Seventh Heaven

Alice Hoffman | FictionWhat is this book about?  The reviews and the back cover imply that it is about Nora, a newly-divorced woman who moves into a rundown house with her two sons.  She is a major character, but it really isn’t all about her and the influence she has on her neighborhood.  Really, it…

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The Bookshop at Water’s End

Patti Callahan Henry Fiction 2017/ 326 pages This  book is very relational, very emotional, very much about self-discovery, self-awareness and insight.  It actually was too much of all this for me.  There was not enough plot or action moving life forward. The Bookshop at Water’s End is about two life-long friends, Lainey and Bonny, who…

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Mercury Pictures Presents

Anthony Marra  |  Fiction 2022, 416 pages The story is about a young woman who emigrates from Italy to the US and, in 1941, is hired at Mercury Pictures.  It sounded interesting!  But I did not survive. The average reading level of best-selling books, across genres, is 7th-grade.  While many novels (especially) are dumbed down…

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The Women

Kristin Hannah Historical Fiction 2024 | 480 pages The longest wait at the library finally came to an end!  After months of moving up the wait list, I finally received a library copy of the immensely popular The Women. It was worth the wait. I thought it was a non-fiction book until I brought it home…

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The Other Valley

Scott Alexander Howard Fiction 2024 | 290 pages In this debut novel by Scott Alexander Howard, an intriguing premise is set.  The valley where the townspeople live is surrounded by mountains. But the mountains are very unique.  If you pass over them to the east, you will be in the same town twenty years ahead in…

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Lies and Weddings

Kevin Kwan Fiction 2024 | 467 pages I loved this book from page one.  I don’t know why books about superbly rich people keep showing up on my bookshelf these days but Lies and Weddings just seems to have none of the ostentatious excess of The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post. The super-rich characters in…

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Our Missing Hearts

Celeste Ng Fiction 2022 | 235 pages The three pillars of PACT: Outlaws promotion of un-American values and behaviors. Requires all citizens to report potential threats to our society. Protects children from environments espousing harmful views. It is Cambridge, Massachusetts, just about a decade after PACT was passed by the House and Senate and became…

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