January | 2017 | Stacy Alesi's BookBitch.com™

BEHIND HER EYES by Sarah Pinborough

January 31, 2017

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Louise has been single too long. That’s the only explanation for what happened. That and the fact that the man was handsome and they seemed to hit it off. But he’s married! And worse, he’s her new boss! Vowing it’ll never happen again, Louise painstakingly attempts to ensure a normal and unromantic work atmosphere. But when she runs into David’s wife, things become incredibly complicated.

Adele is pretty and oh-so-put-together. But she seems lonely. The more Adele and Louse spend time together, the harder it becomes for Louise to detach herself. And then things between her and David take a turn as well. But there’s something wrong with Adele and David. The picture Adele paints of their relationship is troubling, to say the least, but the David Louise knows is nothing like that. Or is he?

Having been a fan of Sarah Pinborough’s work for quite some time now, it really was no surprise to me that Behind Her Eyes would turn out to be so fabulous. It seems, though, that she may finally get the readership she deserves Stateside with this latest.

Behind Her Eyes begins almost innocently, and with an edge of humor as well. Louise is in a real pickle. So much so that she hides in the bathroom when David introduces his wife around his new office. So it’s understandable then that Adele would have no idea who Louise is when they run into each other. And for all her faults, Louise is a nice person.

Adele, though, is much less transparent. In fact, it’s clear from the beginning that something odd is going on with Adele and David.

Chapters alternate between Louise and Adele. And Adele’s story is further broken up between “Then” and “Now.” It makes for a truly wonderful reading experience that’s filled with uncertainty and suspicion – and that’s on the part of the characters and the reader.

And then there’s that ending. It’s an ending everyone is talking about (Behind Her Eyes has been out in the UK for some months now) and one that’s definitely worth it. I for one did not see it coming at all.

Behind Her Eyes is a definite favorite of mine for 2017 and one I highly recommend to any thriller fan looking for a fabulous new read!

1/17 Becky LeJeune

BEHIND HER EYES by Sarah Pinborough. Flatiron Books (January 31, 2017). ISBN 978-1250111173. 320p.

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Author Brunonia Barry: How I became interested in books

January 30, 2017

Author Brunonia Barry (THE FIFTH PETAL) talks about how a Salem library started her writing career, and her earliest writing memory.

Beloved author Brunonia Barry returns to the world of THE LACE READER with this spellbinding new thriller, a complex brew of suspense, seduction and murder.

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When a teenage boy dies suspiciously on Halloween night, Salem’s chief of police, John Rafferty, now married to gifted lace reader Towner Whitney, wonders if there is a connection between his death and Salem’s most notorious cold case, a triple homicide dubbed “The Goddess Murders,” in which three young women, all descended from accused Salem witches, were slashed on Halloween night in 1989. He finds unexpected help in Callie Cahill, the daughter of one of the victims newly returned to town. Neither believes that the main suspect, Rose Whelan, respected local historian, is guilty of murder or witchcraft.

But exonerating Rose might mean crossing paths with a dangerous force. Were the women victims of an all-too-human vengeance, or was the devil raised in Salem that night? And if they cannot discover what truly happened, will evil rise again?

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COOK KOREAN! by Robin Ha

January 28, 2017

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A Comic Book with Recipes

I loved Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley, which came out a few years ago, but never really expected to find another graphic novel with recipes. I was wrong. Apparently graphic novel cookbooks are now a thing.

There was a really interesting article on eater.com about it, Why Cookbooks are Looking More Like Comicbooks. They point out:

But comic cookbooks can do something for home cooks, too — make recipes less daunting and easier to follow. Cookbooks are still in demand, but many — with their overly aspirational food photography — wind up as coffee-table books for the kitchen.

An interesting point, for sure. And click through to an older article, The Golden Era of Food Comics is Happening Right Now. Also interesting.

When I heard about Cook Korean!, I knew I had to take a look at it. I don’t know a lot about Korean food. Korean BBQ restaurants are around, and kimchi is hugely popular pretty much everywhere now, so it seemed like a good time to learn. And learn I did.

