Sometimes I end up reading books that are so far out of the genres I usually read it’s refreshing. That’s the case with these two novels about hired men who through their jobs end up in some pretty unusual situations. Both are a quick read and might be good options for the man in your life this Labor Day weekend. Or try them yourself! Gibson is a rising star in ... Read More...
The Story Hour
When it comes to the workings of the human heart there are few who tell tales so consistently unexpected and with such depth as Thrity Umrigar. Her newest novel, The Story Hour, is about the lonely Lakshmi and Maggie, the psychologist assigned to work with her after she tries to kill herself. Lakshmi came from India six years ago with her arranged-marriage husband. Her life ... Read More...
The Care and Management of Lies
Thea and Kezia have been friends since childhood and have just finished college to begin their teaching careers in The Care and Management of Lies by Jacqueline Winspear. That is until Kezia decides to marry Thea’s brother Tom, leaving Thea feeling isolated and betrayed. While Kezia adapts to married life and being a farmer’s wife, Thea throws herself into the suffragette ... Read More...
The Heiresses
Sara Shepard is well-known for her YA series Pretty Little Liars which went on to become a wildly successful television show. Now she steps out of the YA world and into the world of wealthy young women in her new novel, The Heiresses: A Novel. The Saybrook family is known for two things: insane wealth and a curse that seems to be knocking them off at an alarming rate. The ... Read More...
Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932
It’s a testament to author Francine Prose’s prodigious talent that she can bring together a cross-dressing lesbian Nazi spy, a French baroness, and a Hungarian photographer, and not have it read like a bad joke. Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932 takes all of the characters listed, adds an American author, the photographer’s French girlfriend, and the Chameleon Club’s ... Read More...
The Death of Bees
There are times when what is needed is a story so utterly foreign that it plucks us out of our own world and drops us into one for which our background leaves us completely unprepared. I found this with Lisa O’Donnell’s debut novel The Death of Bees: A Novel. Set in Glasgow, it encompasses the world of Marnie and Nelly, two teens left on their own when their parents die. Well, ... Read More...
