Bloom by Robbie Couch

March 04, 2026

I never really thought about reading a novel centered around a retired gay history teacher, a lost bride-to-be, and a dying jade houseplant. Robbie Couch’s Bloom made me cry. Morris Warner feels as if he’s dying, too, since the unexpected death of his...

Sandwich by Catherine Newman

September 10, 2025

I’m a little late in picking up Catherine Newman’s Sandwich. It’s one of the four choices for Saturday’s book chat at my local library. It was worth the wait for this story of one woman in the sandwich generation. But, Rocky, who worries about...

The Memory Library by Kate Storey

April 02, 2025

My best friend suggested I pick up a book from last year, Kate Storey’s The Memory Library. I cried over it, and stayed up way too late to finish it, so that’s just a warning if you decide to pick it up. It’s a book about family, misunderstandings,...

The Book Haters’ Book Club by Gretchen Anthony

September 11, 2022

Gretchen Anthony’s The Book Haters’ Book Club is called a love letter to book sellers and librarians, and it includes actual book recommendations. For those of us who love stories about bookstores, this one can feel as if you dove into a slightly...

One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle

March 06, 2022

There was Frances Mayes’ Under the Tuscan Sun. I read it, but the book that really makes me want to visit Italy is Rebecca Serle’s novel, One Italian Summer. And, it’s not Rome or Florence or Venice. It’s Positano on the Amalfi Coast, with its...