A Special Report for Book Lovers
Before I share my favorite books from recent weeks, let me tell you about a great video series from Merriam-Webster. It’s called Word Choices. In it, celebrated writers talk about their quest to find the right words. Oddly, two of the authors I mention in today’s Newsletter were interviewed in the first season of this video series! I will give the links to the interviews when I get to those authors below.
As is always the case, If I have reviewed other books by one of the featured authors, I will include links to those other reviews as well. As it turns out, this applies to four of the five mentioned authors. Thus, links to an additional seven books/reviews are included. OK! Let’s get started!
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My Five Favorite Books This Quarter:
Book Title: The Four Winds
Author: Kristin Hannah
A very brief synopsis: This is a mother/daughter love story disguised as historical fiction about the Dust Bowl and about migrant workers in California during the Depression.
One more thing to share: I really loved this book. I’d give it more than five stars if I could.
*****
Book Title: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
Author: Gabrielle Zevin
A very brief synopsis: Sadie and Sam were great friends, then not friends, then friends again. They make a pact to ALWAYS forgive each going forward. How will that work out?
One more thing to share: Of all the authors represented here, I really enjoy Gabrielle Zevin’s work the most.
Listen to Gabrielle Zevin’s interview on Merriam-Webster’s Word Choices Video Series. In it, she talks about the fact that she once spent a year READING the dictionary!
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Book Title: Wild Game: My Mother, Her Secret, and Me
Author: Adrienne Brodeur
A very brief synopsis: When a woman starts an affair with her husband’s best friend, she makes her fourteen-year-old daughter her confidant in this compelling memoir.
One more thing to share: This memoir reads like fiction, but you might not believe the story if it were fiction.
*****
Book Title: Our Missing Hearts
Author: Celeste NG
A very brief synopsis: Along with twelve-year-old Noah Gardner, we learn about the “Crisis” in the U.S. that caused his mom to run away three years earlier. Then, we go search for her!
One more thing to share: Having just gone through the “crisis” of the Pandemic in the U.S., sometimes this book hit too close to home.
Listen to Celeste Ng’s interview on Merriam-Webster’s Word Choices Video Series.
*****
Book Title: Black Cake
Author: Charmaine Wilkerson
A very brief synopsis: Approaching death, a mom makes an audiotape for her adult kids to hear after she’s gone. In it, she reveals a secret past including another child.
One more thing to share: I felt this book was perfectly written to be a multi-part story on some streaming channel. I was not surprised to learn that Hulu felt the same way. They created four episodes from this book.
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Other books I have reviewed from the above authors:
- Kristin Hannah
- Gabrielle Zevin
The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry
- Adrienne Brodeur
- Celeste Ng
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Thank you!
Lorie
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