Meg's Picks: July 2019, part 1

History, humor, and heart. These are just some of the bounty of July's new novels.

Dragonfly, by Leila Meacham. At the height of World War II, a group of young Americans receive a mysterious summons from their government, asking if they willing to fight for their country. While they are from very different backgrounds, each heeds the call for their own personal reasons. The group, code name Dragonfly, bond immediately. This is war, however, and the stakes in the cat-and-mouse game they're playing are incredibly high. One or more of them will have to pay the ultimate price... For fans of Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale, most definitely. 

The Chelsea Girls, by Fiona Davis. Hazel and Maxine meet as USO performers in Italy at the end of World War II, one a sheltered daughter of a renowned theater family, the other facing discrimination owing to a German-born grandfather. Following the war, Hazel pens a Broadway-bound play based on her experiences during the war, and Maxine comes from Hollywood to star...but a secret will threaten to tear their friendship apart. Davis has been developing quite a fan-base with novels like The Dollhouse and The Address--this latest is sure to be in demand.

You've Been Volunteered, by Laurie Gelman. Gelman's debut, Class Mom (2017), introduced snarky 40-something mom Jen Dixon whose appointment to kindergarten class mom put her smack in the middle of PTA drama with hilarious results. In this follow-up, Jen's son Max is now in third grade and Jen is once again catapulted into the role of class mom, even as her family life gets pulled in a dozen different directions. If your perfect summer read is a laugh-out-loud speed read, this is for you!

The Lager Queen of Minnesota, by J. Ryan Stradal. I adored Stradal's 2015 debut, Kitchens of the Great Midwest, and I've been anxiously awaiting her new novel, inspired by true events in Stradal's own family. Once upon a time, Helen Blotz inherited the family farm, which alienated her sister Edith. Helen used the proceeds from the sale of the farm to invest in her husband's family soda business, helping to turn it into the hottest brewery in Minnesota. Two generations later, the brewery's success is waning, though Edith's granddaughter's brewpub may bring family together again. Stradal's characters are deftly drawn and are deeply memorable. Have I mentioned I can't wait?

Meg's Picks: January 2016, part 1

It has been really hard waiting to share some of these titles with you--I have ordered some of them months and months ago! Here are a few of the titles I know you're going to want to know about, coming out next month!

After the Crash, by Michel Bussi. If you're unfamiliar with Bussi's name, I have a feeling you won't be for long--he's France's best known crime-writer, and this particular title was on the best-seller's list there for two years. He's also been likened to Stieg Larsson, so that's not a bad thing either. The premise of the novel?
A night flight from Istanbul bound for Paris, filled with 169 holiday travelers, plummets into the Swiss Alps. The sole survivor is a three-month-old girl--thrown from the plane onto the snowy mountainside before fire rages through the aircraft. But two infants were on board. Is the miracle baby Lyse-Rose or Emilie? Both families step forward to claim the child--one poor, one powerful, wealthy, and dangerous.

The Ex, by Alafair Burke. Burke isn't new to the publication game, but this may be the breakout novel that makes her a household name (think Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl style). Widower Jack Harris has resisted the dating scene ever since the shooting of his wife Molly by a fifteen-year-old boy three years ago. An early morning run along the Hudson River changes that when he spots a woman in last night’s party dress, barefoot, enjoying a champagne picnic alone, reading his favorite novel. Everything about her reminds him of what he used to have with Molly. Eager to help Jack find love again, his best friend posts a message on a popular website after he mentions the encounter. Days later, that same beautiful stranger responds and invites Jack to meet her in person at the waterfront. That’s when Jack’s world falls apart. My best guess is everyone you know is going to be talking about this novel by spring, so place your hold now!

The Golden Son, by Shilpi Somaya Gowda. I am expecting book clubs in particular to pick up on Gowda's new sprawling family saga, which follows two friends along very different paths as they grow up, and apart.
The first of his family to go to college, Anil Patel, the golden son, carries the weight of tradition and his family’s expectations when he leaves his tiny Indian village to begin a medical residency in Dallas, Texas, at one of the busiest and most competitive hospitals in America. When his father dies, Anil becomes the de facto head of the Patel household and inherits the mantle of arbiter for all of the village’s disputes. But he is uneasy with the custom, uncertain that he has the wisdom and courage demonstrated by his father and grandfather. 

Meanwhile, back home in India, Anil’s closest childhood friend, Leena, struggles to adapt to her demanding new husband and relatives. Arranged by her parents, the marriage shatters Leena’s romantic hopes, and eventually forces her to make a desperate choice that will hold drastic repercussions for herself and her family. Though Anil and Leena struggle to come to terms with their identities thousands of miles apart, their lives eventually intersect once more—changing them both and the people they love forever.

Three on Thursday: The Book Was Better, Fall 2014 edition

Great books often make for great films, and Hollywood is banking on it this fall! If you're the type who prefers to read the book first, I'm here to help you get a jump on the fall's film adaptations.

Given that we're a few short weeks away from the the October 3 release of the film adaptation (starring Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike and Neil Patrick Harris) of Gillian Flynn's bestseller, Gone Girl, we at the library are seeing a resurgence of popularity for the title. Lots of people like to read the book before seeing the movie, which in this case is an added bonus: Flynn wrote the screenplay and changed the ending in the movie, so even readers of the book will be surprised. Want my full review? You can check that out here. And if you're looking for more like Gone Girl, stop in the Main Library during the beginning of October--we'll have a display of read-alikes for you!

