My Book List
I am often asked, “What are you reading?” Here is a partial list of books by topics. It is in no way inclusive of everything I’ve read, nor a list of all my books! This is a very informal list in no particular order! (* = Highly recommended)
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Novels & Memoirs I Recommend (in no particular order):
2026 The Artist and the Feast, Steeds (A new author to keep an eye on.) 2025 *Broken Country, Hall The Glassmaker, Chevalier (Interesting timeline.) *The Art of a Lie, Shepherd-Robinson This is Happiness, Williams ("Weather and wires," let the book wash over you.) *The Correspondent, Evans Burning Bright, Chevalier (Write more!) An Academic Affair, McAlister (Clever.) The Satisfaction Cafe, Wang The Good Good Pig, Montgomery *The Listeners, Stiefvater (Loved it - the writing, the characters, the setting, the water... oh, the water.) The View from Lake Como, Trigiani The Blue Bistro, Hilderbrand (Better than I thought it would be.) Bury our Bones in the Midnight Soil, Schwab (Yet another Alice... amazing writing, not my typical genre.) What is with characters named Alice, Sam and Charlie? Enough already! The three books below just all blurred together; the Alices were interchangeable.) These Summer Storms, MacLean Great Big Beautiful Life, Henry One Golden Summer, Fortune I see a theme here with editors, writers, academics, magazines. *The Best of Everything, Jaffe, (Published in 1958; how have I never read this before?) *Harlem Rhapsody, Murray Confessions of a Grammar Queen, Knight (Who did the style sheet? Wasn't Swift-approved.) Metropolis, Shapiro The Paris Daughter, Harmel The Editor, Rowley (Bold choice for the editor.) At Freddie's, Fitzgerald (What an amazing writer. I love a good find in my little library) The Eights, Miller The Hopefuls, Close (The book I should have written. DC is portrayed perfectly!) Capitol Hell, Jones and Long (Again, a DC-based book I could have/should have written.) The Lost Passenger, Quinn (I recently went to the Immigrant Museum in NYC so I understood this book so much better.) The Vegetarian, Kang (Lots to unpack at book group with this one.) Six Days in Bombay, Joshi Pandora, Stokes-Chapman Women's Hotel, Lavery Delicious! Reichl *North Woods, Mason (Imaginative, well written, unique. One to be savored.) This Summer Will be Different, Fortune (Adding PEI to my travel list!) Three Days in June, Tyler The Immortalists, Benjamin The Second Life of Mirielle West, Skenandore James, Everett Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker, Chiaverini The Venice Sketchbook, Bowen (Bucket list!) The Women, Hannah The Great Divide, Henriquez Instructions for a Heatwave, O'Farrell (Obsessed with her writing.) Misfortune, Stace (Yes to whomever said it should be a mini-series.) The Last Light Over Oslo, Rickloff (Random that I read two books about Daisy Harriman - this one and the one below.) The Colony Club, Noble Remarkably Bright Creatures, Van Pelt Martyr!, Akbar (Interesting....) The Unwedding, Condie The Sicilian Inheritance, Piazza The Beast Takes a Bride, Long The Stolen Queen; The Masterpiece, Davis A Tropical Rebel gets the Duke, Herrera (Trilogy over. Whew.) The Banned Books Club, Novak Upside Down, Steel Problematic Summer Romance, Hazelwood (I have never NOT wanted an HEA so badly.) The Duke and Lady Scandal, Carlyle (Can't wait for the next two!) Real Life and Other Fiction, Coll (I couldn't get past the first few chapters. Pass.) Typewriter Beach, Clayton (Just couldn't do it. Sorry, I tried.) 2024 The Alice Network, Quinn, (Last book of the year.) Lady Tan's Circle of Women, See *Bachelor Girl, Van Alkemade (A wonderful book I'd never heard of before.) *I Always Loved You, Oliveira (Cassatt, Degas, Manet, Morisot - My next excuse to go back to Paris!) *The Cemetery of Untold Stories, Alvarez *The Frozen River, Lawhon (More, please!) Daisy Jones & The Six, Reid (Interesting format.) The Engineer's Wife, Wood The Last Twelve Miles, Robuck The Summer Place, Weiner Is She Really Going Out With Him?, Cousens Enlightenment, Perry (Comets and stars, sun and moon.) The Wedding People, Espach The Beach at Summerly, Williams The Love of My Life, Walsh A Novel Love Story, Poston The Cliffs, Sullivan The French Ingredient: Making a Life in Paris One Lesson at a Time, Bertch (Bought it at the Shakespeare & Co bookstore!) Flirting with French: Adventures in Pursuit of a Language, Alexander (Ditto) The Paris Affair, Marshall (My kind of historical fiction!) Summer Fridays, Rindell (A love story to NYC.) Funny Story, Henry