What I've been reading: September 2017

It's that time again! Time to wrap up what I've been reading lately!


The Shark Club, by Ann Kidd Taylor. Maeve Donnelly's life was forever changed when, at age eleven, she was kissed by her crush, and moments later, was bitten by a blacktip shark. Eighteen years later, she's enamored with sharks, swims with them, studies them. But that boy? There's unfinished business, and a lot of painful history to overcome. They're more mature now, surely after years apart they can put their shared past to rest? It's when Maeve returns home between study sojourns that her life seems to blow up all over again--her brother's debut novel turns out to be about Maeve's lovelife debacles, her old flame works at her grandmother's hotel, and Maeve is going to have to do some serious soul-searching in order to choose the right path forward. Light and easy reading, though I'll admit I found myself surprisingly moved by the ending.

When You Are Engulfed In Flames, by David Sedaris. David Sedaris is my spirit animal. There, I've said it. This is the second of his books I've read (both audiobook format, if I'm putting it all out there), and I love his style, his insight, and his humor. The audiobook version is particularly effective--some writers are excellent at reading their own writing, and Sedaris is among them. Cringe-worthy and hilarious, Sedaris's stories of his mishaps and misadventures (like sneezing a lozenge into the lap of a sleeping seatmate on a plane, or moving to Tokyo to quit smoking) make me laugh, make me think, and in many cases, make me nod along thinking, "Oh yeah, I know that feeling." Commuters, if you need an audiobook to help you pass the time in a more enjoyable way, I definitely recommend this one.

Where'd You Go, Bernadette?, by Maria Semple. Told through emails, letters, texts, and from multiple points of view, this novel is equal parts family drama, mystery, and laugh-out-loud funny comedy. Just before Christmas, and a long-anticipated family trip to Antarctica, Bernadette Fox goes missing. In the leadup, she has run over a fellow mom at her daughter's school, dodged people who recognize her from a past she left behind over fifteen years ago, and handled her agoraphobia by staying in the family's shambles of a home and designated everything to a virtual assistant located in India so that she doesn't have to go into Seattle, which she loathes. In the aftermath, Bernadette's fifteen-year-old daughter Bee is left to piece together what happened to her mother, following a trail of letters and emails, and drag her Microsoft guru father along for the ride. Thoroughly enjoyable and entertaining. Bonus info: Cate Blanchett, Kristen Wiig, and Billy Crudup all star in the movie adaptation, which is due out next year.

Secrets in Death, by J.D. Robb. This forty-fifth (!) entry in Robb's (aka Nora Roberts) long-running near-future cop-thriller series featuring NYPSD Lieutenant Eve Dallas brings the murder to the homicide cop. Dallas is having drinks with an associate only to have the city's top celebrity gossip hound drop dead at her very feet. Larinda Mars made herself a household name churning the rumor mill of the rich and famous, but after her death, Dallas uncovers that where Mars's real money came from was blackmailing the rich and famous to keep the worst of the worst out of the media. The suspect list gets longer all the time as Dallas reveals more and more dirt, meaning she has to tread carefully among the elite. It's when a choice bit of information brings the case close to home that Dallas finds herself in over her head. Fast and easy reading, I can't quit this series.

Breaking Silence, by Linda Castillo. Third in Castillo's bestselling Chief Kate Burkholder series finds the former-Amish police chief faced with a terrible accident on an Amish farm: a couple and an uncle are found dead in their barn, apparently from asphyxiation caused by methane gas and poor ventilation. Four children are left orphans. It soon becomes clear that foul play was involved, however, and the chief, to bring a killer to justice, must uncover who might have wanted these simple, honest, hardworking folks dead. Is it related to a shocking rash of hate-crimes against the Amish in the area? Nail-bitingly tense plotting made this a very fast read for me, I couldn't stand to put it down, I needed to know what happened.

