I’ve been trying hard to stick with reviewing more comforting reading, but I had a chance to delve into a favorite author’s backlist and took it. I’ve been an Anna Quindlen fan for years and recently decided to try her second novel. Published in 1998, Black and Blue is one woman’s story and the lengths they will go to for their children. Fran is an ER nurse married to Bobby, ... Read More...
After Annie by Anna Quindlen
Anna Quindlen is back (yes!) with her new novel, After Annie, a heartfelt exploration of the internal campaign grief wages on the individual members of one family. After 37-year-old Annie Brown dies while preparing dinner her husband, daughter, and her best friend slog through the next year trying to reassemble their lives without the glue that was Annie. After Annie is not a ... Read More...
8 Beautiful Backlist Books to Read Now
After a little digression on Friday, it’s back to books! Reading may be your escape during quarantine, but for many the economic issues caused by the pandemic means buying the newest releases isn’t a great idea. So, today I’ve got eight beautiful backlist books I read and loved years ago. Several I’ve never talked about because I read them before I started this blog. Even ... Read More...
Alternate Side by Anna Quindlen
She’d realized that that was how life was, that certain small moments were like billboards forever alongside the highway of your memory. It is no secret I love Anna Quindlen. In the kind of way that makes me pushy about her, as in I’ve demanded innocent victims read her, because I think her voice is one of the best in fiction. I still believe that, but also realize ... Read More...
Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake
It’s odd when I think of the arc of my life, from child to young woman to aging adult. First I was who I was. Then I didn’t know who I was. Then I invented someone and became her. Then I began to like what I’d invented. And finally I was what I was again. I have been a huge fan of Anna Quindlen’s fiction for decades, but had never read any of her nonfiction until this month, ... Read More...
Miller’s Valley
Miller’s Valley is both the title and location of Anna Quindlen’s new novel. It is a tiny community where Mimi Miller’s family has owned and farmed their land for hundreds of years. Now it’s under threat because the government has decided to use a dam they put in decades ago to divert the river, flooding the town and turning it into a reservoir and a source of hydroelectricity. ... Read More...
