Tricia Nelson
I read this book with friends over the course of two months, and it was good that I had so long to read it. It's a dense story, in length and events and characters and history, and it is also a story that you can become immersed in. The page edges on my copy are covered with book darts to mark quotes or important themes throughout, and there is much to discuss about the story.
For three summers in a row, I've read an Emily Henry book, and they are perfect summer reading! This story had me laughing out loud more than once, and there is a lot of wit in the conversations between the characters. The relationship between Nora and Charlie starts out as one would expect, with them really disliking one another, and over time they realize they really like each other, but the author kept the story realistic, with people dealing with all of their ‘stuff' and everything not being all perfectly tied up in a bow right away. Really enjoyed it!
As a book club organizer, the BEST thing that you can find is a set of resources provided by the author for the book you are discussing. This book club kit for By the Book is a wonderful example of the best kind of book club kit. It includes an author interview, with insight into the inspiration for the book and the author in general. The discussion questions provided are specific to the book and generate a great discussion about the story and how each of us in book club reacted to it. There is also a guide and interview about the cover design of the book, which is something my book club doesn't always talk about, so that was a new idea for us to discuss. There were fun items in the kit like quizes, bookmarks, and writing prompts. For the host for the evening, there are suggestions about snacks and drinks, which is always so fun to tie to the book you are discussing. Overall, this book club kit made our book club discussion richer and more fun than we would have had otherwise.
This is a cute and spicy romance that has a little extra. Aja and Walker meet at a Bingo hall in fictional small town Greenbelt, SC. Aja moved there in search of a quieter life, and Walker is in town from Charleston for a few months helping his grandmother recover from a fall. Sparks fly and the two get to know each other, all the while dealing with their own anxieties and past traumas. I appreciate how the author incorporates characters who are real people with real issues, dealing with them in ways that are sometimes messy. Themes of family, trauma, healing, love, friendships, anxiety and more round out the story.
Thank you Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.
#netgalley #stmartinspress
Very well written book about the pandemic of 1918 set in a hospital in Dublin, Ireland. The main character is a maternity nurse/midwife, and the story is told over three days in which she must try to save women and infants who are battling poverty, influenza, mistreatment, and difficult deliveries. There is much to discuss with this story, and somehow the author manages to address many topics without the reader getting whiplash with topic changes, including the horrible conditions due to WWI or the pandemic or poverty, the perspective of Nurse Powers versus that of Bridie, a volunteer who has grown up with literally nothing, finding love in unlikely places, societal ‘norms' for mothers and infants, the role of women during the war, even the political upheaval of the time in Ireland. Highly recommend for a book club book to discuss.
I picked this up at an airport store because I needed something that would catch and keep my attention. It was one of those days full of travel delays. This story was perfect! The action starts off right away and keeps you reading to find out what happens next. It is the first I've read from this series and I didn't feel like I missed anything jumping in at #31. Great summer read, fast storyline, decent writing.
This book is the Community Read choice for my local library this spring, and it was very interesting. It tells the story of what happened to the Brooklyn neighborhood of Charlotte, NC in the 1960s from a few different viewpoints. The primariliy black neighborhood was torn down and the residents displaced by the city as the city expanded. The story follows a single mother, a local pastor and a wife of one of the city planners through the period of time where all the changes were happening. I learned a lot about what happened, and have a better understanding of the city I call home right now.
This was just the right story at just the right time. I needed something light, funny, and with lots of hope, and The Felicity Theory delivered. This book had me laughing and rooting for the characters as they navigated their own past challenges and figured out what future made sense. Felicity and Oliver are the type of people that we would all love to have in our lives, for different reasons. Felicity brings hope, joy, and the ability to not take herself so so seriously. I loved her perspective on life - her theory of living so to speak. Oliver is dependable, maybe a tad too serious, but a good person through and through. This book is definitely an open door romance, so if that is something that you seek out or avoid, it is good to know. Great great story, quick read, and highly enjoyable!
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
I approached this book thinking I was reading a fun romantic romp for the Valentine's holiday, but found a somewhat deeper story. The narrators Addie and Dylan hop back and forth in a dual timeline - one where they meet one summer and the other in present day, a few years later. The story touches on relationships, mental health, finding yourself (sometimes amidst supportive people, sometimes not), and sisterhood in addition to love, and leaves you with some things to think about.
I'll admit that the Addie/Dylan relationship in the ‘before' made me frustrated, which was likely intentional, although the growth in the ‘after' is rewarding. I loved the relationships between most of the women characters, especially Addie and her sister Deb. Deb's character is deserving of her own story, that's how fun and complete she is. Overall, this is a good book, and was worth my time. I've read the author's other books and I'll read more of her in the future. It would be a good book club choice, and the discussion questions at the end of the paperback edition are actually good ones to get a conversation going.
This was a book that had been on my shelf for a while. I realized that with this author, I need to have a chunk of time to get into the book in order to get invested into the story. Once invested though, I enjoyed the book, in spite of the fact that the subject matter brought with it very strong feelings. This would be a great book club pick, as there is much to discuss. From class differences and privilege, to how we treat sports and the players who are ‘heroes', to the way a community can be divided, which spoke to present times. “Hate can be a deeply stimulating emotion. The world becomes much easier to understand and much less terrifying if you divide everything and everyone into friends and enemies, we and they, good and evil. The easiest way to unite a group isn't through love, because love is hard. It makes demands. Hate is simple”. Phew...... Had to think on that one for a bit! Good story.