The Magdalen Girls, by V.S. Alexander. Teagan and Nora, young women in Dublin in 1962, find themselves held as penitents at the The Sisters of Holy Redemption, working in one of the city's Magdalen Laundries. What were once havens have turned into grim workhouses. The two girls become fast friends, arriving within days of one another, neither there for more than being ordinary girls, though some inmates are fallen women or petty criminals. They find themselves stripped of their identities, including their names, as well as their dignity. The Mother Superior, Sister Anne, metes out severe punishments in the name of love, all the while hiding a secret of her own. It is when Teagan and Nora befriend the elusive Lea that they finally begin to hatch a plan to escape. What they haven't counted on is their reception in a society that has a keen eye and a hard edge where soiled reputations are concerned. Fascinating and grim at the same time.

But the book was better: 2017 preview

Hollywood loves to give audiences movies and television shows based on books, but if you're like me, you want to read those books first. Please understand--I don't do this for brownie-points or bragging rights. I do it because I want to get to know the characters and the story in my own imagination first, before the movie's imagery can influence me. There's always a scene or a character in a movie that sticks with you long after you're done watching, and I like the enjoyment of letting my brain do that first. In any case, whatever your reason, if you'd like a headstart on this year's book-to-screen titles, here are some coming soon to a theater near you.

Live by Night, by Dennis Lehane. Lehane's books make for some great movies, like Mystic River and Shutter Island. So this new film, set for release this month and starring Ben Affleck, is likely to be a must-see. If you're up for a story about organized crime during the Prohibition Era, I'd suggest reading the novel first.


The Zookeeper's Wife, by Diane Ackerman. Following the story of the keepers of the Warsaw Zoo during the Nazi invasion and their efforts to save hundreds of animals and people, both the novel and film are guaranteed to tug on your emotions. The film adaptation, due out in theaters this spring, stars Jessica Chastain.

Also due out this spring is the adaptation of bestselling YA novel Wonder, by R.J. Palacio.  A young boy with an extreme facial deformity struggles to adapt to being a private-school fifth-grader after years of being home-schooled. Starring Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson.

If you're a non-fiction reader, don't worry, I haven't forgotten you and neither has Hollywood. The Lost City of Z, by David Grann, tells the tale of how British explorer Percy Fawcett got lost while searching for an ancient fabled city in the Amazon in 1925. Fans of Sienna Miller and Robert Pattinson will definitely want to see the movie this spring, too.

Dave Eggers is a particular staff favorite around here, so here at the library we're very excited to see a star-studded cast for the adaptation of The Circle. A young woman lands a job at a powerful Google-like tech company and soon becomes involved with a mysterious man. Emma Watson, Tom Hanks, Karen Gillan and John Boyega are just a few of the big names attached.

If you prefer classics, Daphne Du Maurier's My Cousin Rachel is coming to screens this summer featuring Rachel Weisz and Sam Claflin.  This story of Philip and his mysterious cousin Rachel, who may or may not be guilty of murdering another family member.

If you're looking for something dark and fantastic, you'll need look no further than the adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower, featuring Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey in some very unexpected roles. King's opus series begins with The Gunslinger, so you might want to start now.

Finally, another classic with a crazy all-star cast will be this coming autumn's adaptation of Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express. Think I'm kidding about the cast of this classic murder mystery? Johnny Depp, Kenneth Branagh, Daisy Ridley, Penelope Cruz, Michelle Pfeiffer AND Dame Judi Dench are all attached to the project, just to name a few. It should be ridiculously amazing. *fingers crossed*

PS: If you're interested, Neil Gaiman's American Gods is being turned into a series by Starz, and the casting looks amazing. It's a particular favorite title of mine, so I highly recommend you read it if you have any interest in the show coming out later this year.

