Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For July, we’re looking at the book menus used for yesterday’s book tasting, and filling in the gaps of what hasn’t already been covered on the blog.
For this book tasting, we organized it around the summer reading theme of “Color Our World.” We also had a more elaborate setup than our initial adult book tasting in February. Then, we only had 1 table to work with in the teen section of our library. For this program, we had 5 tables and plenty of room since we held it in the United Methodist Church in town.
To that end, we had 5 menus. One for each table and 6 books per table. Attendance was capped at 20 people, so more than enough books to go around.
Table 1 was Colorful Characters. A wide range of genres were represented on this table, including historical fiction, historical true crime nonfiction, literary fiction, women’s fiction, and thriller. But what they all have in common are interesting and colorful characters.
Some of these have already been profiled on the blog–namely, Ace, Marvel, Spy; Eden Undone; and The Family Izquierdo. And Marie Benedict’s Queens of Crime will get its own blog post later this summer.
So, we will focus on the remaining two.
Sophie Beaumont’s The Paris Cooking School (2023)*
A cooking course brings together 3 very different women, as they learn about the importance of friendship, second chances, and French food. Kate and Gabi have both traveled to the course from Australia to escape personal and professional problems, while the school’s owner Sylvie battles issues of her own behind the scenes.
Recommended if you enjoy the work of Jennifer Ryan.
*Ebook and audiobook also available in Hoopla.
Alice Henderson’s A Solitude of Wolverines (2020)**
This book is the first in a series, and we have all the books in the system. They follow Alex Carter, a wildlife biologist whose scientific studies take her across the West. She finds herself embroiled in local mysteries at the same time. In the first book, her study of wolverines in Montana brings her in close contact with some less-than-supportive locals, but it’s only after numerous attempts on her life that she realizes she has stumbled upon a dangerous illegal operation.
Recommended if you enjoy the work of Peter Heller, Paige Shelton, and C.J. Box.
**Ebook and audiobook also available in Hoopla.
Table 2, meanwhile, was Colorful Stories. If the first table was character-driven, then this one was all about the plot and action. Again, there was a mix of genres. This time, it was a combo of thrillers, contemporary environmental nonfiction, horror, adventure, contemporary YA romance, and historical romance.
All of these titles have already been profiled on the blog: The Business Trip, The Crazies, The Madness, The North Line, The Rival, and What The Mountains Remember.
Table 3 shifts to Colorful Times, so it is all historical fiction and nonfiction here. However, there is a range of subgenres and settings represented. The offerings are a 1960s New England murder mystery, literary fiction with an ancient setting, nonfiction about the Old West, a romance in mid-20th-century Berlin, a novel about Korean immigrants in Hawaii after WWI, and dual-timeline magical realism.
Most of these books have already been profiled on the blog: Agony Hill, Babylonia, Bandit Heaven, The Berlin Apartment, and The Vanishing of Josephine Reynolds.
The one not yet blogged about is . . . .
Lee Guemy-yi’s The Picture Bride (2022)***
As was true of many Korean women of her generation, Willow was selected to be a bride based on her photograph and then moved halfway around the world to meet her husband for the first time. It’s 1918, and the matchmaker promises her that her husband is prominent among the Korean community in the tropical paradise of Hawaii. That’s not the only promise she is made, but only when she arrives does Willow realize none of them are true. She is left to make the best of her new life amidst the backdrop of a growing Korean independence movement that threatens to divide the community in her new home.
Recommended for those who enjoy the work of Min Jin Lee, Eugenia Kim, and Lisa See.
***Audiobook also available in Hoopla
Table 4 focused on Colorful Worlds and, thus, was a mixture of fantasy, historical fiction, contemporary fiction, and even a cookbook, with a real emphasis on titles that feature strong worldbuilding or vivid depictions of their setting. The previous table focused on time, but this one was all about place.
All of this table’s titles have already been previewed on the blog: Blood Over Bright Haven, Feast of Sorrow, This Is Happiness, Turkuaz Kitchen, We’ll Prescribe You a Cat, and Welcome to Glorious Tuga.
Our final table, Table 5, celebrated Colorful Writing. This was a mixture of titles with acclaim for their prose. It’s another mix of genres, featuring historical fiction, horror, contemporary fiction, and another cookbook.
Only 1 of these books has been previously profiled: The Magnificent Ruins.
Here are a roundup of these other titles:
Elizabeth DeLozier’s Eleanore of Avignon (2024)
In medieval Provence, Eleanore is a talented midwife with a real talent for herbal medicine. She is content to stay under the radar, but she finds herself the apprentice of the court physician and then tending to the disgraced queen when the plague comes to town. Complications ensue.
Recommended for those who enjoyed Ariel Lawhon’s The Frozen River and Anna Rasche’s The Stone Witch of Florence.
Allison Epstein’s Fagin the Thief
Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist is a beloved classic, and this new book puts a new spin on the story in retelling it from the perspective of the villain Fagin. Epstein fleshes out his backstory and vividly depicts Fagin’s life, times, and surroundings as he scratches out a living as a thief in hardscrabble Victorian London.
Recommended for those who enjoy the work of Percival Everett.
Kathleen Jennings’s Flyaway (2020)****
Flyaway blends darkly surreal horror with Australian folklore. Bettina lives in a small Western Queensland town that has a history of mysterious disappearances. Her own father and brother have vanished in the past, and a mysterious note makes her start to wonder if her memories of the events are even true.
Recommended for those who enjoy the work of Diane Setterfield and Seanan McGuire.
****Audiobook also available on Hoopla.
Nagi Maehashi’s RecipeTin Eats Dinner: 150 Recipes for Fast Everyday Meals (2023)
Thanks to Kelli for bringing Nagi and RecipeTin Eats to my attention! Nagi left a career in finance to start a food blog, and within a matter of years, she skyrocketed to fame and now is easily one of Australia’s most eminent food personalities. In her first cookbook, she offers a wide range of easy and tasty recipes that solve the question many of us find us asking every day–what’s for dinner? Nagi serves up everything from steak fajitas to BBQ pork ribs to Vietnamese chicken to Swedish meatballs, all with easy-to-follow instructions and lots of gorgeous pictures. Beyond main dishes, she also includes recipes for sides and desserts and a feature that lets you quickly find dinner ideas based on the proteins you have on hand.
Recommended for anyone looking for a cookbook for ideas on quick, flavorful meals.
Patti Callahan Henry’s The Story She Left Behind
In the 1920s, Clara suffered a terrible childhood trauma when her mother, a one-time child prodigy writer, disappears. Most of the world focuses on the loss of a cultural figure and author, but Clara simply wanted her mother back. As an adult and a mother and professional illustrator in her own right, Clara is drawn back into the mystery of her mother’s disappearance when a stranger appears, claiming to have found a dictionary of the language her mother invented for one of her books. This is a novel, but it is loosely based on the real-life disappearance of Barbara Newhall Follett, also a child prodigy author who seemingly vanished in 1939. The author also authored last year’s If All Arkansas Read the Same Book selection, The Secret Book of Flora Lea.
Recommended for those who enjoy the work of Marie Benedict and Julia Kelly.
Thanks so much to everyone who joined us for the summer book tasting, as well as the Methodist Church for allowing us to use their beautiful fellowship hall! The book tasting was a lot of fun. We look forward to seeing you at the next one!
Did you attend the book tasting? What’s your favorite new-ish books? What books are you buzzing about for 2025? Have you read any of these books? Tell us in the comments! As always, please follow this link to our online library catalog for more information on any of these items or to place them on hold.
Berryville Book Buzz 