I'm Mostly Here to Enjoy Myself: One Women's Pursuit of Pleasure in Paris, MacNicol (I read it while in Paris!) Save What's Left, Castellano (LOL about HOAs.) The Briar Club, Quinn (Love when DC is the setting.) *The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store, McBride (Don't skip the author's note at the end.) *The Familiar, Bardugo (Magical!) The Paris Novel, Reichl The Underground Library, Ryan The Mayfair Bookshop, Knight The Divorcees, Beaird The Girl with Seven Names: Escape from Noth Korea, Lee These Tangled Vines, MacLean The Paradise Problem, Lauren Just for the Summer, Jimenez The Sicilian Inheritance, Piazza A Reliable Wife, Goolrick (A very stark book, in terms of weather and writing.) My Lover's Lover, O'Farrell (Such an amazing writer.) * The Memoirs of Stockholm Sven, Miller (Gorgeous writing, imagery, and enduring friendships.) A Lost Lady, Cather *Absolution, McDermott (Wonderful writing, like I was in the room with the women.) The Paris Apartment, Foley Little French Bistro, George Welcome Home, Stranger, Christensen The Codebreaker's Secret, Ackerman (A great find in a Little Library.) The Return of Ellie Black, Jean Kilt Trip, Kiley (A great read on SPD weekend.) An Island Princess Starts a Scandal, Herrera (OMG get an editor. One of the character's name was spelled three different ways!) Don't Want You Like a Best Friend, Alban Lady Charlotte Always Gets Her Man, Marsh Flying Solo, Holmes (A duck decoy? Other than that, the story was fine.) Much Ado About Margaret, Roux The Finest Print, Langston Flirty Little Secret, Lepe Finders Keepers, Michaels The Worst Woman in London, Bennet My Season of Scandal, Long (Clover... awww.) The Counterfeit Scoundrel, Heath The Duchess, Jordan Birding with Benefits, Dubb Girl Abroad, Kennedy Not in Love, Hazelwood Paris is Always a Good Idea; Wait for It, McKinlay (Yes, it is! Fun sister books) All I Want is You, Ballard (Oh, the HEA.) 2023 *The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox, O'Farrell (Exceptional! I am reading her oeuvre!) *The Marriage Portrait, O'Farrell (Exceptional writing and merging storylines!) After You'd Gone, O'Farrell The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Reid The Bookbinder, Williams (I will go back and read her first and thanks for the map!) The Spectacular, Davis (Love her books!) Horse: A Novel, Brooks The Helsinki Affair, Pitoniak (I predict there will be others.) The Second Mrs. Astor, A Novel of the Titanic, Abe Kindred, Butler (A great choice for book club.) Maggie Finds Her Muse, Ernst A Winter in New York, Silver (I admit I shed a few tears!) The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post, Pataki (Highly recommend reading this and then visiting the Hillwood Museum!) In a New York Minute, Spencer (Completely cute! BUT who vs that, ugh!) Meet Me at the Lake, Fortune The Block Party, Day (No thanks.) Counterfeit, Chen Finlay Donovan is Killing It, Cosimano The Muse, Burton (Write more!) Happy Place, Henry The Therapist, Paris Part of Your World, Jimenez *Jacqueline in Paris, Mah *Jackie & Me, Bayard (I read these two in this order and recommend it, although it was a bit concerting to switch from her first person POV to Lem's.) The Cloisters, Hays Blackberry Wine, Harris (It's all about the wine bottles!) A French Wedding, Tunnicliffe (A fun read found in my Little Library!) Ms. Demeanor, Lipman Ana Maria and the Fox, De La Rosa Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club, Stradal (Purchased at an independent bookstore and read while in Minnesota. Very appropriate!) The Maid, Prose (Very neat and tidy! Loved Molly the Maid.) The Audrey Hepburn Estate. Janowitz (Loved the "Easter eggs" at the end of the book. Fun!) One Italian Summer, Serle (A love story to Positano!) Summer at the Villa Rosa, Pellegraino Romantic Comedy, Sittenfeld (I liked it more than I thought I would!) The Three Lives of Alex St. Pierre, Lester The First Actress: A Novel of Sarah Bernhardt; The America Adventuress, Gortner (I will definitely read more by this author - two down, more to go!) The Bookman's Tale, Lovett (Could there really be a book in Shakespeare's hand?) From a Paris Balcony, Carey The Library of Lost and Found, Patrick The Matchmaker's Gift, Loigman The Mad Girls of New York, Rodale When in Rome, Callanan (Yes, please!) The Neighbor Favor, Forest Hotel of Secrets, Billers A Midlife Holiday, Hansson Knockout, MacLean Landline, Rowell The President is Missing, Clinton & Patterson (It could happen!) The Bookshop by the Bay, Kelley New Girl in Little Cove, Monaghan The House in Bellevue Gardens, Hore (From one little library to mine!) My Father, The Pornographer: A Memoir, Offutt All I want for Christmas, Loggia (Cute retelling of The Christmas Carol.) 