Meg's Picks: October 2015, part 1

There are a number of titles coming out next month which may be of particular interest to readers, including a little something for Game of Thrones fans to help tide you over until Winds of Winter is released (when it's done, says Martin), as well as a Vince Flynn novel finished posthumously (Flynn died in June of 2013 after a 3-year battle with cancer) by author Kyle Mills, something new from Prey series author John Sandford, and a new chapter in re-imagined fairy tales from Gregory Maguire.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, by George R.R. Martin. For fans of Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire, Martin's next installment in the series just cannot come fast enough. But this volume, additional title "being the adventures of Ser Duncan the Tall and his squire Egg," may help while away the time in between, especially for those into some of the lore and history of Westeros. This volume compiles the first three prequel novellas to A Song of Ice and Fire, which tell the story of a young, naïve but ultimately courageous hedge knight, Ser Duncan the Tall towers above his rivals—in stature if not experience. Tagging along is his diminutive squire, a boy called Egg—whose true name (hidden from all he and Dunk encounter) is Aegon Targaryen. Though more improbable heroes may not be found in all of Westeros, great destinies lay ahead for these two . . . as do powerful foes, royal intrigue, and outrageous exploits.

The Survivor, by Vince Flynn & Kyle Mills. Chronicling Mitch Rapp's finest battle, picking up right where The Last Man left off, is a race to save America. When Joe “Rick” Rickman, a former golden boy of the CIA, steals a massive amount of the Agency’s most classified documents in an elaborately masterminded betrayal of his country, CIA director Irene Kennedy has no choice but to send her most dangerous weapon after him: elite covert operative Mitch Rapp. Rapp quickly dispatches the traitor, but Rickman proves to be a deadly threat to America even from beyond the grave. Eliminating Rickman didn’t solve all of the CIA’s problems—in fact, mysterious tip-offs are appearing all over the world, linking to the potentially devastating data that Rickman managed to store somewhere only he knew. It’s a deadly race to the finish as both the Pakistanis and the Americans search desperately for Rickman’s accomplices, and for the confidential documents they are slowly leaking to the world. To save his country from being held hostage to a country set on becoming the world’s newest nuclear superpower, Mitch Rapp must outrun, outthink, and outgun his deadliest enemies yet.

Saturn Run, by John Sandford & Ctein. Fans of Andy Weir's The Martian (I include myself in this category--ps, the film adaptation directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon comes to theaters in October) will want to check out this new collaborative novel from Sandford (author of the long-running Prey series) and Ctein (photo-artist and science fiction aficionado). The year is 2066. A Caltech intern inadvertently notices an anomaly from a space telescope—something is approaching Saturn, and decelerating. Space objects don’t decelerate. Spaceships do. A flurry of top-level government meetings produces the inescapable conclusion: Whatever built that ship is at least one hundred years ahead in hard and soft technology, and whoever can get their hands on it exclusively and bring it back will have an advantage so large, no other nation can compete. A conclusion the Chinese definitely agree with when they find out. The race is on, and an remarkable adventure begins—an epic tale of courage, treachery, resourcefulness, secrets, surprises, and astonishing human and technological discovery, as the members of a hastily thrown-together crew find their strength and wits tested against adversaries both of this earth and beyond. This is absolutely on my to-read list this fall!

After Alice, by Gregory Maguire. Maguire, known for modern classics like the best-selling Wicked, now publishes a twist on Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, coinciding with the 150th anniversary of Lewis Carroll's classic.When Alice toppled down the rabbit-hole 150 years ago, she found a Wonderland as rife with inconsistent rules and abrasive egos as the world she left behind. But what of that world? How did 1860s Oxford react to Alice’s disappearance? In this brilliant work of fiction, Gregory Maguire turns his dazzling imagination to the question of underworlds, undergrounds, underpinnings—and understandings old and new, offering an inventive spin on Carroll’s enduring tale. Ada, a friend of Alice’s mentioned briefly in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, is off to visit her friend, but arrives a moment too late—and tumbles down the rabbit-hole herself.

Meg's Picks: June 2015, part 2

I'm so glad you're back for more, because I have more titles to share that just may hit the top of your reading list this summer. Intrigued? Then let me end the suspense--here are the rest of my picks from the June fiction titles.

The Mountain Story, by Lori Lansens. I am a huge fan of Lansens. Do you have a novelist who you wish would write faster/publish more often because you enjoy their books so much, but at the same time you don't want them to publish too often for fear of the books becoming rushed and less special? That is how I feel about Lansens's books. (New to Lori Lansens? I highly recommend The Girls, while you wait for her newest novel.)

