Monica Wood

Fiction 2024/ 280 pages

How to Read a Book started out with interesting characters and plot.  We have three major characters. Violet, our narrator, is 22 and was just released from prison, where she served about 1.5 years for driving drunk and killing a woman who was driving in the opposite direction.  Harriet is the volunteer who led a Book Club in the women's prison, two hours a week, for women who were interested in reading together, including Violet.  Violet happens upon Harriet in “the Outs” when she begins to live again in the real world in Portland, Maine.  Frank is a handyman who does odd jobs for Harriet, and is the husband of Lorraine, the woman who was killed by Violet.

While Wood develops each of these characters well, she does not quite take advantage of the relationships they could have together.  Especially, she does not develop Violet and Frank's relationship very well.  This is a missed opportunity, I believe.

Yet, the first two-thirds of the story is engaging, especially when Violet takes a job working with three African grey parrots.

I'm the last third, everyone turns romantic and falls in love with someone or another.  I found this rather irritating ... like a romance novel plopped itself into the novel.

But the end comes around and redeems the novel.

It is a fun, light read, especially given the topic.  You may enjoy it, or you may not. I would not suggest you urgently run out and buy it.

June 2026

Jeanine Cummins

Fiction 2019 | 380 pages

In Chapter one, a Mexican family in Acapulco is celebrating a quinceañera at a backyard barbecue at Sebastian and Lydia's home. In the first five pages of American Dirt, sixteen members of one family are murdered by a drug cartel.  Sebastian, who is managing the barbecue at his home, is a journalist who reports the truth about the drugs cartels that have overrun Acapulco.  Only his wife Lydia and their son Luca survive the bloodbath, as they were in the house.

This dramatic novel proceeds from there as we follow Lydia and eight-year-old Luca attempt to find safety, knowing they are being tracked by el jefe of the cartel.  We are with them as they make the long journey, traveling all the way up Mexico to reach el Norte.  They travel much of the time on the roofs of la bestia, which is a freight train.  They constantly are on the alert for, and numerous times encounter,  police, cartel members, law enforcement agents, ICE agents, border patrol. And yet, they travel as immigrants and find many people along the in small towns who help them with food and water, and occasionally a place to sleep.

This is all complicated by a friend Lydia made before the day of the killings.  Javier met her in the bookstore she owns in Acapulco.  As their friendship deepens, we learn that Javier is a jefe in the largest, most powerful cartel.  He was responsible for the deaths of Lydia's family. He tracks Lydia and Luca as they attempt to find safety, 

The writing is very clean, there is considerable suspense, and we get a view of life through a migrant's eyes,

Many literary reviewers panned the book for its lack of authenticity, arguing it capitalized on the suffering of migrants without demonstrating a genuine, nuanced understanding of Mexican culture or the sociopolitical landscape.  Ms. Cummins is a white woman of Puerto Rican descent.  Not knowing about this criticism, I took American Dirt at face value and found it to be well worth my time.  I did learn a lot about the courage and commitment it takes to arrive at our Southern border. I did also think it bogged down a bit in places, because the (literal) landscape never changes.

Besides our main characters, Lydia and her son Luca, we meet others traveling the same path.  Soledad and Rebeca are teenage sisters.  Their interaction and reaction to the travel is enlightening, often heartwarming.  Lydia takes them under her wing, and these four travel together for many miles and many days.

I recommend American Dirt.  It is an engaging and powerful read.

May 2026

Viola Davis and James Patterson

Fiction 2026 | 432 pages

A marvelous novel! Could hardly put it down.  This is the story of Judge Mary Stone, the first black woman circuit court judge elected to serve in the present-day town of Union Springs, Alabama, population 3314.

The collaboration between Viola Davis and James Patterson is, I believe, much better than other writing partnerships he has established.  The transition from author to author is smooth.  I could not tell who wrote what.

The primary legal and moral dilemma is the case against the local physician, Dr. Bria Gaines, who is charged with a felony for performing an abortion.  This mirrors the laws that exist today in many of the southeast states, especially since 2022 when the Supreme Court overturned the right to a safe and legal abortion. When Dr. Gaines is arrested for performing an illegal abortion on a 13-year-old girl, Judge Stone must preside over a trial that ignites a national firestorm. As the case draws intense media scrutiny, political pressure from the state’s highest offices, and escalating violence from white-supremacist groups, she is forced to confront her own traumatic past while fighting for justice in a community tearing itself apart.

While the legal manifestations are central to this novel, I particularly liked the manner in which Mary Stone was presented. We focus, yes, on the very visible legalities, but Mary Stone is not only shown as the role she sits in ... a black circuit court judge, but we also see her personality, context, background, values, philosophies, and current life circumstances.  She is written not just in the role she holds, but as a complete human being.  This perspective is utterly delightful.

There is no question ... you may be very interested in reading Judge Stone.  I recommend it wholeheartedly.

May 2026