2022 *Mercury Pictures Presents, Marr (What a great book to end the year!) The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, Mandanna *Briefly, A Delicious Life, Stevens (Very imaginative story.) *Still Life, Winman (Lovely writing and storytelling. Great characters and settings. A sleeper of a bestseller.) The Most Fun We Ever Had, Lombardo (Big family drama.) The No-Show, O'Leary (Interesting twist(s).) Killers of a Certain Age, Raybourn (Coming to a screen near you, I'm sure!) *Crying in H Mart, Zauner The Midnight Library, Haig (Reflection on regrets.) *The Last Dress from Paris, Beer A Dress of Violet Taffeta, Arlen The Duchess, Holden The Personal Librarian, Benedict & Murray *Life After Live, Atkinson (Late to the party on this one, but thoroughly enjoyed it!) Shrines of Gaiety, Atkinson (Not as good as the one above.) Wish You Were Here, Picoult (Relived the pandemic...not sure I needed to.) Bloomsburg Girls, Jenner Blush; Gilt, Brenner (Both are great summer reads!) The Love Story of Missy Carmichael, Morrey (One of the better books I'd never heard of! Thoroughly enjoyed it.) The Hotel Nantucket, Hilderbrand The Lost Summers of Newport, Williams, Willig and White The Last Van Gogh, Richman Let's Not Do That Again, Ginder (Let's not -I read so you don't have to.) Good Company, D'Aprix Sweeney (Better than her first.) A Caribbean Heiress in Paris, Herrera *Recitatif, Morrison (The Forward should be the End Notes. Read the short story first!) The Sentence, Erdrich (Two books in one.) Book Lovers, Henry Ordinary Love, Smiley *Lessons in Chemistry, Garmus (Loved the main character.) The Thursday Murder Club, Osman The Magnolia Palace, Davis The Dream Lover, Berg The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar, Alexander The Last Thing He Told Me, Dave (It's all about the ending...) The Bookshop at Water's End, Henry The Summer Job, Dent One Day in December, Silver The Woman of Intelligence, Tanabe The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Jurczyk The Messy Lives of Book People, Patrick With Love from London, Jio The Mystery of Mrs. Christie, Benedict (Where did she go?) State of Terror, Rodham Clinton & Penny The Professor's House, Cather The Rose Code, Quinn (One of the better Bletchley Park books, and I've read many!) The Four Winds, Hannah (Would have been better by half.) Love, Lists & Fancy Ships, Ruiz Just Haven't Met You Yet, Cousens The Marquess Makes his Move, Quincy Nine Rules, Maclean Summer People, Hilderbrand The First Family, Palmer & Palmer It Happened One Summer, Bailey The Bride Goes Rogue, Shupe The Bodyguard, Center (You can skip it.) 2021 Klara and the Sun, Ishiguro (Must discuss!) Leave the World Behind, Alam (The ending....) Flight of Dreams, Lawhon (Another piece of history I didn't know about.) Dearest Cousin Jane, Pitkeathley (Clever) The Guncle, Rowley (Fun!) The Girl in White Gloves, Maher Love Your Life, Kinsella The Gilded Years, Tanabe *Hamnet, O'Farrell (Lovely writing, storytelling, characters, imagery; just wonderful.) * Shuggie Bain, Stuart *People We Meet on Vacation, Henry *The Plot, Korelitz The View from Penthouse B, Lipman (How much was actually autobiographical?) The Cold Millions, Walter (Writing was better in the first half, but better story telling towards the end.) * Euphoria, King (Ms. King, More like this, less like W&L.) *The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, Schwab (So imaginative!) The Glorious Guinness Girls, Hourican (Again, read the author's notes at the end before you start! Note to publishers: put these up front!) The Assistants, Perri Sundays at Tiffany's, Patterson & Charbonnet All Adults Here, Straub Lorna Mott Comes Home, Johnson (Just horrible.) The Lost Apothecary, Penner Annette Vallon: A Novel of the French Revolution, Tipton (Be sure to read all the notes at the end. Superbly researched.) A Single Thread, Chevalier The Vanishing Half, Bennett (Great for a book group discussion.) Sad Janet, Britsch (Just sad.) A Season for Second Chances, Bayliss (A few too many cliches.) Montauk, Harrison The Unbreakables, Barr American Royals; Majesty, McGee (Fun YA. Is there a 3rd?) The Lions of Fifth Avenue, Davis The Umbrian Thursday Night Supper Club, De Blasi (I miss dinner parties!) The Loveliest Chocolate Shop in Paris, Colgan Leave Me, Forman The Cookbook Collector, Goodman (Save your time, didn't finish it.) Window on the