The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl

May 2024

I do love armchair travel, especially when it is delivered to me by someone who clearly has fabulous taste, a keen eye and a seasoned palate. Ruth Reichl is the perfect guide for this --- and she weaves a terrific story around it in THE PARIS NOVEL.

Stella has had a very tough childhood, with a mother who ignores her more than she favors her. Along the way, she is abused as a child and walks away from her childhood home as soon as she can to build her own life. She finds joy working with an editor at Vintage Books; she is very happy and comfortable at her job there. But when her mother passes away, she finds herself with a rather interesting inheritance --- a one-way plane ticket and a note reading “Go to Paris.” Stella is like a little church mouse with absolutely no idea what to do for an adventure. Her boss says, “Go!” And with that kick in the right direction, she is on a plane.

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Did I Ever Tell You?: A Memoir by Genevieve Kingston

May 2024

DID I EVER TELL YOU? by Genevieve Kingston is the kind of book you read --- and never forget.

When Genevieve (who was nicknamed Gwen) lost her mother, she was just 11 years old. Kristina had been ill with cancer for eight years, and she knew she would not live to see her daughter and son grow into adulthood. Instead of mourning her fate, she would busy herself with wrapping paper, ribbon and cards, assembling a treasure trove of gifts for her children. Gwen would see her mother fluttering about clearly on a mission. You could feel she was almost seeing her children at each future stage that she was wrapping a special message for them, taking them up to age 30. These notes and gifts carefully were placed in a box for each of them.

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Week of May 27, 2024

Paperback releases for the week of May 27th include RESURRECTION WALK, Michael Connelly's seventh Lincoln Lawyer thriller, which finds defense attorney Mickey Haller enlisting the help of his half-brother, retired LAPD Detective Harry Bosch, to prove the innocence of a woman convicted of killing her husband; HELLO STRANGER by Katherine Center, a hopelessly romantic novel about finding love, confronting a haunting past, and figuring out what --- and who --- really matters; DROWNING, T.J. Newman's adrenaline-fueled thriller about a commercial jetliner that crashes into the ocean and sinks to the bottom with passengers trapped inside --- and the extraordinary rescue operation to save them; Emma Donoghue's LEARNED BY HEART, a heartbreakingly gorgeous novel based on the true story of two girls who fall secretly, deeply and dangerously in love at boarding school in 19th-century York; and MAKING A SCENE, a powerful and poignant memoir-in-essays from actor Constance Wu, who gives readers an intimate portrait of the pressures and pleasures of existing in today’s world.

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Week of May 20, 2024

Paperback releases for the week of May 20th include THE RIVER WE REMEMBER, a dazzling stand-alone novel from William Kent Krueger, in which a small Minnesota town is rocked by the murder of its most powerful citizen, pouring fresh fuel on old grievances; Alice Hoffman's THE INVISIBLE HOUR, an enchanting novel about love, heartbreak, self-discovery and the enduring magic of books; THE ONLY ONE LEFT by Riley Sager, a Gothic chiller about a young caregiver assigned to work for a woman accused of a Lizzie Borden-like massacre decades earlier; THE BEACH AT SUMMERLY, a ravishing summer read from Beatriz Williams that sweeps readers back to a mid-century New England rich with secrets and Cold War intrigue; and I AM HOMELESS IF THIS IS NOT MY HOME, Lorrie Moore’s first novel since A GATE AT THE STAIRS --- a daring, meditative exploration of love and death, passion and grief, and what it means to be haunted by the past, both by history and the human heart.

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