This year, our theme at the library is What A Wonderful World. We’re focusing on a different color for each month, and June’s is promising pink. To that end, we’re highlighting books at the library with that color (or something close to it) on the cover!
Continue reading “What A Wonderful World: June”Category: suspense (books)
Romy Hausmann’s Dear Child (2020)
Carol Ann has given me a lot of great book recommendations over the years, so I was immediately intrigued when she recommended this recent German suspense novel to me. The premise–that the story of an abduction doesn’t really start until after the victim has escaped–was an unusual one, and I was excited to give the book a try. And I’m so glad I did! It’s an excellent book. Thanks so much for another great recommendation, Carol Ann!
Continue reading “Romy Hausmann’s Dear Child (2020)”Book Buzz: Neuroscience Researchers, Strange Train Encounters, Magical Boarding Schools (No–Not That One), and Naval Military History
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For March, we’re looking at a searing fictional examination of addiction and grief, a new suspense novel, a new series about magic school shenanigans, and an audiobook history of how Allied forces defeated the German navy during WWII.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Neuroscience Researchers, Strange Train Encounters, Magical Boarding Schools (No–Not That One), and Naval Military History”What a Wonderful World: March
This year, our theme at the library is What A Wonderful World. We’re focusing on a different color for each month, and March’s is chill blue. To that end, we’re highlighting books at the library with that color (or something close to it) on the cover!
Continue reading “What a Wonderful World: March”What a Wonderful World: February
This year, our theme at the library is What A Wonderful World. We’re focusing on a different color for each month, and February’s is gold dust. To that end, we’re highlighting books at the library with that color (or something close to it ) on the cover!
Continue reading “What a Wonderful World: February”Book Buzz: Bad Days, Orc Princesses, and Cold Cases
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. Usually, I profile a sample of various random new books, but this time around, I noticed 3 books that are all the first in a series, and the summer is as good a time as any to try a new series. Starting a new one might be a wiser move than what I’m doing–rereading an old favorite (George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire . . . because I like to suffer. 😉 )
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Liane Moriarty’s Nine Perfect Strangers (2018)
I’ve been meaning to read Liane Moriarty for awhile. Her books seem right up my alley, so to speak, and Mary-Esther recently suggested that I give Moriarty’s most recent book a try. Since I was home sick for a protracted amount of time, I thought, “What better way to feel better about myself than reading about somebody else’s hellish experience at a health resort?”
And although the book did not, in point of fact, heal me of my own bronchitis, it was a wonderfully engaging page-turner–one I enjoyed very much. So much so that I’ve already requested a bunch of Moriarty’s other books from the library.
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Book Buzz: Featured Creatures, Suspense, and Rake Thieves
Every month, we’re profiling new-ish releases that are getting critical and commercial buzz. For December, we’re looking at an unusual, animal-centric memoir; a pulse-stopping suspense novel; and a hilarious ode to the quirks of families.
Continue reading “Book Buzz: Featured Creatures, Suspense, and Rake Thieves”
Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca (1938)
Asking people about which book they’d select for the Great American Read has been an fascinating exercise in armchair psychology this past few months–at least for me. Some folks have an immediate answer while others take some real time thinking it through.
Put me down as one in the thinking category. I couldn’t even pick 1! I finally narrowed my picks down to 3, but that was only after coming up with some perimeters to consider and pondering whether or not it should reflect personal favorites or some grand statement about the best/most influential American novel and resonant themes in American literature. (Gotta put that English degree to work every now and then.)
But, truth be told, if I were just picking one book solely on personal enjoyment, it would probably have to be Daphne Du Maurier’s Rebecca.
From Page to Screen: The Girl on the Train
Rachel Watson has, to put it mildly, seen better days.
An unstable alcoholic who is prone to blackouts, she no longer has a husband, job, or home. Instead, she’s reduced to living with a friend and spending her days riding the train because she has nothing better to do with her time. She distracts herself by watching a couple who live in a house next to the railway track.
As she rides by every day, she crafts a story in her head about this seemingly perfect couple. She gives them names and occupations and hobbies. And, yes, that’s as creepy as it sounds. This unhinged respite from her own troubled life is shaken one day when she rides by and sees something that shatters the illusions she has created in her own imagination.
Even more worryingly, she learns soon that the woman who lives in the house has disappeared. Rachel starts to suspect that she may know more about the case than she realizes, but she can’t remember anything. Complications ensue.
Continue reading “From Page to Screen: The Girl on the Train”
Berryville Book Buzz 