Bay, Macomber The Devil of Downtown, Shupe On Mystic Lake, Hannah Winter in Paradise, Troubles in Paradise, What Happens in Paradise, Hilderbrand (Powered through all 3 in a weekend!) The Apartment, Steel Devil in Disguise, Kleypas Bombshell, MacLean Three Words for Goodbye, Gaynor & Webb Silent Snow, Thayer (I love when a city plays a character, in this case it's St Paul.) 2020 Little Fires Everywhere, Ng (Glad that's over - the year and the book.) *Beautiful Ruins, Walter (So lovely and this timeline works.) The Lager Queen of Minnesota, Stradal (Quirky, but not sure the timeline works.) Things in Jars, Kidd (Imaginative writing!) Younger, Redmond *Rebecca, du Maurier (How have I never read this classic before? Now all the rest of this genre makes sense.) The Long Call, Cleeves (Written for a BBC show.) Sex and Vanity, Kwan * Normal People, Rooney Is There Still Sex in the City? Buchnell *The Women in Black, St John (Short and sweet.) *28 Summers, Hilderbrand Beach Read, Henry (Best part of the book is her recommended reading list at the end!) Daring and the Duke, MacLean (A hot book in the hot summer.) *The Keeper of Lost Things, Hogan Heat; Dirt, Buford (Ugh. All about the ego.) Rainy Day Sisters; Now and Then Friends, Hewitt Big Summer, Weiner Deacon King Kong, McBride *Snobs: A Novel of Modern Manners, Fellowes (Be sure to watch Dr. Thorne, which he adapted for TV.) The Grace Kelly Dress, Janowitz Property of a Noblewoman, Steel Writers & Lovers, King The Evening of the Holiday, Hazzard The Vineyards of Champagne, Blackwell *Olive, Again, Stroud (Such lovely storytelling.) *Alternate Side, Quindlen (A pleasure to read these two starred books back to back where "place" plays a major character.) A Well Behaved Woman: A Novel of the Vanderbilts, Fowler (Interesting to compare and contrast the daughter in American Duchess, and now the mother.) Cartier's Hope, Rose (I do love my historical fiction!) The Only Woman in the Room, Benedict (Had no idea about Hedy Lamar.) Long Bright River, Moore Night of Miracles, Berg The Apple Orchard; The Beekeeper's Ball, Wiggs Love Lettering, Clayborn The Restaurant Critic's Wife, La Ban Evvie Drake Starts Over, Holmes The Clockmaker's Daughter, Morton, (Just no!) Tight Rope, Quick Tycoon; Magnate, Shupe The Grand Sophy, Heyer Duchess a Day, Michaels Summer at Willow Lake, Wiggs The Confessions Club, Berg Like Lovers Do, Livesay 2019 The Dutch House, Patchett (* for first half of the book only.) The Flatshare, O'Leary (Too cute.) Starless Sea, Morganstern, (Made it half way through.) The Improbability of Love, Rothschild *Meet Me in Monaco, Gaynor & Webb (Lovely) American Duchess, Harper (See above for companion book.) The Chelsea Girls, Davis The Only Story, Barnes (Such rich writing and he makes the changing POV acceptable.) *Save the Plums, Reichl (Again, she knocks it out of the kitchen!) *Park Avenue Summer, Rosen (It was fun to read two books about the world of magazines 30 years apart.) *There, There, Orange (Wonderful storytelling and writing, love the changing POVs, but the guns and bullets don't add up.) Greek to Me, Norris Fleishman is in Trouble, Brodesser-Akner (Not a bestseller by any means.) Red, White & Royal Blue, McQuiston Gingerbread (Oh lord, no one finished this one!) My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Moshfegh (Why, why, why?) Washington Black, Edugyan Beyond the Point, Gibson (Note to author/editor: people: who; things: that.) The Age of Light, Scharer The Night Tiger, Choo (An author to keep an eye on. Lovely imagery.) Pachinko, Lee Not Our Kind, Zeldis The Last Book Party, Dukess Tiffany Blues, Rose The Coral Thief, Stott Luckiest Girl Alive, Knoll (Better than expected.) The Flight Attendant, Bohjalian (What a hot mess!) The Dress Lodger, Holman No Earls Allowed, Galin Dockside, Wiggs The Season, MacLean Lady Derring Takes a Lover, Long The Other Miss Bridgerton, Quinn The Wallflower Wager, Dare Swampoodle, St. Claire (Local author set in DC) 2018 *Sing, Unburied Sing, Ward *Ties, Starnone (The forward is as good as the novella.) *The Mothers, Bennett The Gown, Robson French Exit, DeWitt (Shame on whomever put this on the Best of the Year list.) The Bookshop of Yesterday, Meyerson The Music Shop, Joyce The Collectors Apprentice, Shapiro The Perfect Nanny, Slimani *Dear Committee Members, The Shakespeare Requirement, Schumacher (Fun reads. My book club loved both!) The Little Stranger, Waters (Confession: I read 250 pages and didn't care enough to read the next 250 pages...) Etta and Otto and Russel and James, Hooper The Masterpiece, Davis