Table of Contents:

Introduction
Kimchi and Pickles
Vegetable Side Dishes
Meat and Poultry
Seafood
Soups and Stews
Porridges
Noodles and Rice Cakes
Snacks and Street Foods
Cocktails and Anju
Korean Fusion

I included the introduction because it’s not your typical “here’s why I wrote this cookbook page.” Instead, it’s 20 pages or so of ingredients used in Korean cooking, the Korean refrigerator, the Korean pantry, Korean meal guide, Bap: Cooked Rice, Rice and its delicious by-products, Korea’s regions and foods and finally Dengki’s dress. In other words, lots of super useful information. With illustrations.

All the chapters are heavily illustrated, thus the graphic novel genre. I mean if you just picked it up without knowing it was a cookbook, it probably wouldn’t occur to you as you glanced through it. No, it’s not a novel, it’s cookbook/memoir and nonfiction while we usually call fiction books novels. But what I called comic books as a kid are now called graphic novels, regardless of whether or not the books contain fiction or nonfiction. My library shelves them in the nonfiction. I have noticed that some graphic novel memoirs are shelved in biographies, and I’m not sure who is making that distinction (Library of Congress? The Online Computer Library Center, better known as OCLC?) or why that distinction is being made. Congressman John Lewis just won a bunch of awards for the third book of his graphic novel trilogy memoir, March: Book Three (congrats!) which is shelved in biography. But I digress.

Other things I noticed when looking at the table of contents. I admitted up front I am pretty ignorant about Korean food. I didn’t know there were stews or porridges, for instance. Now I do. Kimchi Stew, for starters. And a Spicy Fish Stew. I learned that pine nuts are not just for pesto and are used in Pine Nut Porridge.

So kimchi. There is a little gastro pub near my house that makes killer kimchi. And by killer I mean they warn you if you try and order it that it is very hot, so I haven’t tried it. A kimchi loving friend (hi Dave!) has had it and really enjoys it. So everything I know about kimchi is that historically, it was made from cabbage in clay jars and buried in the dirt. The smell was supposedly horrific. And very, very spicy. But after reading this book, I learned that my suppositions were correct, but there are ways to make it much more palatable for my delicate American taste. Use less Korean chili, for starters. I also learned that kimchi can be made from a variety of vegetables, not just cabbage – radish, cucumber and green onion, just to name a few. I feel kimchi educated now.

Noodles are big in Asian cooking and Korean food is no exception. The recipe for Handmade Knife Noodles is about as close to pasta as you can get. Rice cakes are called Tteok and there are dozens of different kinds, mostly eaten as snacks or dessert.

The cocktails chapter includes a lesson in Korean Drinking Culture, including the admonishment to “always pour your elder’s drink with both your hands,” to never refuse a drink from your elders and “always refill drinks for others and never refill your own drink. You must wait for others to fill it up for you.”

The recipes are all explained and illustrated so that even someone as ignorant of Korean food and customs as I am, could successfully prepare anything in this book. I loved the watercolor type paintings that illustrate each chapter title page, and the drawings throughout the book really added to my understanding of technique. It’s funny, I never really cared for illustrations in cookbooks, for instance the beloved Silver Palate Cookbook, as I much prefer photographs. But for some reason, I love the illustrations here and didn’t miss the photos at all.

Finally, I was trying to figure out how many recipes there are but it was difficult as so many have variations included. The author does mention in her acknowledgements that her mother helped with 64 of the recipes though. Always nice to acknowledge your mom!

If you are curious about Korean cuisine and culture or you love Korean food and want to try making some yourself, this is the book for you.

1/17 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

COOK KOREAN! by Robin Ha. Ten Speed Press (July 5, 2016). ISBN 978-1607748878. 176p.

