As a fan of the Great British Bake Off, I found this Murder mystery set at a similar baking competition in the U.S. to be right up my alley. They‘re always so nice and pleasant on the GBBO which is one of the reasons that I enjoy watching it. The author turned it in its head, with sabotage, secrets and murder. It was a fun, quick read.

I loved this memoir of Mary Rodgers, the daughter of Richard Rodgers of Rodgers and Hammerstein fame and a musical talent in her own right. She is best known for composing the music to Once Upon a Mattress and writing the children‘s classic book, Freaky Friday. Her sharp wit and personality shone through in this chatty memoir. She had a front row seat to the creation of many musical classics and I would recommend this to any big Broadway fan.

This was such a fun installment of the Thursday Murder Club series which I enjoyed even more than the first book. I loved catching up with the members of the club and other returning characters and look forward to reading the next book in the series.

I found this audiobook on Hoopla through my library and thought I‘d give it a try despite not having read any of the other books in the series. Ed is an ex-con in the witness protection program and takes a job as a mall Santa. When there is a robbery at the mall and a string of convenience store robberies by a man in a Santa suit, Ed is an obvious suspect. The audiobook narrator was fantastic, making this a fun holiday listen.

David Sedaris does it again! I always enjoy seeing the world through his quirky lens as he‘s able to highlight the bizarre and alternatively the poignant moments in life. In this book he covers his experiences during COVid pandemic and the loss of his father with whom the family has a complicated history. I read this in print but may look for it in audio at some point as I love listening to him as well.

I really enjoyed this historical fiction about the relationship between Mary Cassat and Edgar Degas. The Belle Époque is such a fascinating time period in art history and it was fun to be a fly on the wall amongst Cassat, Degas and their Impressionist contemporaries as they broke away from the rigid strictures of the Paris Salon.

I had mixed feelings about this book. It had an interesting premise as the author used artifacts from her neighbor‘s life to build a fictional story about this woman. However I wasn‘t always excited to pick it up each time that I went back to it. I might have enjoyed it more if I read it straight through rather than squeezing it in between other reads.

This is the second installment of the Finlay Donovan series. Much of the storyline harkens back to events of the first book which I read about 6 months ago so I did have to cast my memory back a bit. However it was a fun, fast read and I enjoyed revisiting these characters and their zany escapades.

This was the year that I finally went to the US Open. We missed Serena but did get to see Tiafoe which was exciting. That put me in the mood to read Carrie Soto is back. TJR did a fabulous job of putting us in the head of Carrie, coming out of retirement to keep her record of Grand Slams alive. The writing was fast paced, just like watching a match. But it was the relationship with her father in particular that gave this book its heart. 🎾❤️

I‘ve had this for years and heard it talked about on a podcast about good fall reads so I finally picked it up. I gathered quickly that this is a retelling of Wuthering Heights so the dark, chilly atmosphere & brooding characters seemed appropriate for this time of year. However, I am not a Wuthering Heights fan and this book reminded me of that fact. Well, at least it‘s now off my shelf and can be donated to someone who may appreciate it more.

I enjoyed this literary thriller about a struggling author who uses the key plot lines of one of his student‘s work at a writing residency program after he learns of the student‘s untimely death. Some of the twists were predictable which usually makes me crazy but I really liked the inside baseball look at the writing life and publishing industry so I didn‘t mind in this case.

Having finished all of Bardugo‘s Grishaverse books, I wanted to check this one out too. Written for an adult audience, it casts a look at the secret societies of Yale with a fantastical twist. It was the perfect book to get me in the mood for the fall season and as a resident of CT, I found the historical background on New Haven to be interesting. I will never visit there again without thinking of this book and being a little creeped out tbh!

Loved this book about Elizabeth Zott, a female chemist in a male dominated career in the early 1960s. When she loses her job at a chauvinistic research company she lands a job as the host of a at TV cooking show and subversively teaches her primarily female audience about the rules of chemistry through cooking. It was a story of women‘s rights and found family that I really enjoyed.

This was the perfect vacation read on the porch with a glass of wine listening to the waves crash on the beach. I loved that this book was funny yet tender with its depiction of dealing with the death of a loved one. I haven‘t read any of this author‘s other books but intend to check them out as well.

I took my time finishing this book because I wasn‘t ready for the Grishaverse series to end. This genre is not my usual go to but I was really drawn to many of the characters and enjoyed the witty banter that Bardugo writes so well. The Six of Crows duology is still my favorite but I think she wrapped up the series nicely here. I‘m curious to know if this is really the end of the Grishaverse or whether she will return to it in the future.

I finally got around to Cloud Cuckoo Land which has been on my TBR pile for awhile now. It was worth the wait as I enjoyed this ode to the power of the written word and the importance of a good library!

This was an interesting read about the birth of the Shakespeare and Company Book Store in Paris and the role that its owner Sylvia Beach played in publishing James Joyce‘s Ulysses. While I still have no desire to attempt reading Ulysses again, the story of its initial publication in France during a time that it was banned in the US was compelling.

