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

For those who can never get enough of the Kennedy’s, there’s a new book out just this week to satiate your passion for this storied family. It’s called White House By the Sea by Kate Storey. The book focuses on the Kennedy lives from the vantage point of their summer house at Hyannis Port, also known as the Summer White House, where for a hundred years America’s most famous political family has come to swim, play, celebrate, and bond. It is also the setting of so many events we remember: JFK … [Read more...] about White House by the Sea

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