You can click on the titles to view and purchase on Amazon (I do appreciate your support as an affiliate but I also encourage you borrowing from your library or your local bookseller.)

Also, if you missed it: here were my five favorite books from 2020.

2020 WRAP UP – MY FAVORITE BOOKS & MOST POPULAR POSTS

December 20, 2020 /

Continuing my end-of-year tradition, I am sharing my five favorite books published in 2020. I didn’t come across any “5 star” books this year (I am extremely reserved with that rating). Still, I found several books I loved (in a 4-star kind of way) and am happy to recommend these as some of my new favorites:

MORE WWII – THIS TIME FROM GREECE

December 8, 2020 /

I will keep reading historical fiction about WWII as long as they keep pumping out books about it, even if all the titles start sounding the same!

My most recent read, however, was a pleasant change from novels set in Paris (not that there is anything wrong with being set in Paris I have enjoyed so many of those too!)

Once We Were Here: A Novel by Christopher Cosmos

"Escape" to a murder mystery in the French Alps

‘ONE BY ONE’

November 21, 2020 /

Like many of you, I use literature for an escape but I only recently realized it can be comforting to “escape” to somewhere more terrifying that my/our current situation of COVID and politics.

Thrillers aren’t my primary genre but I do read them regularly including this recent favorite, and I have enjoyed Ruth Ware’s books before so decided to add this one to the top of my fall reading list.

One by One by Ruth Ware

NEW BOOKS TO READ THIS FALL AND WINTER – 2020-21

November 15, 2020 /

With a lingering worldwide pandemic, we will continue to have lots of time to read these next couple of months. My fall/winter reading list below features new releases by many authors I’ve previously enjoyed as well as some of the best books I’ve read recently that I want to recommend. I hope you can find some books you will enjoy, and let me know if I’ve missed anything great that’s coming out this fall.

You can click on the titles or images to view and purchase on Amazon. While I appreciate a purchase through my affiliate links I also support buying from your local bookseller or using your local library.

‘LEAVE THE WORLD BEHIND’

October 27, 2020 /

I’ve been branching out with my reading in the last week! After posting about some amazing fantastical fiction just the other day, today I am back to tell you about a reading experience that kept me in constant suspense and was one of the most exciting/stressful/disturbing books I’ve read for some time:

Leave the World Behind: A Novel by Rumaan Alam

‘THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY’

October 25, 2020 /

Last month I published a post on books set in libraries. I didn’t expect to be adding to the list so soon but I just did:

The Midnight Library: A Novel by Matt Haig

The New York Public Library, the setting of my most recent read. Photo Credit: Mandy Burkhart.

BOOKS SET IN LIBRARIES

September 30, 2020 /

I love my local library and use it to borrow many the books I read and write about on this blog. Just recently I borrowed a book about a library from my library:

The Lions of Fifth Avenue: A Novel by Fiona Davis

The title refers to the lion statues outside the New York Public Library. Not being familiar with New York City, I didn’t even realize the setting when I put this book on my late summer reading list but added it because I have previously enjoyed Fiona Davis books.

BOOKS INSPIRED BY HEMINGWAY AND HIS WIVES

September 10, 2020 /

I just finished a really good book about Hemingway in Key West from the perspective of a fictional maid/girlfriend while he was married to Pauline:

Hemingway’s Girl by Erika Robuck

The story also covered the 1935 hurricane that I learned about recently in another book.

I love the setting of Key West and the other places Hemingway lived, Cuba, Paris, etc., and with his four wives, there is plenty of drama to inspire historical fiction. I LOVED the Paula McLain books, one is about Hadley and the other about Martha, and I got to wondering if I have missed any other good books based on these lives.

So, I put together this list of historical fiction inspired by Hemingway and his wives, some of these I have read and some I am putting on my list now.

‘JACKIE AND MARIA’

September 5, 2020 /

I just finished this intriguing book about Jackie Kennedy and Maria Callas and how their lives interconnected with Aristotle Onassis:

Jackie and Maria: A Novel of Jackie Kennedy & Maria Callas by Gill Paul

We already know Gill Paul can write an amazing story, and I’m fascinated by Jackie Kennedy (who isn’t?) but prior to reading, I had no idea who Maria Callas was.

Maria Callas was the most famous opera singer of this time period. She and Aristotle seemed to be soul mates, but he enjoyed “collecting famous people” and eventually, he couldn’t resist the challenge of wooing the world’s most famous widow.

Leslie's Bookcase