Another Year/Another Book
Five books! That’s a lot to feature in one blog entry. It had to be done, however, because the volume of new books coming out these first few months of 2025 is overwhelming. In addition, with five authors represented here, you are bound to really like at least one of them, right?
As you look at the covers of the five books, think about each author and which of their other books you have read. I will start off because I have read at least one book by each author. Have you?
Have any of you read all the books by just one of the authors? Now is the time to brag so please let me hear from you. If I hear from enough of you, I will post an entry with all of the replies.
Charmaine Wilkerson, Good Dirt I read Black Cake.
Good Dirt has at it’s heart, not a cake, but a 20-gallon stone jug named “Old Mo.” Those of us familiar with the pottery made in Edgefield, SC, by the potter known as ‘Dave’, will make the comparison quickly. A bride jilted at the altar sets off a chain of events and uncovers an unsolved mystery, making Good Dirt a “thoroughly researched and beautifully imagined family saga.”–The New York Times
Pam Jenoff, Last Twilight in Paris I read The Lost Girls of Paris
Just as in Lost Girls, Jenoff takes us from London to Paris in a flashback novel set partly in a real life Paris department store, Levitan, that was used as a Nazi prison. The main character Louise worked with the Red Cross in Paris during the war. In 1953, she comes across a neckless at a resale store in London, and that discovery leads her on a mission to trace the necklace back to Levitan in order to unlock the mystery of her friend’s death.
Jo Jo Moyes, We All Live Here I read The Giver of Stars
We All Live Here Is a novel also set in London but in modern day London. Moyes writes about a large blended family whose matriarch Lila Kennedy is an author. While trying to write a book about her life as a single divorced mother, life itself keeps interrupting. This book promises to be light and loving. With a cast of eccentric characters, critics say this is Moyes best book ever!
Fredrik Backman, My Friends I read A Man Called Ove, Anxious People and My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry
Once again, Fredrik Backman writes a book that is both funny and poignant, filled with interesting characters and a lot of kindness. This time, the Swedish author and blogger has written the story of four teenage friends. Remember your teenage friends? There is really nothing quite like our friendships in those days. Hanging out, getting in a few sticky situations, creating dozens of funny stories we don’t want our children to ever hear about….. These four friends end up changing the world of a perfect stranger. Preorder the book to find out how.
Patti Callahan Henry, The Story She Left Behind I read Surviving Savannah
This book is both a mystery and an historical fiction. The story begins in 1927 when eight-year -old Clara’s idyllic childhood come to an abrupt end with her mother’s disapperance. Fast forward to 1952 when Clara has a child of her own and hears from a man in London that claims to have found something that belonged to her mother. Clara goes to London and encounters more mysterious clues as to her mother’s story. Will she discover the real truth? Does she want to?
By the way, Patti Callahan Henry will speak at the Library Society on March 20, at 6:00.
I am a Fredrick Backman fan. Thanks for the heads up on the new book.
Just read Good Dirt and enjoyed it very much. Will probably read Patti Callahan Henry’s book and maybe Jojo Moyes also. I’m not a Bachman fan so will skip that one.
So many new books calling my name!