I’ve had mixed success with time travel novels this summer (I’m looking at you, One Italian Summer) so I was a bit hesitant to pick up This Time Tomorrow. What swayed me is that it’s by Emma Straub, whose last novel All Adults Here was a favorite of mine. Thankfully, while I may not have loved everything about this father-daughter novel I did appreciate the relationship and how ... Read More...
Six Best Books of 2020
In the same way 2020 turned life upside-down it had the same impact on people’s reading. For me, I read more nonfiction than ever before—from 11% up to 20%. Even more surprising, after reviewing my 2020 book ratings I saw how varied my favorite reading ended up being. Here are the six best new releases of 2020 covering six genres. Enjoy! REALITY If I were to pick ... Read More...
All Adults Here
Astrid Strick is in downtown Clapham where she’s lived for most of her life, when she witnesses a school bus hitting and killing a woman she knows. A tragic death like this could be the focus of most novels, but instead it is the pebble in the pond that creates the widening ripples of life in All Adults Here. We don’t learn much more about Barbara, the dead woman, but she ... Read More...
Summer Fun Reading: Mini-Reviews
Let's face it, this is not the time of year for War and Peace. Actually, I'm not sure there's ever a time for War and Peace, but that's another post. Right now, if you're lucky, you're sunning and funning so your reading should reflect that. If you're trapped somewhere cold and miserable (like the office) then after work you still need to pop the cork on a bottle of champagne ... Read More...
The Vacationers
The second novel can be a stressful time for any novelist but more so if their first hit it big, as did Emma Straub’s Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures. How marvelous then when the second novel travels (literally) in a completely different direction but still delivers on-point prose and an engaging story. I’m talking about The Vacationers, Straub’s contemporary look at the Post ... Read More...
Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures
From an idyllic childhood near the lakes of Wisconsin to the glamour of Hollywood’s studio days, Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures traces Elsa Emerson’s journey to becoming Laura Lamont.Elsa’s family is in the theater business, running a small company in Door County, Wisconsin. The summer she is nine her father is convinced to give her a walk-on part in a play and For Elsa, ... Read More...
