Rising Strong
my take: Daring Greatly was about being in the arena – engaging in life, going for it, trying and possibly …
The Cleaner of Chartres
my take: This is a quiet novel that runs deep. Agnes, the cleaner, appears to be a blank slate upon …
The Fishermen
my take: The upbeat cover of this book is deceptive … it is a colorful but oh-so-woe-full tale behind this …
"White Teeth"
my take: Every so often while reading I had to look back to the publishing date to double check that …
"The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy"
my take: Oh, I do love is kind of book…for every season and an especially great vacation read: an engaging …
The Book of Jonah
my take: In this is a modern re-telling of the Biblical book, Tarshish and Ninevah are replaced with New York …
"Why We Get Fat"
my take: This is a treatise on why the calories in/calories out paradigm that is touted by medical experts, exercise …
Top Picks July – December 2015
Ah, the second half. These are the most memorable after a year of 50+ books. Fiction: There were parts of …
"Our Souls at Night"
my take: I read this slim, quiet novel in two doses. It’s the tender love story of two aging, widowed …
"Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands"
my take: I read this shortly after I read Station Eleven, so at first it seemed like another post-apocolyptic story, …
"All My Puny Sorrows"
my take: Sometimes one picks a book by the reviews on the front covers – this is one of those …
"Fates and Furies"
my take: The title and the cover design give great clues about this read: it’s a wild ride. The Fates …
Big Magic
my take: This is a celebration of CREATIVITY based on the idea that we humans are made to make – …
"The Things They Carried"
my take: Written in pseudo-memoir style, this novel reads like a collection of short stories, and after listening to the …
"Etta and Otto and Russell and James"
my take: Etta, Otto, Russell … their names are linked by doubles letters and their lives are linked by love. …
"My Brilliant Friend"
my take: A tale of two young girls in 1950’s Naples in a rough neighborhood of poverty, violence, and secrets. …
"Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk"
my take: It’s not long into this novel that the reader can start to figure that the halftime walk is …
"MWF Seeks BFF"
my take: One of my life skills classes is about friendship – which is a more universal relationship talk for …
"Daring Greatly"
my take: I also read I Thought it was Just Me and The Gift of Imperfection by Brené Brown this …
"The Vacationers"
my take: Dysfunctional family goes to Mallorca. Food, pool, sun, beach, Spanish men and scenery. Definitely a great escape novel …
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