Beware the Woman by Megan Abbott is a suspense novel that turns the age-old “woman in trouble” plot on its head.

I loved Abbott's other bestseller, The Turnout. I learned from my favorite NPR book reviewer Maureen Corrigan that Abbot has a Phd in literature and that she wrote her dissertation on the figure of the macho “tough guy” in the mysteries of writers like Dashiell Hammett. Corrigan says, “Abbott is one smart dame when it comes to sussing out the sexism inherent in those mysteries that … [Read more...] about Beware the Woman

The Power of Wonder!

Author Monica Parker in her new book The Power of Wonder reveals what wonder is, why we need it, and how to cultivate it in your life.

In our technology-obsessed world, Parker points out that many have traded wonder for the “facsimile of electronic novelty-seeking": scrolling on Facebook, Instagram, or whatever your current jam is.

Whether you’re aware of it or not, wonder spirals its way through our shared human experience. From artistic expression to religious … [Read more...] about The Power of Wonder

Hoover was THE best-selling author of 2022. The NY Times describes her books this way: Hoover is eclectic. She’s written romances, a steamy psychological thriller, a ghost story, harrowing novels about domestic violence, drug abuse, homelessness and poverty. Though her books are hard to categorize, most of them have an addictive combination of sex, drama and outrageous plot twists.

Her top-selling book, “It Ends With Us,” a drama about a florist who falls for a brooding, abusive neurosurgeon, … [Read more...] about It Ends With Us

Some of the most significant moments in American history have occurred over meals, as U.S. presidents broke bread with friends or foe: Thomas Jefferson’s nationbuilding receptions in the new capital, Washington, D.C.; Ulysses S. Grant’s state dinner for the king of Hawaii; Teddy Roosevelt’s groundbreaking supper with Booker T. Washington; Richard Nixon’s practiced use of chopsticks to pry open China; Jimmy Carter’s cakes and pies that fueled a détente between Israel and Egypt at Camp … [Read more...] about Dinner With The President

Aging and reclusive Hollywood movie icon Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now?

Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband has left her, and her professional life is going nowhere. Regardless of why Evelyn has selected her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to … [Read more...] about The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

I used to have a chair in my bedroom I felt guilty about. It was stacked high with clothes I had taken off but didn’t quite know what to do with. They were’t really dirty enough to be laundered but at the same time I didn’t want to put them back with my totally clean clothes.

When we moved a couple of years ago, I was determined not to have an unkempt laundry chair. I would put everything away. Today, I keep a little round stool in my closet to sit on, like for hoisting on a pair of Spanx, … [Read more...] about House Love

This Is How It Always Is blew me away. It’s the story about a family navigating their lives with their youngest daughter who is trans. I found it enlightening and deeply moving in terms of what trans individuals and families face on their journeys.

Yet the story is also universal. It’s about acceptance and love in the face of hardship; it’s about the power of speaking the truth when the truth seems too scary; it’s about seeing our own obstacles in relation to all the other bad stuff in the … [Read more...] about This Is How It Always Is

The summer between my junior and senior year of college I did summer stock at U of I. I’ll never forget that summer. The rehearsals, the friendships, the romances, the drinking, the smoking, the late nights, the FUN. Oh to be young and have your whole life ahead of you.

When I read Ann Patchett’s book Tom Lake I was suddenly reliving my own summer and reflecting on the decisions I did and didn’t make since those heady days of youth.

In Patchett’s book, we meet a family during the pandemic. … [Read more...] about Tom Lake

The opening line of this BANNED children's book is “There will be days when you walk into a room and no one there is quite like you.”

Ever felt that way?

The book follows the first day of school for children who feel like they don’t fit in because of their language or looks or what they eat or whatever.

Woodson offers her reader a remedy toward the end of the book: “There will be days when you walk into a room and no one there is quite like you……until the day you begin to share your … [Read more...] about The Day You Begin