This was between a pick and so-so for me. I watched the TV version of this entitled The Undoing during COVid lockdown. After reading this novel, I feel that they did a good job on the TV version which moved along faster and was a bit more suspenseful than the book. I did appreciate getting inside the main character‘s head while reading this but felt it was somewhat long winded at over 400 pages.

I just reread Anne of Green Gables for the first time as an adult it really holds up to my loving memory of one of my absolute childhood favorites. It was so fun to revisit the world of puffed sleeves and raspberry cordial and felt like I was spending time with old friends.

This was such a fun book to listen to on audio as Dan Stevens did a fantastic job narrating and bringing the cast of characters from Dahl‘s boyhood to life. This book consisted of vignettes from Dahl‘s childhood and it was neat to see where he got some inspiration for his many stories.

Finished another book from my #roll100 stack. I‘m not sure when I even bought this Kindle book but found this story set in Philadelphia during the Spanish Flu outbreak of 1918 to be really interesting. Meissner wrote this before COVid and the parallels between the two pandemics were eerie.

I enjoyed this book and learning of the role of librarians from the American Library in Paris during WWII. It has a dual timeline structure and as usual I found the older timeline more compelling. However I appreciated how the themes and experiences of the first timeline complemented those of the later timeline. I have read a lot of WWII historical fiction but was not familiar with this piece of that history which the author brought to life.

This is the seventh in the Wine Country Mystery series but I have not read any other books in the series which is what happens when I pick up random cozy mysteries at the library book sale. That did not deter me however from enjoying this book set in a winery in the Virginia countryside. It‘s another book off of the towering TBR pile thanks to the #roll100 challenge.

I absolutely loved this account of Mary MacLeod‘s time spent on a remote Hebridean island in the early 1970s. Her family wants a break from the hustle and bustle of city life so they move to a small croft house on the island where she serves as nurse to the community. I bought the sequel before I was halfway through because I knew that I would want to read more of her adventures and tales of the people she befriended. #roll100

This is the only Ferrante that I have read other than the Neapolitan Quartet and it was just as fraught and intense as those books. She examines the pull between the desire for a woman to be a “good mother” and to hold onto her own personal goals and needs. I am curious to see how this will be in the Netflix adaptation as it is very character driven with lots of interior monologues but I know that if anyone is up to the task it is Olivia Colman.

This is the fourth installment of the Peter Shandy Mystery series which I like to pick up when I need a breather from some of the heavier books I‘ve been reading. Shandy is a professor at a New England agricultural college who conveniently stumbles into murder scenes. MacLeod injects some humor into the subsequent crime solving and it‘s always fun to visit with some of the quirky cast of recurring characters.

I am so glad that I finally read this with the #roll100 challenge. It‘s hard to believe that the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff and its 9000 lives lost is not better known. Sepetys tells this story from four main characters‘ points of view that brings humanity to this horrible tragedy. The additional material at the end of the book including interviews with survivors and divers who have explored the wreckage was gripping as well.

I‘ve had this for years but finally read it with the #roll100 challenge. Told from the perspectives of a cast of characters, this book took me awhile to get into and I almost felt like bailing. I‘m glad that I persevered as the book really took shape once I started making connections between the characters and events. This book is an homage to NYC, the Twin Towers and obliquely to the events of 9/11. I can see why it won the National Book Award.

I recently read O‘Farrell‘s I Am, I Am, I Am which also explores the thin thread between life and death. She deftly tells the story of the death of Shakespeare‘s son Hamnet and its effect on the entire family and his father‘s writing. Shakespeare himself however takes a backseat in this book allowing us to view this tale from the view of his wife Agnes‘ lens. It‘s been many years since I‘ve read Hamlet but I am tempted to pick it up again.

This was a fun listen. Matt and Karen document their travels to 59 National Parks in letters to their friends Bob and Sue. Having limited my travel greatly over the past two years, it was nice to live vicariously through tales of their adventures and makes me eager to get out there and explore again.

Holy cow, this was an intense read. A plane with 149 passengers is headed from LAX to NY when the pilot is given a message from someone who has taken his family hostage. He needs to crash the plane or his family will be killed. Written by a flight attendant on her breaks during long flights, her insider knowledge of the airline industry was evident. I definitely don‘t recommend reading this while flying anywhere!

I was blown away by Yaa Gyasi‘s ability to so beautifully write about reconciling religion and science, mental health issues and addiction, racism and immigration within 266 pages. She is such an incredible talent and I can‘t wait to read whatever she writes next.

Maggie O‘Farrell and I were born the same year so I was able to relate each of her experiences with where I was at that time in my life. She tells the story of her life through harrowing medical conditions and near accidents. It felt repetitive at times but by the end I was able to appreciate what she was trying to accomplish. Her 17 brushes with death highlight the need to take nothing for granted and live life to its fullest.