Education, Westover The Italian Teacher, Rachman The Stars are Fire, Shreve High Season, Blundell How to Stop Time, Haug (Clever.) Manhattan Beach, Egen Sunburn, Lippman (I read so you don't have to....) Women in Sunlight, Mayes The Woman in the Window, Finn (Quite the thriller.) Letters from Paris, Blackwell Summer Hours at the Robbers Library, Halpren * White Houses, Bloom Mrs. Osmond, Banville (Like Henry James, he leaves the ending for the next author to pick up. Brilliant.) *Give a Girl a Knife, Thielen (Minn. author, great writing & storytelling) The Dark Lady's Mask, Sharratt (One of my fave authors.) The Other Einstein; Carnegie's Maid, Benedict (Enjoyed the first more.) America's First Daughter, Dray & Kamoie Jane Steele, Faye Turtles All the Way Down, Green A Visit from the Goon Squad, Egan Women in the Castle, Shattuk Foreign Tongue, Marsot My Italian Bulldozer, McCall Smith (Ridiculous) The Royal Runaway, Emory A Daring Arrangement, Shupe 2017 Where, or where, were the good books this year?? Trains and Lovers, McCall Smith Smile, Doyle (Really liked this book, but ending was a cop out.) The Little Paris Bookshop (Middle third too long.); & The Little French Bistro, George The Magician's Lie, Macallister *Cork Dork: A Wine-Fueled Adventure, Bosker (Learned a lot.) Lincoln in the Bardo, Saunders (I was so lost for first 80 pages.) The Dollhouse; The Address, Davis Flight Behavior, Kingsolver The Burning Girl, Messud (I had high hopes...) How to Find Love in a Bookshop, Henry The Piano Shop of the Left Bank, Carhart Less, by Greer, (Shame on the reviewer who said it was LOL.) Golden Hill, Spufford (Really, two page sentences?) Modern Lovers, Straub (Forgot about it already.) Men Without Women, Murakami Lighthousekeeping, Winterson (Love her writing.) *Hallelujah Anyway: Rediscovering Mercy, LaMott Into the Water, Hawkins (Better than the reviews said.) The Woman in Cabin 10, Ware (Meh.) Commonwealth, Patchett *Chez Moi, Desarthe (Lovely writing) Ordinary Grace, Krueger Unless, Shields (One of my all time fave authors.) To Capture What We Cannot Keep, Colin (100 pages too long.) A Cup of Tea, Ephron A Cup of Tea, Mansfield (Read this short story first, then Ephron's short novel.) A Window Opens, Egan Beautiful Ruins, Walter (Falls apart half way through.) Fasting, Feasting, Desai A Gentleman in Moscow, Towles The Shell Collector, Doerr Rococo, Trigiani I See You Everywhere, Glass The Bookshop on the Corner, Colgan The Trespasser, In the Woods, French All Grown Up, Attenberg The Art Thief, Charney (Still not sure who ended up with which painting...) The House of Mirth, Wharton Ghostwalk, Stott (Gave up half way through.) Sundays at Tiffany's, Patterson & Charbonnet Falling for Trouble; The Undateable: Practice Makes Perfect; Snowed In, Title The Book of Speculation, Swyler 2016 The Last Days of Night, Moore (Great historical fiction.) *My Name is Lucy Barton, Strout *The Stockholm Octavo, Engelmann The Ice Queen, Hoffman Today will be Different, Semple *By Nightfall, Cunningham When the Emperor was Divine, Otsuka The Darkest Secret, Marwood (OMG ending!) *Salt to the Sea, Sepetys In Other Words, Lahiri Four Seasons in Rome, Doerr *The Invitation, Foley *The Muse, Burton Leap Days: Chronicles of a Midlife Move, Lanpher The House We Grew Up In, Jewell Jesus Cow, Perry (But only if you are from the Midwest!) The Nightingale, Hannah Nine Women, One Dress, Rosen Rules of Civility, Towles The Last Bookaneer, Pearl *Illuminations: A Novel of Hildegard von Bingen, Sharratt The Other Story, de Rosnay Breakfast at Tiffany's, Capote Rare Objects, Tessaro Sweetbitter, Danler A Half Forgotten Song, Webb Frog Music, Donoghue (Read the research notes first!) H is for Hawk, Macdonald (3 books in one) The Nest, Sweeney (Better than the reviews.) The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend, Bivald Lydia's Party, Hawkins The Last Chinese Chef, Mones Noah's Compass, Tyler How it All Began, Lively *The 6:41 to Paris, Blonde A Little Life, Yanaghara (A very difficult read.) *Queen of the Night, Chee The Diamond Caper, Mayle The Dream Lover, Berg Mademoiselle Chanel, Gortner Fates and Furries, Groff (Not sure what the hype is all about.) Furiously Happy, Lawson (Still LOL.) The Tsar of Love and Techno: Stories, Marra Freezing, Evans Bookends, Green A Tenured Professor, Galbraith The Misalliance, Brookner Between the World and Me, Coates Cooking with Fernet Branca, Hamilton-Paterson Mrs. Poe, Cullen Case Histories, Atkinson The Vermeer Conspiracy, Halaban The Unexpected Mrs. Pollifax, Gilman New Uses for Old