by Lucy Foley Listened to December 2021 This book reminded me of The Sanitorium by Sarah Pearse. Remote setting, some marital strife and murder. An entertaining specimen of this genre but the characters seemed like caricatures to me.  The descriptive sections were quite good though and the reader feels immersed in the scenes. The twist…… Continue reading The Guest List

by Nathaniel Hawthorne Listened to November 2021 It has been a while since I have read a classic so it took me a few pages to get back into the swing of the prose but I didn’t miss anything because the pace is much slower than modern novels. On the surface, this book is obviously…… Continue reading The Scarlet Letter

by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman Read in November 2021 In this book, different drugs are personified as characters in the story as they interact with the two main human characters. The drug characters are easily identifiable by their names and traits (party girl Roxy is Oxycontin, serious Addison is Adderall, spacey Mary Jane is…… Continue reading Roxy

by Kristin Hannah Read in November 2021 Kristin Hannah takes on the Great Depression with her newest novel about a woman who perseveres through hardship that was exacerbated by the actions of a man. She does a great job immersing the reader in the hardships of the time. The desperation of the people is palpable…… Continue reading The Four Winds

by Abi Daré Read November 2021 A young girl growing up in Nigeria has big dreams and despite everything bring stacked against her, she never gives up. Some of her experiences are truly terrible but she never assigns blame. She is deeply forgiving of the people who cause her harm and tries to really understand…… Continue reading The Girl with the Louding Voice

by William Kent Krueger Read October 2021 Ordinary Grace is set during a warm summer in a small town in Minnesota. The protagonist is a boy who is trying to navigate the trials of growing up while hoping to solve multiple murders that touch his life. The war has left his father empty. He is…… Continue reading Ordinary Grace

by Kristin Hannah Listened to October 2021 The Great Alone is set in a remote community in Alaska. The protagonist is a teenaged girl who is struggling to find herself while working to survive in a harsh environment. The war has left her father broken. He is unstable, violent and paranoid. This was one of…… Continue reading The Great Alone

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah and Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger These stories were strikingly similar despite having very different settings. I may not have realized the similarities had I not been reading one while listening to the other but it did give me an interesting opportunity to compare and contrast the two…… Continue reading The Great Alone contrasted with Ordinary Grace

by Suleika Jaouad Read October 2021 Recommended by a friend This is the true story of the author’s journey from a cancer diagnosis, through treatment and out the other side into recovery. As you would expect from such a book, it is an interesting and emotional read. I didn’t expect it to continue beyond the…… Continue reading Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted

by Jasper Fforde Listened to October 2021 Recommended by my husband This is the second Jasper Fforde book I have read (the first being Shades of Grey) so I knew to expect a smart commentary on society with an interesting story. The Constant Rabbit’s anthropomorphized rabbits bring George Orwell’s Animal Farm to mind and although…… Continue reading The Constant Rabbit