Book Talk

Summer is for reading!  If you're looking for a book to take to the beach, on the plane, or just to your own porch, I'd recommend any of the following. None are super recently released, but a couple have been on my list for a while, and a couple piqued my interest - between synopsis and price tag - while browsing.

 All Fall Down was one I picked up on a whim for just a couple bucks. Although it was an easy read, it was certainly more intense than I anticipated as it was largely based around addiction: a suburban mom's addiction to pain pills that creeps up on her without her really realizing it's happening.  Her journey through addiction, rehab, and the impact on her family are detailed in this story; a few other long-kept secrets are reveled along the way, too.  Maddening, heartbreaking, and sort of understandable all at once.

 If you haven't already read it, you've probably at least heard of the Big Little Lies HBO mini-series with Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon.  I haven't watched it, but I want to after reading the book.  While at a fundraising event for their kids' high-brow private school, the parents' behavior misses the mark and someone ends up dead.  That sounds outlandish, but once you get to know the characters and the setting, it feels completely plausible.  Liane Moriarty is a great story teller; lots of silly, lots of serious, and an engaging story therein.

A Sudden Light turned into more of a ghost story than I expected.  I loved that it was set out west, among the tall pines and I was finishing it on our way to Colorado.  Trevor tells the story of the summer he spent out west with his dad, who had lost his job, their house, and almost also his wife.  Trevor isn't at first sure what the trip is all about until he realizes that his dad has to make amends with pieces of his past.  All the while, they stay in his dad's childhood home, the seemingly haunted Riddell House.  Definitely a coming-of-age story.  (P.S. I was glad to have this one in hard copy rather than electronically because there was a family tree at the front that I kept looking back at while reading.)

I couldn't put down The Forgotten Garden, which was recommended by my sister. When Cassandra's grandmother passes away, she's left with an inheritance and a mystery that her grandmother expects her to piece together.  The mystery takes her from her home in Australia to England, where she meets a variety of people eager to help her uncover the past.  All the while, Cassandra reflects on her own life experiences, and learns about the importance of coming to terms with the past in order to move into the future.  Kate Morton is another wonderful storyteller; start this when you have an entire weekend to devote, because you won't want to stop reading.

"Sleep is good, he said, and books are better."

-George R.R. Martin