Welcome to the Stacks
Fostering the love of reading, here are several reviews from myself.
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The Club by Ellery Lloyd
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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There are exclusive resorts and then there is The Club. Set in England, Home is a business of Uber-private residences for the ultra-celebrity to have the ultimate privacy and discretion upon entering. Or do they? A death at the new property, Island Home, brings out all of the quiet secrets and discretions that were once afforded to Home's clients. How many secrets are at risk and what would someone do to protect their public image? It all comes out to play in The Club, a book where everyone is ill-willed for different reasons and vengeance is the only currency accepted on the island.
A Happier Life by Kristy Woodson Harvey
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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Keaton finds herself in desperate need of escaping NYC and her present life when her mother randomly says she needs someone to head down to Beaufort, NC to put her childhood home on the market. Keaton takes up the offer to flee the city and head to a past she has never known much about as her grandparents passed away before she was born. What starts as a quick way to distract herself from her life ends up becoming a thirst for knowledge about the family she had but never had the chance to know, including the matriarch that reigned over the sleepy southern beach town of Beaufort. A Happier Life had me yearning for traditions that have gone amiss in modern times while also turning the pages to see how the women of yesteryear and today were going to handle the day's dilemmas. Always with grace, poise, and dignity, no doubt of that.
Tom Lake by Ann Patchett
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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It is the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and Emily, Maisie, and Nell have returned to their family farm in northern Michigan. Now grown, they are waiting out the pandemic with their parents, Lara and Joe. As they are working on the farm, the girls get to hear the stories of their parents from before they were born. Ann Patchett is an illustrative writer, letting your mind visually picture places you've been before for the scenery. It creates such comfort within the stories she writes. Meryl Streep performs the audio of Tom Lake and this performance is well, to quote the book, spectacular.
Burn Rate by Andy Dunn
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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Andy Dunn is the CEO of Bonobos and also a person with bipolar disorder type 1. This is not a how-to for startups but it is an intensely candid conversation about episodes of fluctuations in his mental health as he tries to build Bonobos and sell it to Walmart. I flew through this book and really appreciated how vulnerable the writer went into his experiences.
Ladykiller by Katherine Wood
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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Abby and Gia are childhood friends who have been through good times and bad. An event one summer in Greece when they are 18 still lingers in the air between their friendship as they enter their 30’s. As Gia is back in Greece, Abby is set to meet her and her brother Benny in Sweden for Abby's 30th birthday. Abby and Benny arrive in Sweden to discover Gia is not coming and can't be found. What comes next is multiple plot twists in yet another deliciously glamorous setting that Katherine Wood has written for us to visit.
Reign: American Royals by Katherine McGee
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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Reign' finds America's first family hanging in the balance. Everything is up in arms at the end of 'Rivals,' and our country's family struggles to find its footing. But, as always, the monarchy finds a way to lead and shine with dignity and grace. The American Royals 4-book arc has been a fun one to read. I loved the ending to our alternate America that Katherine McGee conjured for us to explore.
Rivals: American Royals by Katherine McGee
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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Book 3 of American Royals! I love this series about an alternate America; it's so fun to think about! In 'Rivals,' Beatrice is now queen, and we have other countries coming into the storyline, including other kings and queens! It's really fun to read about these alternate country options as well. The ending is a huge cliffhanger, so I am incredibly happy I waited to read it so I could jump into 'Reign' (book 4) immediately!
Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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Pineapple Street is such an escapist novel! I delighted in transporting myself into the upper echelons of Brooklyn Heights to see how older millennial adult children dealt with being trustees of a very large family trust, all while balancing the happiness of their parents and their partners. It's a voyeuristic novel where you read about one sibling who can't open up to her mother about wanting to give away her trust but can play tennis with her and discuss the club's poor choice in new glassware. It's a witty, sharply observed novel about the one-percenters in New York. Side note: I need this to be a mini-series or movie because I want Tilda on the screen so badly. She is my favorite character.
The Storyteller by Dave Grohl
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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Dave Grohl has stories for days. What rock band doesn't? But Dave Grohl has a heart of gold, and the stories he chooses to share in 'The Storyteller' are all about emotions. 'The Storyteller' isn't just about backstage antics, drugs, and drinking. It's about life in Virginia. It's about being surrounded by every possible bad decision in front of you but having the moral compass to stay focused on your goals. It's about working in a job you absolutely love but requires working all over the world with little control over your own travel schedule and no options to work from home... and how to handle being a present parent for your family. I loved the stories he chose to tell.
