I missed the library’s last Book Tasting because it was the same morning as Apple Butter Day. The next one is November 8, and it’s on my calendar. We have four books to pick from. The librarians pick and read these, and we also talk about whatevrer book we want. Here are the selections for November.
In Liane Moriarty’s What Alice Forgot, Alice Love is twenty-nine, crazy about her husband, and pregnant with her first child. So imagine Alice’s surprise when she comes to on the floor of a gym (a gym! She HATES the gym) and is whisked off to the hospital where she discovers the honeymoon is truly over—she’s getting divorced, she has three kids, and she’s actually 39 years old. Alice must reconstruct the events of a lost decade, and find out whether it’s possible to reconstruct her life at the same time. She has to figure out why her sister hardly talks to her, and how is it that she’s become one of those super skinny moms with really expensive clothes. Ultimately, Alice must discover whether forgetting is a blessing or a curse, and whether it’s possible to start over…
I don’t usually read literary fiction. Things I Wish I Told My Mother by Susan Patterson and Susan DiLallo are more my speed. And, it’s set in Paris! An artist and her perfectionist mother unpack a lifetime of secrets while on vacation in Paris in this moving novel. A mother and daughter on vacation in Paris unpack a lifetime of secrets and hopes—with a giant Pattersonian twist at the end!
Every daughter has her own distinctive voice, her inimitable style, and her secrets.
Laurie is an artist, a collector of experiences. She travels the world with a worn beige duffel bag.
Every mother has her own distinctive voice, her inimitable style, and her secrets.
“Dr. Liz,” Laurie’s mother, is an elegant perfectionist who travels the world with a matched set of suitcases.
When Laurie surprises her mother with a dream vacation, it brings an unexpected sparkle to her eyes.
Louise Erdrich’s The Mighty Red is definitely not my type of book. In this stunning novel, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award–winning author Louise Erdrich tells a story of love, natural forces, spiritual yearnings, and the tragic impact of uncontrollable circumstances on ordinary people’s lives.
In the Red River Valley of North Dakota, several lives revolve around a wedding fraught with desire, jealousy, and uncertainty. Gary Geist, a terrified young man set to inherit two farms, is desperate to marry Kismet Poe, an impulsive, lapsed goth who can’t read her own future but will settle for fulfilling his. Her best friend, Hugo, a gentle, red-haired, homeschooled giant, also loves Kismet and is determined to steal her away and build a life together. Kismet’s mother, Crystal, drives a truck for Gary’s family, and on her nightly runs, tunes in to the darkness of late-night radio, experiences visions of guardian angels, and worries about what’s to come, for her daughter and herself.
Well, my blog kicked me out, and wouldn’t let me upload the book jacket for Sulari Gentill’s The Mystery Writer. But, here’s teh summary. When Theodosia Benton abandons her career path as an attorney and shows up on her brother’s doorstep with two suitcases and an unfinished novel, she expects to face a few challenges. Will her brother support her ambition or send her back to finish her degree? What will her parents say when they learn of her decision? Does she even have what it takes to be a successful writer?
What Theo never expects is to be drawn into a hidden literary world in which identity is something that can be lost and remade for the sake of an audience. When her mentor, a highly successful author, is brutally murdered, Theo wants the killer to be found and justice to be served. Then the police begin looking at her brother, Gus, as their prime suspect, and Theo does the unthinkable in order to protect him. But the writer has left a trail, a thread out of the labyrinth in the form of a story. Gus finds that thread and follows it, and in his attempt to save his sister he inadvertently threatens the foundations of the labyrinth itself. To protect the carefully constructed narrative, Theo Benton, and everyone looking for her, will have to die.
Have you read any of these? What did you think?
No. But I’ve read two of Sulari Gentill’s books and liked them both a lot, so that would probably be first on my list. And surprisingly, even though I avoid what I’d call “chick lit that is made into a miniseries starring Nicole Kidman,” there is something about the first one that appeals to me – the amnesia plot.
I’ll be curious to see which one you pick.
I picking Things I Wish I’d Told My Mother, Jeff. First, it’s Paris. And, I’m always interested in mother-daughter relationships.
I’ve read a few of Sulari’s, but I’m a little lost at time when it’s one of her meta mysteries. I haven’t read this one, and I almost picked it.
Things I Wish I Told my Mother is a beautiful story. It made me think of my mother and not to take her for granted and to cherish her while she is still here.
Precisely why I visit my Mom so often, Katherine. I missed a lot of years with her when I was in Arizona and Florida, so I’m trying to make up for it, and cram in as much time as I can. I’m glad you liked it since it’s my pick!
I know I read WHAT ALICE FORGOT, but I can’t remember it. So I think that means it didn’t make a big impression on me. But I have liked other Liane Moriarty books. I haven’t read any of the other authors.
I don’t think I ever read a Liane Moriarty book, Kim. So, I must not be missing anything if it didn’t make a big impression.
Good morning, Lesa. I have actually read three of the four books! And What Alice Forgot was by far my favorite. I rated it very high. The Patterson book was enjoyable, but I disliked the Gentill book and rated it very low, although I enjoyed her first one. I’ve been reluctant to try her book ever since.
I Just ordered and received her first couple Rowland Sinclair mysteries, Margie. They’re historical, and I don’t know much about Australia in the 1930s, so I’m looking forward to those books. I’ve liked some of Sulari’s standalones, and I wasn’t really into two of them.