The Reading Room

Maine Characters

Parent trap for adults?!

Summary - The story of two half-sisters, Vivian Levy and Lucy Webster, who meet for the first time after their father’s death. Vivian, a New York City sommelier, and Lucy, a small-town Maine teacher, are brought together at their father’s lake house to scatter his ashes and confront a web of family secrets.

The novel explores themes of grief, family, and forgiveness as the sisters navigate their newfound relationship and the complexities of their father’s past.

These Summer Storms

Why I read this book:

1. Sarah MacLean spoke at the NEIBA book conference I attended and she was a delight
2. It takes place at the Rhode Island shore, which is where we vacation each summer

It also has a plotline that I don’t usually love but I was willing to give it a go because not too many summer books take place in RI.

Summary - The story revolves around Alice Storm, who returns to her family’s private island off the coast of Rhode Island after her father’s death, only to find herself entangled in an inheritance game. The novel is described as a blend of family drama, mystery, and sizzling romance.

Heartwood

Every human being imagines, but few disclose. Children are quick to share their strangest thoughts and inventions. They cease to do so only after the shaming or baffled reactions of adults, portraits of which the child hangs on her inner walls, until at last, she closes the gallery.

Summary - Heartwood tells the story of a nurse, Valerie Gillis, who goes missing while hiking the Appalachian Trail in Maine. The novel intertwines the narratives of Valerie, who writes letters to her mother during her ordeal; Beverly, a game warden leading the search; and Lena Kucharski, a 76-year-old birdwatcher who becomes an armchair detective. As the search intensifies, the characters’ complex relationships with mothers and motherhood are explored, revealing a suspenseful mystery with themes of survival, loss, and self-discovery.

Dinner for Vampires

“I found out that when the numbness lasts for long enough it bears a striking resemblance to peace.”

Summary - Dinner for Vampires is a powerful and personal account of one womans journey through the darkness of cult involvement and her journey to recovery. Bethany Joy Lenz has crafted a memoir that is both a warning and a beacon of hope, offering readers a rare glimpse into the inner workings of a cult while also providing a roadmap for healing and self-discovery. This book is essential reading for anyone interested in understanding the complexities of spiritual manipulation and the resilience of the human spirit.

Death of the author

A genre-blending gem…

“Stories were the greatest currency to us, greater than power, greater than control. Stories were our food, nourishment, enrichment. To consume a story was to add to our code, deepen our minds. We felt it the moment we took it in. We were changed. It was like falling. It was how we evolved.”

Summary - In this exhilarating tale by New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Nnedi Okorafor, a disabled Nigerian American woman pens a wildly successful Sci-Fi novel, but as her fame rises, she loses control of the narrativea surprisingly cutting, yet heartfelt drama about art and love, identity and connection, and, ultimately, what makes us human. This is a story unlike anything youve read before.

Good Dirt

“Words have power. So does the absence of words. Sometimes, when people choose not to speak, their silence can block out the sun.”

I think I may have loved this one more than Black Cake

Summary - Good Dirt is an engrossing epic that explores how intergenerational trauma shapes and complicates family legacies and bonds.

I had read a lot of reviews that mentioned the jumping around being a negative thing but don’t let that mislead you into not reading this gem. There is jumping BUT each jump follows one family through history so there is purpose and it all falls together beautifully in the end.

Antidote

“It’s rarely the truth itself that people can’t accept. It’s now they feel about it.”

A modern day Grapes of Wrath, but better or unique?

Summary - A Dust Bowl-era novel set in the fictional town of Uz, Nebraska, that explores themes of memory, community, and the consequences of forgetting history, with a cast of characters including a “Prairie Witch,” a wheat farmer, and a photographer whose camera reveals glimpses through time.

Road to Tender Hearts

Where do I even start…

Summary - A darkly comic and warm-hearted novel about an old man on a cross-country mission to reunite with his high school crushbringing together his adult daughter, two orphaned kids, and a cat who can predict death.

The first few chapters are dark, like really dark and had I not read Harnett’s other books I may have just DNFd right then. But, because I had, I figured I’d attempt to get past the crazy setup, I also usually enjoy the road trip aspect in books so I was hopeful.

Dead Against Her

What an unexpected wild ride!

The first 20 or so percent I was unsure…a lot of the plot was getting bogged down with excessive details, so much so I had considered DNFing.

Summary - When Christa joins a tour group heading deep into the snowy expanse of the Rocky Mountains, shes hopeful this will be her chance to put the ghosts of her past to rest. But when a bitterly cold snowstorm sweeps the region, the small group is forced to take shelter in an abandoned hunting cabin. Despite the uncomfortably claustrophobic quarters and rapidly dropping temperature, Christa believes theyll be safe as they wait out the storm…

The Heart of Winter

I adored this book // Thank you @prh for an advanced listening copy.

Summary - The extraordinary new novel by Jonathan Evison, about a married couple in their golden years, from when they met across big ups, deep downs, and survive-it-all, opposites-attract love.

I love stories that showcase a marriage through the years and in this case, seventy.

I don’t know exactly why I love these types of books so much – probably because I didn’t grow up seeing what long and healthy marriages look like, none of my grandparents stayed married and both of my parents have been married multiple times.