This is the story of the American Dream told from the perspective of a centenarian on his deathbed looking back on a life-shaping adventure he had as an adolescent when he drove two giraffes across the country on the back of what amounted to not much more than a pick-up truck. Honestly, for whatever reason, the title didn’t grab me on this one, and I put off reading it a lot longer than I should … Read More “West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge” »
Category: Historical Fiction
Diane Chamberlain is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors, and this book is the second one I read by her this year that has made it into my top list for 2021. What I like about her books is that she successfully fictionalizes serious events in recent history in a way that does not come across as opportunistic but rather as respectful to the memories of the real people affected. In 1965, white teenager … Read More “The Last House on the Street by Diane Chamberlain” »
I’ve been reading books by Sandra Dallas since The Persian Pickle Club, and I always enjoy her style of writing. This one was a bit harder of a read for me – I don’t know if it was just that I am burnt out living through our own modern-day pandemic or if my expectations were just too high. However, while this one wasn’t necessarily one of my favorites ever by this author, I still really … Read More “Little Souls by Sandra Dallas” »
This book has been on my TBR list since it was released, but it took my book club choosing it for our June book to move it up on my list, and I’m so glad I did. This was an understated and haunting novel about a family split apart when their teenage twins disappear and only one of them returns. It tells the story of three generations of the women in this family. Desiree and … Read More “The Vanishing Half by Britt Bennett” »
What would you do to save your child? The answer, always, is anything. This book was magical and sad and beautiful, and full of love, and I just wish these characters were real. Oh, and did I mention, there’s also time travel? Carly Sears just lost her husband in Vietnam, and now she’s found out that their unborn daughter has a terminal heart defect, and it almost breaks her. But, then, her kind but somewhat … Read More “The Dream Daughter by Diane Chamberlain” »