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Judge a Book

January 27, 2017

THE ANIMATORS by Kayla Rae Whitaker | Judge a Book – Play along as Judge a Book contestants at the Brooklyn Book Festival try to figure out what Kayla Rae Whitaker’s THE ANIMATORS is about ONLY by looking at its cover. An existential journey? An irreverent person? The unknown?

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“A wildly original novel that pulses with heart and truth . . . That this powerful exploration of friendship, desire, ambition, and secrets manages to be ebullient, gripping, heartbreaking, and deeply deeply funny is a testament to Kayla Rae Whitaker’s formidable gifts. I was so sorry to reach the final page. Sharon and Mel will stay with me for a very long time.”—Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney, author of The Nest

She was the first person to see me as I had always wanted to be seen. It was enough to indebt me to her forever.

In the male-dominated field of animation, Mel Vaught and Sharon Kisses are a dynamic duo, the friction of their differences driving them: Sharon, quietly ambitious but self-doubting; Mel, brash and unapologetic, always the life of the party. Best friends and artistic partners since the first week of college, where they bonded over their working-class roots and obvious talent, they spent their twenties ensconced in a gritty Brooklyn studio. Working, drinking, laughing. Drawing: Mel, to understand her tumultuous past, and Sharon, to lose herself altogether.

Now, after a decade of striving, the two are finally celebrating the release of their first full-length feature, which transforms Mel’s difficult childhood into a provocative and visually daring work of art. The toast of the indie film scene, they stand at the cusp of making it big. But with their success come doubt and destruction, cracks in their relationship threatening the delicate balance of their partnership. Sharon begins to feel expendable, suspecting that the ever-more raucous Mel is the real artist. During a trip to Sharon’s home state of Kentucky, the only other partner she has ever truly known—her troubled, charismatic childhood best friend, Teddy—reenters her life, and long-buried resentments rise to the surface, hastening a reckoning no one sees coming.

A funny, heartbreaking novel of friendship, art, and trauma, The Animators is about the secrets we keep and the burdens we shed on the road to adulthood.

Advance praise for The Animators

“A mix of Beaches, Girls, and Thelma & Louise . . . If you let this story happen to you, you’re gonna love it.”—Glamour

“[An] outstanding debut . . . Whitaker skillfully charts the creative process, its lulls and sudden rushes of perfect inspiration. And in the relationship between Mel and Sharon, she has created something wonderful and exceptional: a rich, deep, and emotionally true connection that will certainly steal the hearts of readers.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Unexpected and nuanced and pulsing with life . . . Sweeping and intimate . . . Empathetic but never sentimental; a book that creeps up on you and then swallows you whole.”—Kirkus (starred review)

“Visceral . . . utterly compelling . . . with the nonstop tension of a soap opera.”—Booklist

“A compulsively readable portrait of women as incandescent artists and intimate collaborators.”—Elle

“An engrossing, exuberant ride through all the territories of love—familial, romantic, sexual, love of friends, and, perhaps above all, white-hot passion for the art you were born to make . . . I wish I’d written The Animators.”—Emma Donoghue, author of Room and The Wonder

“The Animators is a heartbreakingly beautiful, sharply funny, arrestingly unforgettable novel.”—Kate Christensen, PEN/Faulkner Award–winning author of The Great Man

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FATAL by John Lescroart

January 26, 2017

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Kate meets Peter at a dinner she attends with her husband, and becomes intrigued with the charming, married man. She wants a little fling and she sets out to seduce him. She succeeds, ending things then and there, but she has awakened the beast in Peter.

A few days later Kate is having lunch with her closest friend, Beth, a cop, and the women are caught up and severely injured in a terrorist attack in the busy San Francisco restaurant near Peter’s office. That event, coupled with his tryst with Kate, convince Peter to leave his wife and family and follow through on all his sexual desires, even though Kate has rebuffed him.

Months later, Kate and Beth are both on the road to recovery when they hear that Peter has been murdered. Beth is assigned the case and while her partner cares for his sick child, she follows every lead, getting nowhere fast.