The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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Amazing historical fiction novel with excellently researched notations about J.P. Morgan's personal librarian in the 1920s and 1930s, who ends up being a forced to be reckoned with among curators at the time as she scours the world for rare manuscripts, books, and works of art. But, Belle de Costa Greene has a secret she is hiding from her employer and high society. As she tries to protect her secret, she discovers many others have secrets of their own. This story is a fascinating account of the lengths people will go to for the protection of legacy.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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I clutch my chest when I think of this book still. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo is one of the most beautiful stories I have ever read. Evelyn Hugo is 79 years old, living in NYC quietly after spending earlier decades as Hollywood's leading lady. She decides to give a rare interview and picks a specific, unknown journalist. What happens is captivating, emotional, and heartbreaking and heartwarming all at the same time. This book had me as a paperweight in a chair while I read it. I could not put this down and then mourned finishing it for days. Must read.
Taste by Stanley Tucci
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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I know the pandemic made a lot of people look at Stanley Tucci in a new light. But, as a long time fan of his, I have longed for this book! He lives such a great life off camera, exploring food and cooking passions. It was a great listen as he recounts his life through food. The audiobook is fantastic but you'll need the physical book for the recipes, so get both!
Beach Read by Emily Henry
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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Somtimes you just need a simple summer beach read. And Beach Read by Emily Henry delivers on that promise. A story about two authors, both stuck in their own writing ruts, who live next door to each other for a summer. A simple story about how they both overcome their writing ruts with some spiciness sprinkled in. Great and easy read for when you just want to escape into a book!
The Vicious Circle by Katherine St. John
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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A supermodel in Manhattan learns that her uncle has died suddenly. But, here is the catch. Her uncle is a famous self-help guru who lives at his "wellness center" Xanadu,located deep in the Mexican jungle. She learns that she has inherited his estate but has to visit Xanadu to finalize things with her uncle's wife. Part steamy novel, part cult drama, the Vicious Circle is a story that draws you in, wondering what each character is secretly desiring as you imagine the most beautiful place on Earth and how everyone will escape it.
Meant To Be by Emily Giffin
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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As someone who loves reading historical fiction, it's hard to read a historical fiction book set in the 1990s. Are we really there?! A tough pill to swallow. But, a great story! Emily Giffin does it again with Meant to Be. Loosly based on the love story of JFK Jr. and Caroline Besset, Meant to Be shows a glimpse inside the lives of a budding Camelot 2.0 that also ends in a heartbreaking way.
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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My daughter chose The Book Thief for one of her summer reading books. I was interested in it as she read it, so I picked it up after she finished. This book is beautiful. A young girl living in Nazi Germany with foster parents befriends aa Jewish man her parents are hiding in the basement. The story is narrated by Death, which is so interesting as a character given the subject matter. But, it also becomes a character for which you have empathy for and even some respect in the end. This story is so moving and haunting and beautiful.
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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Lessons in Chemistry is in the running for top pick of 2022 for me! I related to Elizabeth Zott so much (if you are an Enneagram 1, you will too!). Set in California in the 1960s, Elizabeth Zott is a gifted research chemist who is incredibly self-aware (but also self-assured at a time when females were frowned upon for acting so) and also quite immune to the conventions of her time. This book explores the beautiful flaws of being a woman who is passionate about work when life takes a detour. I loved reading the imperfectness of Elizabeth's character and how she wrestles with her own feelings vs. what society expects her to feel about seasons of her life. The audiobook is fantastic and has an interview with the author at the end that is not to be missed!
Without a Hitch by Mary Hollis Huddleston
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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A great summer read! A hilarious account of a young woman's days and weekends working in the wedding and events industry for Texan elites. I laughed out loud so many times.
Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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Mary Jane - ahh, such a good book. I know there are so many coming of age stories but this one is my favorite. Mary Jane, raised in a prim and proper, county club member home is 14. She takes on a summer nanny job for a neighbor and ends up having an eye-opening summer to other ways of living. It's set in the '70s anf if you're of a certain age, your imagination will be filled with images while reading this great summer novel.
Indistractable by Nir Eyal
Star Rating: ★★★★★
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Indistractable is a really important book and I wish it was recommended reading for Juniors and Seniors in high school. I learned some great tricks on how to find traction and eliminate distraction..and the connection between the two. In a post-pandemic world where there is an increased lape of attentiveness, I wish everyone would read this book. Indistractable is essentially a handbook full of tips and tricks on building attentiveness against internal and external triggers.
The best of this book? It's logically laid out for one type of learner. But--it starts by stating that if you prefer to learn a certain way, then it leads you through a different order to read the book. How radically inclusive!