I truly enjoyed this story about three women in different circumstances and locations but all connected in some way to the struggles in Cuba in 1896-1898. Evangelista is a beautiful woman who is unjustly imprisoned in Cuba. Marina is a wife, mother, and revolutionary who longs for freedom for her country. Grace is a young woman in New York City who finds herself writing articles for Hearst in the midst of a competition between Pulitzer and Hearst for the readership of the city. All three women are strong and stay true to themselves through challenges large and small. This is the second book I've read by this author and it is very well written and brings you right into the story and keeps you there. I learned a lot about what happened with Cuba, Spain, and the U.S. during this time period - things I probably should have learned long ago. Highly recommend!
Favorite quote: (Grace speaking of Evangelista, p 135) “She is indeed lovely, and still, it seems insulting almost in the face of all she has endured to remark upon her beauty as though it is her defining characteristic, to consign her to hues and angles rather than the strength of her character and spirit”.
This is a good example of a book I read for book club that I might not otherwise have picked up, but I'm so glad I read it. I started it expecting a long (it's a big book) heavy tale that would require my closest attention and some coffee. What I found instead was what I feel is a well written book that somehow explains enough of the science to be able to understand the impact of each discovery and the way this technology has developed over decades.
Although I learned about Jennifer Doudna, the book spent considerable time touching on the community of people who also helped push the science forward to the discoveries of CRISPR and the gene editing tools and understanding that led to the mRNA vaccines that are in use today. It gave me an inside look at the process and large amounts of collaboration (and yes, personalities and competition) in the scientific community on these cutting edge research topics.
Not only will I take away new knowledge about the topic of gene editing and understand a bit better what may lie ahead for us, I will also spend time thinking about all of the moral and ethical questions that come up with using it. A favorite quote (p. 368) is “In a world in which there are people who don't get access to eyeglasses, it's hard to imagine how we will find a way to have equal access to gene enhancements. Imagine what that will do to our species”.
I put off reading this, as the topics were a little close to home with some of my current frustrations and anger at world events, but when I finally sat down with this book, I couldn't put it down. Meals went unprepared, shopping undone, etc. The book is a story of a woman living in Puritan Boston in the early 1620s. The story is well written and crafted in a smart way with two larger events framing it. The characters were what had me hooked, however. Mary is the primary character, and her strength, resilience and confidence made her stand out. Constance is more of an ancillary character, but her perspective and confidence and wisdom made her another memorable character. It is not a spoiler or surprising to say that the Puritan life was hard on women, whose lives and reputations could swing quickly through unfounded accusations and gossip, but unfounded accusations and gossip turned toward a man were unacceptable behavior. I would highly recommend this book for book club discussions. There is a lot to talk about and there would be a great discussion point about what is different today? What is similar if not the same?
I truly enjoyed this book! The author did so much research and used real world events and people in a way that brought them to life, sprinkled with ideas about what might have happened aboard the final voyage of the Hindenburg. I didn't know really anything about the Hindenburg before reading this book, and I didn't need to. At it's heart, this is a story about three days in the lives of a set of people, including love, intrigue, mystery, kindness, work troubles, politics, and more, all woven together with wonderful writing. The book reads as a story where you want to turn the page to find out what happens next. It is told through many viewpoints, but done in such a skilled way that it feels natural, like a shift in perspective and voice in a movie. There is much to discuss about the book, from theories over what really happened on board and how the Hindenburg blew up (which is officially unknown), the world in 1937, the role of women at that time, even the animals that were on board.
I really enjoyed reading this! It was an optional summer pick for our book club, and my expectations before I really knew anything but the title and subject was that it was just another WWII story, this time set in Italy. While that is true, it is also a story that is crafted around the characters, and you come to love those characters. The city of Rome even becomes a character in the story, and there are so many places on my t0-see list now because of this book. The author does a great job of taking some actual events that happened and interweaving them with a fictional story that keeps your interest. The author's website also has a bunch of videos (without spoilers) that not only generate excitement to read the book, but also show you footage of her time in Rome doing research and her inspiration for some plot points and places in the book. Highly recommend!
The Guide is a standalone novel, but if you read The River by this author, you will recognize the main character, or the Guide in this story. Jack is a fishing guide who takes a position at a remote resort in Montana with the hopes that he can find peace. What he finds instead are strange things happening at the resort and red flags that something is very wrong. This story will grab your attention, keep you guessing, and have you rooting for Jack and his client Alison. All the action is also held in a near future where a virus has people quarantining and distancing. It is an interesting and scary imagining of what could happen. Many thanks to Edelweiss for the advance review copy in exchange for an honest review. I highly recommend this book!
This was a wild ride! The story at times made me cringe, hold my breath, laugh out loud, picture people I know, and clench my jaw in anger, but it was a great book to get lost in! In addition to be a very readable book, there are so many things to discuss that it would make a great book club choice.
I was so excited to read this book that I ordered it from Blackwell's because it was published earlier in the UK! It did not disappoint! This was a thriller that grabs the reader from the start and takes you for a ride, and at the conclusion, you are left with something to ponder. Great book! Highly recommend!
If you are looking for a book that will grab you and keep you wondering what will happen next, this is the one! This is a mystery wrapped around an issue that may keep you thinking for some time after reading. It would be an excellent choice for a book club to discuss. Highly recommend!
Thank you to William Morrow for the Advance Reader's copy in exchange for an honest review!