These characters are well drawn and Beth would make a great continuing character should Lescroart choose to leave Dismas Hardy, his regular series character, behind. This is a terrific standalone thriller that melds police procedural with plenty of suspense and action, and should appeal to Harlan Coben or Gillian Flynn fans.

1/17 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

FATAL by John Lescroart. Atria Books (January 24, 2017). ISBN 978-1501115677. 320p.

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THE PROMETHEUS MAN by Scott Reardon

January 25, 2017

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Tom Reese is not a member of the CIA nor any other lettered agency of the Federal Government. But his brother Eric was and was killed.

The agency has allowed the case of Eric’s death to go cold. Tom assumes the personage of an active CIA operative and gets himself transferred to Paris and joins the team that traces his only link to his brother’s killer.

Remember that authors use literary license in order to make their story palatable. So we will disregard the impossible feat of assuming the identity of an active agent of the CIA and proceed to the events.

Eric Blake and his team were engaged in finding a man who was the test subject of a project to turn out the perfect soldier via augmenting his body. The CIA finally realizes that there are two Tom Reeses’ working for them in two different places. Plus the man that was augmented discovers that someone is after him.

In going forward, Tom meets the daughter of the augmented man and agrees to drive her from Paris to Berlin to meet her father. She trusts him to do so (again literary license) and in avoiding both the CIA and a group after them, fall in love. In a coincidence it is also discovered that Tom was augmented in the same experiment as his brother.

The novel does keep the reader’s interest and continually reading. The setting in Europe is well documented and the action sufficient to say that disregarding the improbable makes the book well worth the time spent reading it. I will be on the lookout for additional novels by Reardon and will have no problem overlooking what is, shall we say, far fetched.

1/17 Paul Lane

THE PROMETHEUS MAN by Scott Reardon. Mulholland Books; (January 24, 2017). ISBN 978-0316310925. 352p.

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THE GIRL BEFORE by J.P. Delaney

January 24, 2017

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From the publisher:

In the tradition of The Girl on the Train, The Silent Wife, and Gone Girl comes an enthralling psychological thriller that spins one woman’s seemingly good fortune, and another woman’s mysterious fate, through a kaleidoscope of duplicity, death, and deception.

SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE DIRECTED BY RON HOWARD

Please make a list of every possession you consider essential to your life.

The request seems odd, even intrusive—and for the two women who answer, the consequences are devastating.

EMMA
Reeling from a traumatic break-in, Emma wants a new place to live. But none of the apartments she sees are affordable or feel safe. Until One Folgate Street. The house is an architectural masterpiece: a minimalist design of pale stone, plate glass, and soaring ceilings. But there are rules. The enigmatic architect who designed the house retains full control: no books, no throw pillows, no photos or clutter or personal effects of any kind. The space is intended to transform its occupant—and it does.

JANE
After a personal tragedy, Jane needs a fresh start. When she finds One Folgate Street she is instantly drawn to the space—and to its aloof but seductive creator. Moving in, Jane soon learns about the untimely death of the home’s previous tenant, a woman similar to Jane in age and appearance. As Jane tries to untangle truth from lies, she unwittingly follows the same patterns, makes the same choices, crosses paths with the same people, and experiences the same terror, as the girl before.

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Usually I don’t bother with the publisher’s synopsis as they tend to run to lots of superlatives and not much substance. In this case, the superlatives are warranted. This was a terrific read and was an all nighter for me.

I loved the characters, they way the story moved between them, and the way the mystery builds. I am not always a fan of the “girl books”, the unreliable narrator as it were, but it definitely worked here. I loved it.

1/17 Stacy Alesi, AKA the BookBitch™

THE GIRL BEFORE by J.P. Delaney. Ballantine Books (January 24, 2017). ISBN 978-0425285046. 352p.

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The 2017 Edgar® Nominees

January 23, 2017

edgar-awards

Mystery Writers of America is proud to announce, as we celebrate the 208th anniversary of the birth of Edgar Allan Poe, the Nominees for the 2017 Edgar Allan Poe Awards, honoring the best in mystery fiction, non-fiction and television published or produced in
2016.