Boyfriends; Cure for the Common Breakup, Kendrick The Hating Game, Thorne The Gates of Rutherford, Cooke 2015 *Let's Pretend This Never Happened, Jenny Lawson (LOL!) The Story of the Lost Child (the Fourth and Final), Ferrante *The Gracekeepers, Logan Pretty Baby, Kubica (please get an editor, cut every third word and create a timeline - it doesn't work) The Invention of Wings, Kidd The Year of Wonders, Brooks The Wife, The Maid and the Mistress, Lawhon Black Chalk, Yates The Happiness Project; Happier at Home, Rubin The Boston Girl, Diamant The Art of Crash Landing, DeCarlo (No way I believe this story would take place in 5 days, please...) Mrs. Sinclair's Suitcase, Walters Crossing on the Paris, Gynther The Vacationers, Straub (Was there one redeeming character?) Maybe in Another Life, Reid The Last Days of Dogtown, Diamant Music and Silence, Tremain Arcadia, Groff The Rosie Project, Simsion A Week in Winter, Binchy Revenge of the Middle-Aged Woman, Buchan Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Prose The Paris Key, Blackwell Telling the Bees, Hesketh The Other Typist, Rindell *The Girl on a Train, Hawkins (Be sure to read a nice, light, fluffy book between this book and Her.) *Her, Lane. (When I say I judge a book by its ending, I mean books like this.) The Last Girl, Evans (One of the best character studies I've ever read: how did a young woman write about such a crotchety old man?) Everything I Never Told You, Ng The Seduction Series, Jennifer McQuiston The Strange Library, Murakami Odd Woman and the City, Gornick Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, Cahalan Yes, Please, Poehler The Objects of her Affection, Cobb The Ladies' Lending Library, Keefer 2014 The Neapolitan Novels: My Brilliant Friend; The Story of a New Name; Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay. Ferrante *All the Light We Cannot See, Doerr (IMHO-Best book of 2014) Searching for Grace Kelly, Callahan The Signature of All Things, Gilbert *Bitter in the Mouth, Truong (Write more!) Orphan Train, Kline The Kitchen House, Grissom *House in the Sky, Lindhout *The Miniaturist, Burton The Transcriptionist, Rowland The Rise & Fall of Great Powers, Rachman The Perfume Collector, Tessaro The Children Act, McEwan (Pay attention to the coffee cup scene, exquisitely written.) Lucky Us, Bloom *Behind the Beautiful Forevers, Boo (Amazing reporting/writing) The Fever Tree, McVeigh Delicious!, Reichl (Her autobiographies are better than fiction) Riding Lessons; Water for Elephants, Gruen The Snow Queen; The Hours, Cunningham The Aviator’s Wife, Benjamin A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, Marra The Map of the Lost Memories, Fay The Glassblower of Murano; The Botticelli Secret, Fiorato The Witch’s Daughter, Brackston Belle Epogue, Ross Born of Illusion, Brown Her Fearful Symmetry, Niffenegger The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Gaiman The Woman Upstairs, Messud (Not a cliche in the book.) The Silent Wife, Harrison (WHO DID IT??) The Interestings, Wolitzer Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald, Fowler The Paris Wife, McLain The Maytrees, Dillard The Lowland, Lahiri Previous Years The Imperfectionists, Rachman Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Riggs The Fault in our Stars, Green Help, Thanks, Wow, Lamotte (My go to meditation/prayer book) People of the Book, Brooks The Secrets of Mary Bowser, Leveen Gone Girl, Flynn *Stoner, Williams Fever, Keane The Dinner, Koch The Orphan Master’s Son, Johnson American Wife, Sittenfeld *Night Circus, Morgenstern (Lovely colorful imagery) That Woman, Sebba The Greater Journey, McCullough Sarah's Key; A Secret Kept, de Rosnay 1Q84, Murakami *The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Sklott (Great research/ reporting/writing) Girl in Translation, Kwok Someone, McDermott Creation of Eve; Lit, Karr The Commitment, Gilbert The Uninvited Guest, Jones An Object of Beauty, Martin Summer at Tiffany’s, Hart The Forgery of Venus, Gruber The Shadow of the Wind; The Angel's Game, Ruiz Zafon The Crimson Petal and the White, Faber The Time Traveler’s Wife, Niffenegger *The Things They Carried, O’Brien *The Book of Salt, Truong *The Professor and the Madman; The Man Who Loved China; etc. Winchester Out of the Flames, Goldstones Restoration, Tremain Books I endured, but don't recommend... One Good Turn, Atkinson The Most Dangerous Book: The Battle for James Joyce's Ulysses, Biringham (I wanted historical fiction and got a research paper) The Goldfinch, Tartt (Needed to go to rehab afterwards) How to be Both, Smith The Bookstore, Myler Wolf Hall, Mantel NW, Smith |
