Melanie McNair Selections
This February, I plan to celebrate the love that carries us through the disappointments and failures of romantic love. Friendships constitute some of the most central relationships in life, and yet they have no special day on the calendar.
Hanya Yanagihara’s novel A Little Life, now out in paperback, beautifully illuminates the powerful and lasting love of these relationships. The novel follows four young men, roommates at an elite college who move to New York city to establish their careers, through decades of highs and lows. It is not an easy read, but one whose characters will remain with you long after you put it down.
For a celebration of female friendship, turn to the wildly successful Neapolitan series by Elena Ferrante beginning with My Brilliant Friend. These too take you through decades and have the added benefit of bringing some Mediterranean sun into the long February nights.
Caroline Christopoulos Selections
The House at Riverton by Kate Morton is a beautiful, romantic work of historical fiction. This book is set in the early part of the 20th century in England right as that country’s social mores are being overturned by the first World War – we see the action through the eyes of a house maid in a truly upstairs/downstairs work. You will love Grace, you will love the family she so dutifully serves in this wonderfully written page turner of a tragic love story!
The Beekeeper’s Apprentice by Laurie R. King is a romp of a mystery story featuring the fabulous, strong willed genius Mary Russell with her equally fabulous and strong willed mentor Sherlock Holmes. The first in a series of books featuring these two characters, The Beekeeper’s Apprentice will have you loving both of these oddballs from the start. I can’t wait to read the next one!
The Truth About The Harry Quebert Affair by Joel Dicker is a thoroughly engrossing mystery about a young writer who believes his beloved mentor Harry Quebert has been wrongly accused of a grisly murder…what happens when our hero plunges into the community to dig up the truth will have you questioning everyone’s innocence! This is a book that I could not put down – my favorite mystery since the Robert Galbraith trilogy!
The Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith. The third in the series of Cormoran Strike books by Robert Galbraith (aka J.K. Rowling) is fantastic! I adore Cormoran and Robin – like Harry Potter and Hermione Grainger, they make a very strong pair bringing their respective talents to the table to solve each gruesome mystery. This time Galbraith gets us really into the mind of the killer in a new narrative twist. The Career of Evil will have you shivering – but in the end, you won’t be able to wait for the next installment!
Hannah Richardson Selections
We’ve all been there, sitting in bed at some wildly unholy hour with a book in one hand and a computer screen open on our laps as we peruse last minute flights to whatever country/city/town we have just fallen in (literary) love with.
In the morning we sometimes regret it (“Did I really just purchase a flight to Limerick in mid-February courtesy Angela’s Ashes!?”), but it’s hard to turn down new love, especially when it comes in the form of vast landscapes, colorful markets and seaside towns that smell like marsh water.
I unabashedly admit that while I often find companionship in a book’s characters, I more often than not fall head-over-heels for where they live, be it Mumbai, India or Monhegan Island, Maine. Much like I am a sucker for certain actors, I have almost no control when it comes to a book with a strong sense of place, the more rural the better.
That said, here is a list of books that have almost had me packing my bags.
- Miss Rumphius, Barbara Cooney
- Lakota Woman, Mary Crow Dog
- Solo: On Her Own Adventure, Susan Fox Rogers
- Animal Dreams, Barbara Kingsolver
- The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy
- Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe
- Wild, Cheryl Strayd
- Cutting for Stone, Abraham Verhese
- Tales of the City, Armistead Maupin
Kaia’s Selections
For Younger Readers (or for the Young at Heart!)
Full Cicada Moon by Marilyn Hilton – It’s 1969 and Mimi Oliver has moved to a new town much less accepting of her half Japanese, half Black roots. Life through her eyes, in verse. A poetic masterpiece for tweens and teens. Rating: A Favorite
The Marvels by Brian Selznick – A future classic told through pictures and words. Full of plot twists and mystery. Follow Joseph as he unravels the secrets of his own family history and that of The Marvels. A story within a story for tweens and teens. Rating: Obsessed with this Book
Recommended for tweens and teens – Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass by Louis Carroll.