The Edgar® Awards will be presented to the winners at our 71st Gala Banquet, April 27, 2017 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York City.

the-ex

BEST NOVEL
The Ex by Alafair Burke (HarperCollins Publishers – Harper)
Where It Hurts by Reed Farrel Coleman (Penguin Random House – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye (Penguin Random House – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
What Remains of Me by Alison Gaylin (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)
Before the Fall by Noah Hawley (Hachette Book Group – Grand Central Publishing)

best-first

BEST FIRST NOVEL BY AN AMERICAN AUTHOR
Under the Harrow by Flynn Berry (Penguin Random House – Penguin Books)
Dodgers by Bill Beverly (Crown Publishing Group)
IQ by Joe Ide (Little, Brown & Company – Mulholland Books)
The Drifter by Nicholas Petrie (Penguin Random House – G.P. Putnam’s Sons)
Dancing with the Tiger by Lili Wright (Penguin Random House – Marian Wood Book/Putnam)
The Lost Girls by Heather Young (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)

bestpbo

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL
Shot in Detroit by Patricia Abbott (Polis Books)
Come Twilight by Tyler Dilts (Amazon Publishing – Thomas & Mercer)
The 7th Canon by Robert Dugoni (Amazon Publishing – Thomas & Mercer)
Rain Dogs by Adrian McKinty (Prometheus Books – Seventh Street Books)
A Brilliant Death by Robin Yocum (Prometheus Books – Seventh Street Books)
Heart of Stone by James W. Ziskin (Prometheus Books – Seventh Street Books)

bestfact

BEST FACT CRIME
Morgue: A Life in Death
by Dr. Vincent DiMaio & Ron Franscell (St. Martin’s Press)
The Lynching: The Epic Courtroom Battle that Brought Down the Klan
by Laurence Leamer (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)
Pretty Jane and the Viper of Kidbrooke Lane: A True Story of Victorian Law and Disorder: The
Unsolved Murder That Shocked Victorian England
by Paul Thomas Murphy (Pegasus Books)
While the City Slept: A Love Lost to Violence and a Young Man’s Descent into Madness
by Eli Sanders (Penguin Random House – Viking Books)
The Wicked Boy: The Mystery of a Victorian Child Murderer
by Kate Summerscale (Penguin Random House – Penguin Press)

bestcrit

BEST CRITICAL/BIOGRAPHICAL
Alfred Hitchcock: A Brief Life by Peter Ackroyd (Penguin Random House – Nan A. Talese)
Encyclopedia of Nordic Crime: Works and Authors of Denmark, Finland, Iceland,
Norway and Sweden Since 1967
by Mitzi M. Brunsdale (McFarland & Company)
Shirley Jackson: A Rather Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin (W.W. Norton – Liveright)
Something in the Blood: The Untold Story of Bram Stoker, the Man Who Wrote Dracula
by David J. Skal (W.W. Norton – Liveright)

BEST SHORT STORY
“Oxford Girl” – Mississippi Noir by Megan Abbott (Akashic Books)
“A Paler Shade of Death” – St. Louis Noir by Laura Benedict (Akashic Books)
“Autumn at the Automat” – In Sunlight or in Shadow by Lawrence Block (Pegasus Books)
“The Music Room” – In Sunlight or in Shadow by Stephen King (Pegasus Books)
“The Crawl Space” – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by Joyce Carol Oates (Dell Magazines)

bestjuv-1

BEST JUVENILE
Summerlost by Ally Condie (Penguin Young Readers Group – Dutton BFYR)
OCDaniel by Wesley King (Simon & Schuster – Paula Wiseman Books)
The Bad Kid by Sarah Lariviere by (Simon & Schuster – Simon & Schuster BFYR)
Some Kind of Happiness by Claire Legrand (Simon & Schuster – Simon & Schuster BFYR)
Framed! by James Ponti (Simon & Schuster – Aladdin)
Things Too Huge to Fix by Saying Sorry by Susan Vaught
(Simon & Schuster – Paula Wiseman Books)

bestya

BEST YOUNG ADULT
Three Truths and a Lie by Brent Hartinger (Simon & Schuster – Simon Pulse)
The Girl I Used to Be by April Henry (Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group – Henry Holt BFYR)
Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse (Hachette Book Group – Little, Brown BFYR)
My Sister Rosa by Justine Larbalestier (Soho Press – Soho Teen)
Thieving Weasels by Billy Taylor (Penguin Random House – Penguin Young Readers – Dial Books)