Non-fiction I Refer to & Learned from:
Kingmaker: Pamela Harriman's Astounding Life of Power, Seduction, and Intrigue, Purnell (What an amazing woman.) The World She Edited: Katharine S. White at The New Yorker, Reading (What a life!) *The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession, Finkel The High 5 Habit, Robbins Your Oxygen Mask First, Lawrence Atomic Habits, Clear Imaginable, McGonigal Atomic Habits, Clear The Let Them Theory, Robbins and Robbins (Is every book group reading this one?) City of Light: The Making of Modern Paris, Christiansen All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Me, Bringley (Lovely essays.) Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder, Rushdie Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle, Nagoski & Nagoski Radical Candor, Scott The No Complaining Rule: Positive Ways to Deal with Negativity at Work, Gordon The 80/20 CEO, Canady Surrounded by Bad Bosses (and Lazy Employees), Erikson The Beekeeper: Pollinating Your Organization for Transformative Growth, Desiderio and Frino When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, Pink Dare to Lead, Brown Empty Mansions, Dedman & Newell (Wonderful research, read the footnotes.) Deep Work, Newport Leaders Eat Last, Sinek *Vesper Flights, Macdonald (Her writing, knowledge, and passion is amazing. Lovely!) Taste: My Life Through Food, Tucci (Fun.) The Orchid Thief, Orlean (Write more!) Nasty People, Carter How to Read the Constitution and Why, Wehle (Great refresher course.) *The Seine: The River that Made Paris, Sciolino Notre-Dame: A short history of the meaning of cathedrals, Follett (The proceeds help fund the rebuilding of the great cathedral.) *The Biggest Bluff: How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win, Konnikova (Now I want to learn to play poker!) The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance during the Blitz, Larson (The footnotes alone took over two hours to read but worth it.) *Mrs. Ambassador: The Life and Politics of Eugenie Anderson, Dupont (My BFF wrote it!) *The Library Book, Orlean (A ripped-from-the-headlines mystery, California history and memoir.) Dreyer's English, Dreyer Maybe You Need to Talk to Someone, Gottlieb Our Towns: A 100,000-mile Journey into the Heart of America, the Fallows (For anyone from a "small town.") Art Held Hostage, Anderson 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, Harari The Empath's Survival Guide, Orloff (Explains a lot about myself.) Origin Story, Christian iGen, Twenge Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging, Junger Beautiful Swimmers: Watermen, Crabs and the Chesapeake Bay, Warner Being Mortal, Gawande Mrs. Sherlock Holmes: The True Story of NYC's Greatest Female Detective, Ricca Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice, Christensen, etc. Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption, Stevenson Hillbilly Elegy, Vance The Craft of Research, Booth, etc The War of Art, Pressfield The Man Who Mistook his Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales, Sacks Lean In, Sandberg *The Ghost Map, Johnson Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear, Gilbert The Hidden Brain, Vedantam Real Women, Real Leaders, Hurley & Shumway *The Next America: Boomers, Millennials, and the Looming Generational Showdown, Taylor *Quiet: The power of introverts in a world that can’t stop talking, Cain Strengthfinder 2.0 (Strategic, Input, Learner, Activator, Maximizer) What to Expect When No One is Expecting, Last Naked Statistics: Stripping the dread from the data, Wheelan Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics, Wheeler The Signal and the Noise: The Art and Science of Prediction, Silver Thinking about the Future: Guidelines for Strategic Foresight, Hines and Bishop Generations: The History of America's Future, Strauss & Howe Crucial Conversations, Patterson, et al Sixteen Trends; 21 Trends for the 21st Century, Marx Reading Educational Research: How to avoid getting statistically snookered, Bracey How to Lie With Statistics, Huff DIY U, Kamenetz Change.edu, Rosen Disrupting Class, Christensen Leading in a Culture of Change, Fullan Chief Culture Officer, How to create a living, breathing corporation, McCracken The Tipping Point; Blink; Outliers; What the Dog Saw; David and Goliath, etc. Gladwell The World is Hot, Flat and Crowded; etc, Friedman Proofiness, Seife How the Mind Works, Pinker Made to Stick; Switch: How to change things when change is hard; Decisive: How to make better choices in life and