Speaking of said latest novel... On the morning of Wolf Truly’s eighteenth birthday, he boards the first cable car to head up the mountains just a few miles from his sun-bleached trailer home in the desert community outside of Palm Springs. Armed with nothing but the clothes on his back, Wolf’s intention that morning was to give up on life—specifically at the mountain site of his best friend’s tragic accident one year ago. But on that shaky ride up the mountain, fate intervenes and Wolf meets three women that will leave an indelible imprint on the rest of his life. Through a series of missteps, the four wind up lost and stranded among the forested cliffs—in sight of the desert city below, but unable to find a way down. As the days pass without rescue, we come to learn how each of them came to be on the mountain that morning. And as their situation shifts from misadventure to nightmare, the lost hikers forge an inextricable bond, pushing themselves, and each other, beyond their limits. For Lansens fans, obviously, but also for those who enjoyed John Krakauer's Into the Wild or Cheryl Strayed's Wild (recently adapted for film starring Reese Witherspoon).

Whispering Shadows, by Jan-Phillip Sendker. I'm a bit late to the game here because, as will happen in publishing, this novel by bestselling author Sendker (The Art of Hearing Heartbeats) was bumped up and instead of being published in June as scheduled, it was actually published in April. Apologies for missing it! This is the first in a new trilogy, following American expat Paul Leibovitz, once an ambitious advisor, dedicated father, and loving husband. But after living for nearly thirty years in Hong Kong, personal tragedy strikes and Paul’s marriage unravels in the fallout. Now Paul is living as a recluse on an outlying island of Hong Kong. When he makes a fleeting connection with Elizabeth, a distressed American woman on the verge of collapse, his life is thrown into turmoil. Less than twenty-four hours later, Elizabeth’s son is found dead in Shenzhen, and Paul, invigorated by a newfound purpose, sets out to investigate the murder on his own. Described as part crime thriller, part love story, I have a feeling book clubs will want to add this to their lists in coming months.

The Book of Speculation, by Erika Swyler. Simon Watson lives alone on the Long Island Sound in his family home, a house perched on the edge of a cliff that is slowly crumbling into the sea. His parents are long dead, his mother having drowned in the water his house overlooks. His younger sister, Enola, works for a travelling carnival and seldom calls. On a day in late June, Simon receives a mysterious book from an antiquarian bookseller; it has been sent to him because it is inscribed with the name Verona Bonn, Simon's grandmother. The book tells the story of two doomed lovers who were part of a travelling circus more than two hundred years ago. The paper crackles with age as Simon turns the yellowed pages filled with notes and sketches. He is fascinated, yet as he reads Simon becomes increasingly unnerved. Why do so many women in his family drown on 24th July? And could Enola, who has suddenly turned up at home for the first time in years, risk the same terrible fate? I'm recommending this to fans of Erin Morgenstern's The Night Circus or Alice Hoffman's The Museum of Extraordinary Things.

The Truth According To Us, by Annie Barrows. Barrows follows up The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society with a small-town story filled with big characters. In the summer of 1938, Layla Beck's influential father cuts her off and insists she find work with the New Deal program the Federal Writer's Project. Layla is sent to pen the history of a remote mill town in West Virginia and takes up lodging with the unconventional Romeyn family, one of whom is keen to help her uncover buried family and town secrets. Recommended for fans of Barrows's previous novel, as well as for fans of authors like Lee Smith, Rachel Joyce and Gabrielle Zevin.

The Sunken Cathedral, by Kate Walbert. Walbert, National Book Award nominee and author of the critically acclaimed, New York Times best-selling novel A Short History of Women, returns here with a deceptively simple novel in stories, enriched with footnotes. The result is a multidimensional portrait of two 80-something widows in New York's Chelsea neighborhood venturing outside their comfort zone to take an art class. Simone and Marie, both French survivors of WWII, have been friends since meeting as young mothers on a Brooklyn playground. Neighbors, family, art students, and school administrators provide a supporting cast whose hopes and disappointments, routines and crises, pleasures, and fears converge to form an ode to New York City, a riff on aging, and a discourse on living with a vague fear of impending catastrophe.

