FICTION

Iona Iverson’s Rules for Commuting by Clare Pooley. Novel.

Random commuters

Interact for their own good

And the readers’ good.

The Authenticity Project by Clare Pooley. Novel.

An artist’s journal

Brings six people together

Most wonderfully.

The Laughter by Sonora Jha. Novel.

Exploration of

Race, woman’s rights, religion

In a page turner.

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   Five Favorite Nonfiction Books

THE ROAD TO JONESTOWN by JEFF GUINN.
Do-gooder preacher
Became a mass murderer.
A real-life thriller.

MAD AT THE WORLD: A LIFE OF JOHN STEINBECK by WILLIAM SOUDER.
Such a great author.
Such a flawed human being.
It’s complicated.

THE GREAT INFLUENZA by JOHN M. BARRY.
The last pandemic
Should have ( Read more... )

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Five Favorite Novels for Adults
The Word Is Murder by Anthony Horowitz.
Mystery starring
A writer named Horowitz.
Meta clever book.

The Adults by Caroline Hulse.
Exes vacation.
Together. Hilarious!
Their pain is our gain.

How Not to Die Alone by Richard Roper.
British humor? Check.
Depth and romance? Check and check.
My kind of novel.

The Mother-in- ( Read more... )

NOVELS

Eleanor Oliphant by Gail Honeyman. Funny, sad, touching, and original.

True Grit by Charles Portis. I never thought I’d love a Western, but the teen girl narrator is hilarious.

The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison. Character-driven, road trip novel. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll want to read everything else by this ( Read more... )

FIVE NOVELS

The Nix by Nathan Hill. Funny, epic, brilliant, and my favorite novel this year.

The Love Song of Jonny Valentine by Teddy Wayne. Compelling and sad as a train wreck.

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne. Funny and adorable romance.

Chemistry by Weike Wang. It has an unusual structure and unlikable main character, and it was hard to get ( Read more... )

Of the 75 books I read or listened to on audio this year, here are my 12 faves:

Fiction
What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty. Fun story about family and relationships.

The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes. Great literary fiction about truth and lies.

The Birds and the Bees by Milly Johnson. Happy to have discovered a new Sophie Kinsella-ish ( Read more... )

I haven't done these in a long time. Here are my fave books so far of 2014 ( Read more... )

I read/listened to 71 books this year. Here are my top ten:

Novels:THE GOOD HOUSE by Ann Leary. Character-driven novel with great humor and heart ( Read more... )

Happy belated first birthday to one of my favorite writing tools!

( Read more... )