May 2019

    City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert

    It’s all about HER! Vivian Morris is the complete focus of Elizabeth Gilbert’s new book, City of Girls. It is presented as  a memoir told by Vivian to a woman named Angela, whose father was an important man in Vivian’s life (at first I somehow thought Angela might be Vivian’s daughter – but no, despite …

    Lies My Teacher Told Me (young readers’ edition) by James Loewen

    These days, I find myself wavering between obsessively watching/listening to the news (I HAVE to know! What’s going on?) and wallowing in despair, avoiding news. Either way, I truly fear the direction we are headed in, in large part due to the lack of critical thinking and understanding of current events I see everywhere. Back …

    The Escape Room by Megan Goldin

    Somehow, the two books I read this weekend both focus on elevators. And both were creepy AF. In Megan Goldin’s debut novel The Escape Room, four young investment bankers are summoned to what appears to be some kind of team-building event set in a Manhattan skyscraper. They board an elevator, thinking they are being whisked …

    Elevator Pitch by Linwood Barclay

    Somehow, the two books I read this weekend both focus on elevators. And both were creepy AF. Linwood Barclay has a reliably entertaining Promise Falls series, but has taken a slight detour for a standalone thriller entitled Elevator Pitch (thanks to Harper Collins/William Morrow and NetGalley for an advance copy inexchange for this honest review). …

    The Guest Book by Sarah Blake

    What a great read! I had just read a blurb about The Guest Book by Sarah Blake when I received an ARC (thanks to Flatiron Books and NetGalley), and was totally in the mood for a multigenerational family saga. The family is the Miltons. The patriarch is Ogden who, along with his wife Kitty, totally …

    American Predator by Maureen Callahan

    True crime has been a guilty pleasure of mine for at least 30 years…I remember working in a public library and happily discovering the 364.1523 shelves (where even today I still browse, although TBH public library budgets often prevent a lot of trashy ephemeral reading material from making it to the shelves). These days, true …

    Big Sky by Kate Atkinson (Jackson Brodie #5)

    Kate Atkinson’s Jackson Brodie novels are among my favorite mysteries, with JB being an especially fun character. So, along with many others, my initial thought when I knew there was (FINALLY!) a new Jackson Brodie novel, was “how soon can I get my hands on it?” Thanks to Little, Brown & Company and NetGalley, I …

    If She Wakes by Michael Koryta

    I knew when I saw If She Wakes by Michael Koryta that I wanted to read it. I own (and enjoyed) How It Happened and Those Who Wish Me Dead, so I appreciated the chance to read the latest offering thanks to Little, Brown & Company and NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. In …