I'll be back next Thursday to share what I've been reading this month. In the meantime, have a wonderful holiday weekend, and happy reading!

Meg's Picks: April 2015, part 1

I've been reading through hundreds of book reviews and picking the best of the best...so you don't have to! Here are a few titles I'm looking forward to next month, and why I can't wait to read them!

The Blondes, by Emily Schultz

What it is: a hilarious and whipsmart novel where an epidemic of a rabies-like disease is carried only by blonde women, all of whom must go to great lengths to conceal their blondness.

Why I want to read it: This is being billed as a genre-defying novel, a mix of satire, thriller, and serious literature. It is also being compared to works like Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, as well as getting nods from the likes of Stephen King, Helene Wecker, and Emily St. John Mandel.

A Slant of Light, by Jeffrey Lent

What it is: A double murder in a small rural western New York town after the end of the Civil War affects the entire community in this novel about love, loss and revenge.

Why I want to read it: Lent won me over more than fifteen years ago with his debut novel, In the Fall. I find his prose profoundly moving.

Inside the O’Briens, by Lisa Genova

What it is: A cop, husband and father initially attributes his uncharacteristic outbursts, involuntary movements and confused thinking to stress, but a visit to a neurologist changes his life and the lives of his family forever.

Why I want to read it: Novelist and neuroscientist Genova does an amazing job weaving fiction and science in a way that makes it readable and accessible. Readers may be familiar with another of Genova's novels, Still Alice, recently made into an Oscar-winning film featuring Julianne Moore. This will likely be a title that your neighbors and book clubs will be talking about in the near future.

Read-alikes: Gone Girl

Gillian Flynn's 2012 break-out hit novel, Gone Girl, is still going strong for readers everywhere (to give you an idea, as of this writing, while the hardcover edition is no longer on the New York Times Bestseller List, the trade paperback has been there for the last three months). And with the film adaptation being released this coming fall (starring Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike and Neil Patrick Harris), it is about to get even bigger.

But what if you've already read it?  What if you loved it and, as you wait for the film's release, you're looking for something similar to read?  I'm so glad you asked!  Here are some compulsively readable suspense novels full of plot-twists to keep you going:

The Talented Mr. Ripley, by Patricia Highsmith. You may be familiar with the movie adaptation of this novel (which starred Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law). But if you ask this librarian (it's why you're here, right?), the book was better! The first in a series of five novels about Tom Ripley, The Talented Mr. Ripley follows the suave young Tom through his introduction to Manhattan and his trip to Italy to find a wealthy industrialist's wayward playboy son and bring him home, where Tom finds himself both entranced by the lifestyle of Dickie Greenleaf and enraged by the man's casual disregard for a sweet young dilletante. The birth of a confidence man.

Before I Go To Sleep, by S.J. Watson. I adored this book, and while Watson has not been forthcoming with a second novel, this remains one of my favorite thrillers. You can read my review here.

Never Look Away, by Linwood Barclay. Fans of missing-persons suspense will love this read-alike by Barclay. I really enjoyed this one--you can read my review here.

Like suspense books about deep family secrets? Try Defending Jacob by William Landay.  I read it for my book club earlier this year.  Here's what I thought about it: This is so much more than a thriller or a courtroom drama. In the wake of the murder of a teenage boy, the son of assistant district attorney Andy Barber, middle-school student Jacob, is the prime suspect. In the course of the investigation and prosecution, the tale becomes as much about secrets, family dynamics, community response to tragedy, and coping with change, all of which make this deep, intriguing novel so much more than the sum of its parts. Not for the faint of heart, but very highly recommended.

Josie and Jack, by Kelly Braffet.   Siblings Josie and Jack have always depended on each other, living in a secluded decaying mansion in western Pennsylvania with their mostly absentee and abusive father. Once they finally escape and venture into the outside world, however, it becomes apparent that Jack may be even more sinister than their father. I've heard this likened to Hansel and Gretel on drugs, so it's sure to be dark and twisted. 


I'm back next week with a review of something so good, I just can't keep it to myself.  In the meantime, happy summer reading!