work, Chip and Dan Health Where good ideas come from; Everything bad is good for you, Emergence, Steven Johnson The Great Reset; The Rise of the Creative Class; Who’s Your City?, Richard Florida Guns, Germs, and Steel; Collapse; The World until Yesterday, Jared Diamond Futurist author George Friedman The Paradox of Choice: Why more is less, Schwartz Stumbling on Happiness, Gilbert Snark: It’s mean, it’s personal, and it’s ruining our conversations, Denby Bowling Alone, Putnam Freakonomics, etc. Levitt and Dubner The Long Tail, Anderson The Whole New Mind; Drive, To Sell is Human; The Wisdom of Crowds, Pink How to be a Brilliant Thinker, Exercise your mind and find creative solutions, Sloane Thinkertoys, Michalko Arm Chair Travel & Books about Food/Eating/Cooking/Wine/Hotels/etc *Give a Girl a Knife, Thielen *Cork Dork, Bosker Kitchens of the Great Midwest, Stradal The Harvest: An Adventure into the Heart of America’s Family Farms, Horan Nose, Conaway Heads in Beds, Tomsky Hotel Babylon: Inside the Extravagance of a Luxury Five-star Hotel, Anonymous Hay Fever, Miller The End of Food, Roberts Cakewalk, Moses Spoon Fed: How eight cooks saved my life, Severson Traveling With Pomegranates, Kidd & Taylor The Woman Who Fell from the Sky: An American Woman's Adventures in the Oldest City on Earth, Steil Blood, Bones & Butter, Hamilton Eat, Pray, Love: One woman’ search for everything across Italy, India and Indonesia, Gilbert Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A year of food life, Kingsolver Confessions of a Counterfeit Farm Girl, McCorkindale Spiced, Jurgensen The Billionaire’s Vinegar, Wallace Too Much Tuscan Sun, Castagno Last Night at the Lobster, O’Nan My Brother’s Farm: Reflections on life, farming, and the pleasures of food, Jones The Lost Girls, Baggett, Corbett & Pressner Alice Waters and Chez Panisse, McNamee The Best of Food Writing and Travel Writing – annual editions The Best Women’s Travel Writing – annual editions Favorite authors from this genre Barbara Holland Alice Steinbach Laura Fraser Marlena BeBlasi Michael Perry (Wonderful storyteller from small town America) Rita Golden Gelman Peter Mayle Frances Mayes Bill Bryson Calvin Trillion M.F.K. Misher Anthony Bourdain Laurie Colwin Jeffery Steingarten Deborah Madison (My go to cookbook author) James McNair Books about Books or Bookstores, Libraries or Reading The Bookshop on the Corner, Colgan The Bookshop, Fitzgerald The Man Who Loved Books Too Much, Bartlett The Little Bookstore in Big Stone Gap, Welch Mr. Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore, Sloan How Reading Changed my Life, Quindlen So Many Books, So Little Time, Nelson The Secret of Lost Things, Hay The trilogy by the Goldstones on how they got into collecting books. Sixpense House: Lost in a town of books, Paul Collins Shelf Life: Romance, mystery, drama, and other page-turning adventures from a year in a bookstore, Shea An Alphabetical Life: Living it up on the world of books, Werris Quiet, Please: Dispatches from a Public Library, Douglas Book Lust, More Book Lust, Pearl Books about art and the art world Provenance, Salisbury & Sujo The Painted Girls, Buchanan The Art Forger, Shapiro Seven Days in the Art World The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art, Thompson Sunflowers, Bundrick My all time favorite fiction authors and their oeuvres; I’ve read them all, well almost all! Margaret Atwood (The Handmaid’s Tale is the book that changed my reading life) Carol Shields A.S. Byatt Ann Patchett Anna Quindlen Jeanette Winterson Lorrie Moore Sarah Waters Lisa See (Read her Chinese historical novels in order, skip her private investigator books) Tracy Chevalier Susan Vreeland Mary Sharratt Elizabeth Berg Marge Piercy Anita Shreve Ruth Reichl (Read her autobiographical trilogy in order) Anne Tyler Books on Writing and the Process of Writing The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles, Pressfield The Art of Memoir, Karr Publishing, Godwin Between You and Me, Confessions of a Comma Queen, Norris On Writing, King (I've never read his fiction, but thoroughly enjoyed this book; great reading list!) Writing is my Drink, Nestor On Writing Well, Zinsser bird by bird, Lamott Negotiating with the Dead, Atwood Escaping into the Open, Berg This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, Patchett (While not necessarily a book about the craft of writing, I really connected with her personal style of writing.) The Elements of Style, Strunk & White (I re-read every few years, but it needs to be brought into the 21st C. to remain relevant) |