Before I Go to Sleep, by S.J. Watson. I know I've recommended this one before, and I just can't stop. And now we have the movie to look forward to, opening on Halloween and starring Colin Firth, Nicole Kidman, and Mark Strong. Kidman plays an amnesiac who, in an effort to reconstruct her past, keeps a journal and makes an entry every evening about what she's learned about her past that day. It's only as she reads back over past entries that she begins to discover that her story has inconsistencies from day to day, and that her husband may not be as trustworthy as she'd first believed. I hope they do this film justice, because the book remains one of my favorites.

Feeling more in need of a comedy than a thriller? Justin Bateman and Tina Fey star in the movie adaptation of This Is Where I Leave You, by Jonathan Tropper, which opened last week. Judd, played by Bateman, is having a terrible few weeks. His father has died, and he's also found out that his wife is having an affair with his boss, a fact which has recently become painfully public. Now he's spending a week sitting shiva with his dysfunctional family, dealing with old grudges.

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!

Reading Ahead: August 2013, part 4

If you've been holding out, hoping that August would serve up some great beach reads, you are in luck!  Here are a few titles that might just be what you've been waiting for.

The Girls of August, by Anne Rivers Siddons.  When a group of friends, who call themselves the Girls of August because they meet each summer to spend some time together at a beach house, loses one of its circle, the group dissolves and drifts apart.  Until, that is, they reconvene to celebrate a new marriage, and as they reconnect, they find one another changed beyond imagining.  This will undoubtedly be a book club favorite in the coming months!

The First Affair, by Emma McLaughlin & Nicole Kraus.  You may recognize the names of these authors--they made quite a splash several years ago with The Nanny Diaries, and have been regularly hitting the bestseller's list ever since.  Here, a young woman with a pricey degree gets the intership of her dreams--at the White House.  However, she quickly becomes embroiled in a heated affair with the most powerful man in the country, and scandal is only a step behind her.  Reviews are calling it unflinching fiction for pop-culture aficionados--sounds like a beach read to me!

The Girl You Left Behind, by JoJo Moyes.  Moyes, who got great reviews from critics and readers alike for 2012's Me Before You, returns here with another heartbreaker of a novel that asks "Whatever happened to the girl you left behind?"  It's 1916 and a young artist leaves his wife to go and fight at the front.  When their small town falls to the Germans, the young wife, Sophie, draws the eye of the new Kommandant, and Sophie is willing to do anything to survive in order to see her husband again.  Then the story shifts to present day, and a portrait of Sophie that has survived is under scrutiny.  This is being likened to Sarah Blake's The Postmistress and Tatiana de Rosnay's Sarah's Key; I can almost guarantee it's going to be one of the must-read titles this fall.  

Rose Harbor in Bloom, by Debbie Macomber.  Macomber returns here to her ever-popular Rose Harbor Inn series, where every room comes with a second chance and a new view on life.  Three women arrive, seeking to put their pasts behind them, and look forward to new beginnings.  Of course, compassion and joy await all three.  A gentle, heartwarming novel for your beach-bag.

Hotshot, by Julie Garwood.  Peyton Lockhart and her sisters have inherited Bishop’s Cove, a small, luxurious oceanfront resort, but it comes with a condition: The girls must run the resort for one year and show a profit—only then will they own it.  Yet nothing simple is ever easy, and they will have to overcome confrontations with family and powerful land developers who don't want to take no for an answer.  Add a mystery and a little romance, and it's the perfect summer read.

I'll be back next week with the final wrap-up of August's new titles.  In the meantime, stay cool and happy reading!

Summer Reading Series 14: Read-Alikes

When people ask me for a recommendation of what they should read, I usually answer their question with a question.  (I know it’s an annoying habit, but there’s a method to my madness.)

“What was the last book that you read that you really enjoyed?”  Or, “What kind of book are you in the mood for?”  How you answer these questions helps me to narrow down what I would recommend.  And if you haven’t noticed by now, one of my favorite things about being a reader and working in a library is helping fellow readers find books that they’ll love.  So here are some of my top picks if you liked…

The Help, by Kate Stockett.  You’re looking for:  heavier issues, characters that resonate long after you’ve finished, and you’re not scared of page-length.  Have you tried:  John Irving (esp. A Widow for One Year), Jeffrey Eugenides (esp. Middlesex), Wally Lamb (esp. She’s Come Undone) or Alice Hoffman (esp. The River King).

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, etc., by Stieg Larsson.  You’re looking for:  Quirky characters, deeply engrossing plot.  Have you tried:  Jeffrey Deaver (esp. The Empty Chair), Harlan Coben (esp. No Second Chance), Jonathan Nasaw (esp. Twenty Seven Bones) or Philip Margolin (esp. The Undertaker’s Widow).

Room, by Emma Donoghue.  You’re looking for: A unique narrator, a nail-biting plot.  You might like:  The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein, Bag of Bones by Stephen King, or State of Wonder by Anne Patchett.

Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse series.  You’re looking for: Alternate takes on the supernatural, maybe something a little scary, characters you’ll love.  You might like:  The Strain by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan, The Anita Blake series by Laurell K. Hamilton, A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness, or the Undead series by MaryJanice Davidson.

Looking for a personal recommendation?  Leave a comment below (please be sure to leave me a way to contact you) and I’ll be happy to help!

Thursday’s post this week will be the last of our summer reading series for the year, so we’ll be taking one last stroll through the garden.