Books & Bites: March 2022

“Backman again captures the messy essence of being human...It’s clever and affecting, as likely to make you laugh out loud as it is to make you cry." -Washington Post

“Frank Bruni is one of my favorite people in the world.... Man, he can write....The Beauty of Dusk is a positive message, a powerful reminder that with great vulnerability also comes great reward.” -Oprah

"Noted physicist and science writer Mlodinow brings an up-to-date view of the neuroscience surrounding emotions...Reveals little-known facets of our worried, weary minds." -Kirkus Reviews

“Susan Meissner knits the past and the present with the seamless skill of a master storyteller. A beautifully written, moving novel that had me gripped from the first page.” -Kate Kerrigan, New York Times bestselling author of Ellis Island

"A sweeping story of lifelong best friends...you will surely want to read this book. Elegantly structured, beautifully written, and altogether diverting, with a powerful message about land ownership in America." -Kirkus

"It's in the tentative moments of love between Blanche and P'tit that FROG MUSIC is at its best-heartfelt, affecting, and real. Donoghue is so gifted at depicting the fraught blessings of motherhood." -Charles Finch, Chicago Tribune

"A beguiling, lavishly illustrated book that...epitomizes what Ms. Crain calls the city's incredible energy and sense of its own greatness and destiny." -Sam Roberts, The New York Times

"What makes a good marriage – in fact and fiction? Kimberly McCreight takes a gimlet-eyed attempt at answering that question in the irresistible domestic drama, A Good Marriage." -Washington Post

"A tour de force...Hamnet vividly captures the life-changing intensity of maternity in its myriad stages—from the pain of childbirth to the unassuageable grief of loss. Fierce emotions and lyrical prose are what we've come to expect of O'Farrell." -NPR

"Hour of the Witch is a gripping page-turner, written with beautiful prose and enthrallingly developed characters.” -Mystery and Suspense Magazine

“The Humans is by turns silly, sad, suspenseful and soulful...Haig manages…to burrow beneath clichés as he explores the meaning of sentimentality, loyalty, love, and mortality...Haig's insights are often compelling.” -Philadelphia Inquirer

"A politician's career is ruined overnight by revelations of his wartime participation in a village massacre in Vietnam while his personal life is undone by the sudden disappearance of his wife." -Publishers Weekly

"For someone damned to be forgettable, Addie LaRue is a most delightfully unforgettable character, and her story is the most joyous evocation of unlikely immortality.” -Neil Gaiman

“Laura Dave is a master story-teller. Gripping, big-hearted and twisty, The Last Thing He Told Me grabs readers from the very first page and never lets go.” -Greer Hendricks, New York Times best-selling co-author

“[A] captivating piece of historical fiction... transporting...a rollicking cross-country adventure, rife with unforgettable characters, vivid scenery and suspense that will keep readers flying through the pages.” -Time

“A charming debut....You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll feel new sympathy for the curmudgeons in your life. You’ll also want to move to Scandinavia, where everything’s cuter.” –People

"Sensitive, deceptively simple....[It’s] more complex than it first appears, and all the more emotionally persuasive for it." -Heller McAlpin, San Francisco Chronicle

“Riveting....O’Nan has written the perfect summer-by-the-lake read...This is the landscape of family Jonathan Franzen illuminates in The Corrections, or Jane Smiley in Ordinary Love.” -Chicago Tribune, on Wish You Were Here

"Cronin has just struck the right balance between sensitivity and sentimentality, making her one of those admirable writers who does exceptionally fine work both celebrating life and addressing death." -Booklist

“Deeply satisfying…An intimate family story…Day-to-day parenting dilemmas are where Frankel shines.” -The New York Times Book Review

“The novel’s strengths abound. It upends clichés, pieties and commonplaces while also noticing salient details of the lockdown.” -The New York Times Book Review

“Told in rotating points of view, this Tilt-A-Whirl of a novel brims with jangly tension – an undeniably engrossing guessing game.” -Vogue

“If ever there was a time for a novel of faith and redemption–a quiet book of old-fashioned verities–this is it." -New York Post

“Clinton and Patterson’s standalone sequel to their 2018 thriller, The President Is Missing, puts their respective expertise to good use in a twisting plot.” -Time

Donoghue offers vivid characters and a gripping portrait of a world beset by a pandemic and political uncertainty. A fascinating read in these difficult times." -Booklist

“Maugham remains the consummate craftsman...[His writing is] so compact, so economical, so closely motivated, so skillfully written, that it rivets attention from the first page to last." -Saturday Review of Literature

"A fascinating tour de force, a brilliant unraveling of closely held secrets and brutal betrayals...A case of Dangerous Liaisons with yet another layer of Victorian outrage." -Curled Up with a Good Book.com

"Donoghue's characterizations are excellent, and her brutal imagery and attention to language capture the spirit of the time with vital precision." - Publishers Weekly.

"Tart and uncloying like a good gin fizz, a generous pouring-forth of details and dialogue about social classes and the institutions that prop them up. The Tender Bar is quite simply...wunderbar!" -New York Observer

"In glorious and lyrical prose, Williams spins the tale of one 1958 season in the village of Faha, County Kerry. Noe's reminiscences of that period are full of beauty and hard-won wisdom. This novel is a delight." -Publishers Weekly

"All of Donoghue''s stories are lucid and well paced...written over a number of years, these stories demonstrate considerable versatility...It''s evident she likes her characters, and you probably will too." -New York Times

“A historical love story penned in the lush and propulsive prose familiar to Allende’s millions of fans worldwide, it...feels excitingly new and unerringly timely for this international superstar of an author.” -San Francisco Chronicle

“If you like a ripping good story told in robust prose that gives you goose bumps, latch onto this book – more than a novel of miracles, it is truly a miraculous novel.” -Seattle Times

"Genius....Though the novel's lavish sweep and gorgeous details evoke a vanished world, Fowler's exploration of the way powerful women are simultaneously devalued and rewarded resonates powerfully." -Publishers Weekly

"The stories are plain engrossing---in their elucidation, their breadth of examples, and their barely contained sense of awe and admiration." -Kirkus

"If there’s anyone who can tackle the pandemic, it’s Jodi Picoult....With one humdinger of a plot twist, it’s another fantastic, clever read from Picoult." -Women & Home, Book of the Month