BEST TELEVISION EPISODE TELEPLAY
“Episode 1 – From the Ashes of Tragedy” – The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, Teleplay by Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski (FX Network)
“The Abominable Bride” – Sherlock, Teleplay by Mark Gatiss & Steven Moffat (Hartswood Films/Masterpiece)
“Episode 1 – Dark Road” – Vera, Teleplay by Martha Hillier (Acorn TV)
“A Blade of Grass” – Penny Dreadful, Teleplay by John Logan (Showtime)
“Return 0” – Person of Interest, Teleplay by Jonathan Nolan & Denise The (CBS/Warner Brothers)
“The Bicameral Mind” – Westworld, Teleplay by Jonathan Nolan & Lisa Joy (HBO/Warner Bros. Television)

ROBERT L. FISH MEMORIAL AWARD
“The Truth of the Moment” – Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
by E. Gabriel Flores (Dell Magazines)

GRAND MASTER
Max Allan Collins
Ellen Hart

RAVEN AWARD
Dru Ann Love

ELLERY QUEEN AWARD
Neil Nyren

mhc
THE SIMON & SCHUSTER – MARY HIGGINS CLARK AWARD
The Other Sister by Dianne Dixon (Sourcebooks – Sourcebooks Landmark)
Quiet Neighbors by Catriona McPherson (Llewellyn Worldwide – Midnight Ink)
Say No More by Hank Phillippi Ryan (Tor/Forge Books – Forge Books)
Blue Moon by Wendy Corsi Staub (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)
The Shattered Tree by Charles Todd (HarperCollins Publishers – William Morrow)

The EDGAR (and logo) are Registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by the Mystery Writers of America, Inc.

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17 Books to Read in Early 2017

January 21, 2017

2017 starts off with some really great reads! These are the books I’ve either read or I’m planning on reading, based on reviews and buzz. All are published in January or February, 2017.

Here we go…

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CRIME FICTION

THE GIRL BEFORE by J.P. Delaney: Seizing a unique opportunity to rent a one-of-a-kind house, a damaged young woman falls in love with the enigmatic architect who designed the residence, unaware that she is following in the footsteps of a doomed former tenant.

LITTLE DEATHS by Emma Flint: A gripping suspense tale set in 1960s New York and inspired by true events follows the investigation of a cocktail waitress whose two young children have been brutally murdered and a rookie tabloid reporter who would uncover the truth.

THE DRY by Jane Harper: Receiving a sinister anonymous note after his best friend’s suspicious death, federal agent Aaron Falk is forced to confront the fallout of a 20-year-old false alibi against a backdrop of the worst drought Melbourne has seen in a century. A first novel.

EVERYTHING YOU WANT ME TO BE by Mindy Mejia: When a civic-minded high-school senior is found brutally murdered on the opening night of the school play, town sheriff and family friend Del Goodman discovers unsettling truths about the victim’s mesmerizing nature and the secrets that led to her death.

THE SECOND MRS. HOCKADAY by Susan Rivers: A tale inspired by a true story follows the efforts of a Civil War veteran to discern the truth about his teen bride, who during the two years he was at war was convicted and imprisoned for allegedly having a baby in his absence and killing it. A first novel.

IDAHO by Emily Ruskovich: A tale told from multiple perspectives traces the complicated relationship between Ann and Wade on a rugged landscape and how they came together in the aftermath of his first wife’s imprisonment for a violent murder. A first novel.

