celebrating books & the literary lifestyle
I just finished a book that is timely and relevant to issues of race in America, a book I loved and recommend wholeheartedly.
by Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieThis book follows the lives of Ifemelu and Obinze, two Nigerians who fall in love as teenagers but then take separate paths to America and Britain.
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I dislike the title of this book I’m going to recommend because (I feel) it incorrectly characterizes the genre and story. Though there is certainly infidelity in this book; it is based on two well-known scandals related to the British Monarchy:
by Gill Paul The book, in a dual timeline, ties together two women who “rocked the crown” in British history: Princess Diana (the modern day part of the story is based around her death) and the relationship between Wallis Simpson and the Prince of Wales that led to him abdicating the throne.
Continue readingYesterday I finished an enjoyable story about three generations of women living their lives and making a wedding dress their own.
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This should not shock anyone who reads my posts regularly…I read and am recommending another WWII novel:
by Jane Thynne
This book was featured on my early 2020 reading list.
In our standard dual timeline, it’s 2016 and Juno is looking for a typewriter as a prop for a photo shoot. She finds a Hermes 3000 that the seller says belonged to Cordelia Capel, a famous journalist. The timewriter case contains half of an unpublished novel.
Juno reads the novel which details Cordelia and her sister Irene’s lives before and during WWII, then the novel abruptly ends.
Cordelia works as a journalist in Paris and later for the British intelligence. Irene has married a German (in 1936) and is living in pre-war Berlin married to a highly respected man among the Nazi-party.
Continue readingYears ago I stumbled across a column in the New York Times, Modern Love. It’s a weekly submission about some aspect of “love,” how people met, how they broke up, but also other aspects of relationships, having kids, etc. I haven’t kept up with this column fully over the years, but I always thoroughly enjoyed these stories, which came from who I thought were regular people. Well, now I realize they are not necessarily regular people, but more on this later…
Continue readingI get a lot of the books I read from the library (love my library!!) so with our local library being closed for COVID-19, I’ve had to change up my reading routine.
First, I re-read a favorite book and then a couple of other older books I had sitting on my shelf at home, including this WWII novel set in Korea: White Chrysanthemum
I do prefer ” real” books because I spend so much time on screens anyway, but eventually I was driven to my ipad and kindle account to see what I had available there. Luckily I have a couple waiting for me including this new thriller:
by Greer Hendricks & Sarah Pekkanen
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I took the opportunity of “COVID-19 shelter in place” to re-read a favorite book that I was feeling called towards again:
Atonement: A Novel
I first read this book in a grad school class, “modern 20th century literature.” I loved that class!! And this book was my favorite of the class. I remember exactly where I was sitting when I finished this book – with my jaw dropped!
Time and experience make for a different experience with the same book.
Continue readingMany times during the last few days I have thought to myself, “At least I like to read!”
I’m happy to share my spring reading list in case you need something new to read while we are quarantined and/or sheltering in place, with all of our usual activities and events cancelled.
All these books are new releases this spring, and they have been recommended to me by librarians around the country when I asked for new books that keep the pages turning plus provide some emotional value. Even in these trying times, I do not want fluffy reads. I want to read books that I will think back to over my life because they have added something to it.
Best wishes to you and your families as we all try to stay healthy and ride this out. And remember, at least you like to read!
Continue readingAt the end of 2019 I used one of my favorite Twitter hashtags – #AskALibrarian – to ask for new book recommendations with these qualities:
– a page turner
– book you can’t stop thinking about
– book that added something to your life
One of the recommendations I received – Dear Edward: A Novel by Ann Napolitano – was being released in 2020 so I immediately added it to my early 2020 release reading list.
And I’m posting today to say that YES, this is a book worth reading that met my qualifications above.
Continue readingI put American Dirt on my early 2020 reading list before I knew of any controversy and because it was promoted as “The Grapes of Wrath for our times.”
And the controversy, which I do understand, doesn’t change the fact that, for me, American Dirt was a great read. Meaning that I could have been accused of ignoring everyone and anything else while I finished it over this past weekend. The last novels I remember being so consuming are This Tender Land and Where the Crawdads Sing. So for me, this novel is in good company based on the personal experience I had reading it.
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