I really enjoyed Daisy Jones but I think that I may have even liked this book a bit more. The book is split between the back story of the Riva family and a second timeline over the course of the day that Nina Riva throws her yearly celebrity filled party. It was a quick moving read that would be a terrific summer or beach book. I read it on the heels of a few heavier WWII historical fiction books so it was a nice change of pace for me.

This is my 2nd book of the #roll100 challenge. I was completely engrossed in this historical fiction tale of the hunt for a female Nazi war criminal. The background on the Russian pilots known as the Night Witches was fascinating and Nina will be one of my favorite characters for a while to come. I also went down a rabbit hole looking up the female photographers of the era mentioned. This is the first Kate Quinn I‘ve read but not the last!

I have mixed feelings about this book which contains dual timelines. As is often the case when I read this type of book I am usually drawn to one storyline over another. The story of fictional pilot Marian Graves was compelling as I enjoyed reading her journey and learning of the role of women pilots during WWII. The secondary timeline of a modern day actress playing Marian in a movie about her life was less engaging and felt unnecessary to me.

I hinted for my husband to get me a gift subscription from my local indie RJ Julia‘s for Christmas and was delighted to receive my first book today. They have you fill out a questionnaire about your reading likes and dislikes to get a feel for what you may enjoy. I have not read any of this series and am looking forward to digging in.

This was my first read of the #roll100 challenge and was my first Margery Allingham mystery. Written in 1929 and set at an old country estate in England, this was right up my alley. Allingham had a sense of humor that was evident in this first installment of her Albert Campion series and I will definitely continue reading her work. Although I already have a long list of beloved mystery authors, I am always happy to discover more.

This was a rare instance when the movie was much better than the book. Unfortunately this biography of Florence Foster Jenkins, renowned for her horrible singing, was on the dry side. It did bring to light her support of the arts and her charity efforts which I appreciated, however the movie and Meryl Streep in particular were much more riveting.

I needed a quick palate cleanser to start off 2022 and picked up this continuation of Joe Cawley‘s memoir of running a bar and grill in the vacation town of Tenerife in the Canary Islands. It sounds great at first but the pressure mixed with tedium of the business catches up with him after awhile. It was still fun to live vicariously through this book for anyone who dreams of ditching their day to day job and moving to “paradise” to start over.

Tania lost her father at a young age and she moved to the renowned Grossinger resort in NY owned by her relatives where her charismatic mother took a job as a hostess. As I loved the setting of Dirty Dancing and the summer resort in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel this book did not disappoint with Tania‘s front row reminiscences of big celebrities of the time and the inside look at running such a beloved vacation getaway.

I am finally reading East of Eden which I have meant to do for many years. No time like the present, especially during Banned Books Week! #bannedbook

Took the kids to the #bookbarn in Niantic today as it was a beautiful day for a drive and wanted to get in a few last hurrahs before the end of summer. Of course we really should be back to school clothes shopping but book shopping is so much more fun!

I just loved this beautiful story of star crossed lovers who meet in 1950s Iran, a time when there was much political turmoil and eventual government coup. In addition to enjoying the captivating story, I also was intrigued by all of the references to lots of different Iranian foods and found myself Googling many of them. This book will pull at your heartstrings and make you hungry, a definite pick for me!

Rosemary is an 86 year old woman who has spent her whole life swimming at her local lido. Kate is a young journalist trying to find herself and take control of her recurring panic attacks. The two form a friendship as they fight to keep the lido from being closed to make way for an expensive new apartment complex. I loved their relationship and the community involvement in trying to save the lido. A great beach read, perfect for the pool too!

This was a great beach read that I picked up on a whim at a library book sale. Set in Venice, the book has a dual time line. Corradino is a renowned glassblower in 1600s Venice who is embroiled in political intrigue of the time and Nora is his descendant in modern day Venice carrying on the family tradition while looking into secrets of her ancestor‘s past. As I won‘t be visiting Venice anytime soon, this book transported me there in its own way.

Excited to get my signed copy of this book in the mail today after I attended the virtual Zoom event with the author this week through #rjjuliabooksellers. It was a great event and Ballard is a very inspirational person who has lead such an interesting life. In addition to finding the Titanic, he has conducted so much important research on alternative energy and food sources from the ocean. I‘m looking forward to reading this.

With my many years of reading mysteries behind me I have somehow never read P.D. James. This is book 13 in the Adam Dalgliesh series that I picked up at a library book sale so I jumped in with this one. I‘m a sucker for a mystery set on a remote British island so this was right up my alley. Now that I‘ve finally got around to reading her books, I will definitely seek out more.

I finished this at Six Flags while waiting for my kids who were riding the roller coasters. While this was not my favorite of Harper‘s books, it was still a good read set in a beach town in Tasmania. She always does a great job in bringing a strong sense of place to her works which I appreciate.

Last week we took a trip to the Berkshires and visited The Mount, Edith Wharton‘s home in Lenox, Massachusetts. The home itself was lovely, and I learned that she was very interested in architecture and interior design and even wrote a well received book on the subject. The library contains her personal collection which was purchased back from a British bookseller who owned the collection. It‘s definitely worth a visit if you‘re in the area.