LITERARY

NORSE MYTHOLOGY by Neil Gaiman: The New York Times best-selling author presents a bravura rendering of the major Norse pantheon that traces the genesis of the legendary nine worlds and the exploits of its characters, illuminating the characters and natures of iconic figures Odin, Thor and Loki.

THE REFUGEES by Viet Thanh Nguyen: The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer presents a new collection of stories, written over a 20-year period, which explores questions of home, family, immigration, the American experience and the relationships and desires for self-fulfillment that define our lives.

LILLIAN BOXFISH TAKES A WALK by Kathleen Rooney: Embarking on a walk across the unsafe landscape of Manhattan on New Year’s Eve in 1984, 85-year-old Lillian Boxfish recalls her long and eventful life, which included a brief reign as the highest-paid advertising woman in America, whose career was cut short by marriage and loss. Fall 2016 Library Journal Editors’ Pick.

LINCOLN IN THE BARDO by George Saunders: A literary ghost story. A long-awaited first novel by the National Book Award-nominated, New York Times best-selling author of Tenth of December traces a night of solitary mourning and reflection as experienced by the 16th President after the death of his 11-year-old son at the dawn of the Civil War.

ROMANCE

SOMEONE TO HOLD by Mary Balogh: Declared illegitimate and without a title, Camille Westcott leaves London to teach at the Bath orphanage where she meets artist Joel Cunningham with whom she shares a mutual contempt until her sittings with him take a passionate turn.

DEVIL IN SPRING by Lisa Kleypas: New York Times bestselling author Lisa Kleypas combines the worlds of the Wallflowers with Marrying Winterborne in this irresistible story of how Sebastian’s son Gabriel, Lord St. Vincent, meets his match in the eccentric and headstrong Lady Pandora.

JEWISH LIT

THE ORPHAN’S TALE by Pam Jenoff: The Nightingale meets Water for Elephants in this powerful novel of friendship and sacrifice, set in a traveling circus during World War II. Cast out after becoming pregnant by a Nazi soldier and being forced to give up her baby, 16-year-old Noa snatches a Jewish infant bound for a concentration camp before passing herself off as a circus performer and inciting the wrath of rival aerialist, Astrid. By the best-selling author of The Kommandant’s Girl.

ON TURPENTINE LANE by Elinor Lipman: An endearing romantic comedy. Living in her suburban hometown while her fiance is off on a crowdfunded cross-country walk, Faith discovers mysterious artifacts in her home’s attic that make her question a promising new relationship and everything she believes.

THE FORTUNATE ONES by Ellen Umansky: It is 1939 in Vienna, and as the specter of war darkens Europe, Rose Zimmer’s parents are desperate. Unable to get out of Austria, they manage to secure passage for their young daughter on a kindertransport, and send her to live with strangers in England. A unique Chaim Soutine work of art connects the lives and fates of two different women, generations apart, in a debut novel that moves from World War II Vienna to contemporary Los Angeles. Yes, another Holocaust book. What can I say, I read a lot of these. Never forget.

NONFICTION

INSANE CLOWN PRESIDENT: Dispatches From the 2016 Circus by Matt Taibbi: Just in case you weren’t sure about my politics – I want to read this just for the title alone. Plus I love Taibbi. Discusses the 2016 election, including the major shifts in perception of national institutions, the democratic process, and the future of the country.

A REALLY GOOD DAY by Ayelet Waldman: How Microdosing Made a Mega Difference in My Mood, My Marriage, and My Life: A lighthearted account of the author’s experiment with microdoses of LSD in an effort to treat a debilitating mood disorder details what she has learned about the misunderstood drug and how she believes psychedelics can be appropriately used as therapeutic medicines.

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Big Ideas Night: On President Trump

January 20, 2017

Random House presents a “Big Ideas Night” panel with Ta-Nehisi Coates, Chris Hayes, Rebecca Traister, Sherrilyn Ifill, and moderator Chris Jackson. They discuss the fallout of the 2016 Presidential election, and what a Trump presidency could mean for America.