“A Place for Us” is a book that can touch your heart as easily as it can sink its teeth into you. It hurts, it reminds, it hopes for better. It explores a family trying to figure out how their histories, religion, and individual identities can co-exsist, sometimes at devistating costs. The book’s title is borrowed from a line of the musical “West Side Story” (I admit to singing it internally each time I picked it up). Like the Romeo and Juliette re-telling, the roots of “A Place for Us” are grounded in a forbidden love, but this is not…
Browsing CategoryContemporary Fiction
The One-In-A-Million-Boy by Monica Wood
This is a delightful book. Over the past couple of years I’ve read a number of novels which follow the grouchy-old-person-finds-life-again trope and so I was a little hesitant going in. However, this book offers a unique perspective and message about the realities and opportunities of life. Ona is 104, she lives alone and rarely chooses to interact with others. The exception to this is her Saturday visits with the 11-year-old boy scout who comes by to help her with tasks around the houses. This eccentric boy (whose name we never learn) easily wins her over and a beautiful relationship…
How to Walk Away by Katherine Center
I keep saying that contemporary fiction isn’t my thing, but I sure have read a lot good contemporary fiction this year. I definitely think I’m coming around to it because this book was delightful. It started out fast and strong and I was always trying to sneak a few minutes here and there to get back to it. This book is about survival, forgiveness, strength, love, resilience, and growing up. Margaret Jacobsen is a beautiful, successful 27 year old MBA graduate about to become engaged to “the love of her life”. On the eve of her engagement her pilot boyfriend…
A River of Stars by Vanessa Hua
I really wanted to like this book. My interest was peeked when one of my favorite book bloggers put it on her list of top Summer new releases and the premise grabbed me immediately. Unfortunately, despite its promising synopsis, the novel never really found its rhythm and the reader is left to slog through a couple hundred pages of fairly boring and frustrating material. A River of Stars follows the journey of a young Chinese woman (Scarlett) who find herself pregnant with her Boss’s baby. An early ultrasound reveals the baby to be a boy and her Boss (who has…
Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
This book was the Goodreads 2017 Contemporary Fiction winner and my expectations were high. So much of it was masterfully done, the author did a fabulous job with creating a sense of place, an impossible problem, and a pointed conclusion. I admired the way Celeste Ng navigated the story and effortlessly pulled the reader along. It was both easy to put down and pick up; which is something I find rare, curious, and I appreciate. I can’t deny Celeste Ng’s talent and the moral questions raised left my book club with hours of discussion, but at then end of it…
Castle of Water by Dane Hucklebridge
I give pause every time I hear a book touted as “literary fiction”, my guard goes up and I usually find an excuse to shelve the book all the while promising myself that “its still on my to-read list”. Literary fiction for me is very polarizing, a few of my favorite books can be categorized as literary fiction, but I also have an unfortunate history of sampling other literary fiction that has left me empty, angry (that I invested so much time), and depressed. “Castle of Water” hits just the right note with what it’s author calls “fun brow”. Dane…
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah
Kristin Hannah really had her work cut out for her after she wrote The Nightingale. This beautiful book follows her wild success nicely and I’m betting her followers won’t be disappointed. And while The Great Alone wasn’t quite as perfect as The Nightingale I didn’t mind. I still feel this will be one of the more memorable reads from 2018 (pretty soon to be calling it I know, but you guys this was good!). Let’s talk about the good stuff, there really is so much to mention. First, the backdrop, the Alaskan wilderness was nothing sort of magical. Hannah really…
Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan
This was such a lovely book. It was exactly what it set out to be (a young girl’s journey in coping with life after the loss of her parents) and nothing more-something I find I am more and more appreciating from middle grade fiction. Holly Sloan did a magnificent job of containing this novel and stripping it to the heart of the thing. As a result the novel was poignant, articulate, and satisfying. Willow was a character I have rarely seen more honesty from. She is intelligent and quirky and I adored her immediately, I suspect few will not love…
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
Short listed as one of the Goodreads Best Contemporary Fiction of 2017, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine was a real treasure to find and read. I don’t typically gravitate toward contemporary fiction (something you’ll see me say from time to time on this blog) and so it always surprises me when I find one that I really enjoy. I’m glad I’m able to start 2018 on the right foot as far as contemporary fiction goes. I’m trying to change my way of thinking, but I feel like I’m not going to find a lot of (or too much!) substance from contemporary fiction.…
The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
A wonderful story sure to capture the hearts of all book lovers. Please note I did not say “readers” although I’m sure this story will appeal to many of those as well. At its core The Storied Life of AJ Fikry is a wonderful tale of how reading and the love of books directly impacts and often improves the lives of those who read. Readers will delight in the literary references and quite possibly unearth a desire to better acquaint themselves with short stories, I know I did. This novel has a little of everything-tragedy, mystery, romance (a very little),…