The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
The MIDNIGHT LIBRARY is imaginative, thought-provoking, and fun . . . it’s just what I needed to read during the polar vortex, a big-hearted read that gave me a fresh perspective on all the roads not taken.
Early Morning Riser
I cannot recommend EARLY MORNING RISER enough. EARLY MORNING RISER brims with love and hope and humor. Heiny redefines family in this enchanting novel and I felt my heart lifted from the heaviness of the past year. Her characters are complex and quirky – they’re your mother, your brother, or your neighbor – they are just like all those complicated people you encounter on a daily basis. Whether you live in a small town, or your village of people is in a big city, you’ll recognize them and after reading EARLY MORNING RISER, you’ll find the things that may have previously annoyed you, endearing. Heiny is like that – through her lens, you’ll see things differently.
Brood by Jackie Polzin
BROOD brims with hope in the midst of grief and tenderness in spite of loss. “Life is the ongoing effort to live,” Polzin writes, “some people make it look easy. Chickens do not.” BROOD is an honest look at life, love, loss, and to some extent, chickens.
Have You Seen Luis Velez by Catherine Ryan Hyde
Hyde’s characters are often one-dimensional and her plots simplistic, but the relationship between a cast-off young man and a disillusioned elderly woman who has watched her neighborhood devolve into a place of bigotry and fear, is like putting a warm blanket over 2020. Could I look more hopefully into the face of 2021? Maybe -- if I let myself believe that the good people in HAVE YOU SEEN LUIS VELEZ exist outside of its pages.
Fishing! by Sarah Stonich
Sarah Stonich is at the height of her powers, having fine-tuned her comedic voice with Vacationland and Laurentian Divide. Fishing is laugh-out-loud funny, but don’t be mistaken – Stonich will take you into the deep. Her understanding of the complexity of family, dysfunctional relationships, and difficult people make Fishing more than a feel-good read. The best part – we can expect book #2 in the series in the near future.
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
The Dutch House is a glorious read, as grand as its namesake and as luminous as the rest of Patchett’s oeuvre. I recommend The Dutch House for fans of The Big House by George Howe Colt, The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, and Patchett’s own Commonwealth.