Whistler by Ann Patchett

It was just announced that Ann Patchett won the Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, to be officially awarded at the National Book Festival in Washington on Aug. 22. Her latest novel is titled WHISTLER and Booklist (“tale of complicated marriages, secret love, fear, fury, courage, and reconciliation”), Kirkus (“evocative and moving”), and Publishers Weekly (“one of her best”) all gave WHISTLER starred reviews. This book tells the story of Daphne, now 53, meeting her former stepfather, Eddie Triplett (now 76), by chance at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Eddie and Daphne had both wanted to be writers – he edited books for years and years and she teaches literature at a girl’s school. It takes a while for Patchett to explain the background to their surprisingly deep and affectionate relationship that was suddenly severed by Daphne’s mother after Eddie and Daphne were in a serious car accident when she was nine years old. Daphne’s Mom remarried for a third time long ago and Daphne and her sister, Leda (a psychiatrist), have two adult half-brothers. Patchett herself had an “abundance” of fathers (also three) as she wrote several years ago in The New Yorker and her collection of essays, These Precious Days.

Book groups will adore WHISTLER, filled as it is with reflections, “There is so much randomness to youth. The person assigned to share your room becomes your friend, the girl you pass on your way out the door becomes your wife, and from these random encounters our entire lives are built, four beautiful children come into the world, and they, in turn, found the people they were meant to spend their lives with.” 

Or, contemplating death: “‘It's okay,’ her father said. ‘You'll be back later.’ ‘We'll still be here,’ Jeffrey said. ‘You won't believe how fast it goes. Might as well be a minute.’ ‘You'll look after everyone?’ she asked her son. ‘No,’ he said. ‘We'll look after you.’”  And Robert Frost’s Wild Grapes: “And the life I live now’s an extra life / I can waste as I please on whom I please.”

Or, simply Patchett’s wry wit: “We write each other notes, back and forth, back and forth. It's like texting for people with large collections of stationery.” Ann Patchett is the narrator for the audio book version of WHISTLER and she does an excellent job, gently evoking the characters and their complex emotions.

Good Joy, Bad Joy by Mikki Brammer

GOOD JOY, BAD JOY by Mikki Brammer (The Collected Regrets of Clover) introduces readers to Joy Bridport, someone who at first seems truly too good to be true. Joy invariably looks on the bright side, gives others the benefit of the doubt, and sacrifices her own needs to help others. Her life, however, gets turned upside down (look at that cover!) when she learns that her best friend of eighty years, Hazel, has terminal cancer. Brammer shares Joy’s innermost thoughts about her parents’ values, her troubled relationship with her own daughter (Elizabeth) and grandson Finn, as well as a new friendship with Rowan, a neighbor recently released from jail. Joy starts to take some risks, and the lack of consequences will have readers nodding in agreement about how older women often are invisible. GOOD JOY, BAD JOY is a rather sad story and while Joy grows, it can be a difficult read emotionally. Like “good” Joy, Booklist describes this novel more positively as “a heartwarming, poignant story of self-discovery and hope.” Book groups will find much to discuss.

Mrs. Christie at the Mystery Guild Library

MRS. CHRISTIE AT THE MYSTERY GUILD LIBRARY by Amanda Chapman is my new favorite book of the year. It is a very cleverly written mystery and features an appearance by Agatha Christie as she returns from “eternity” to solve a murder in current day New York City. Her fellow sleuths include Tory Van Dyne, a young book conservator who is coming to terms with her own past trauma. Tory’s voice (and the self-reflections to which readers are privy) is fun, observant, and somewhat self-deprecating. She is a very appealing character as is her ditzy actress cousin, Nicola (“exactly what you would imagine a grown-up Eloise would be like”). There is also her steadfast co-worker (Adrian Gooding), an 11-year-old neighbor from Ireland (Mairead – like parade), and Detective Sebastian Mendez-Cruz, all of whom contribute to solving the intricate, puzzling mystery with its multiple suspects and unexpected twists. Sebastian (a “man with the eyes of a sad saint”) provides a slowly building romantic interest which adds to the humor, but the best part of this novel is the way in which Chapman skillfully incorporates quotes from numerous works by Christie. Several are included as chapter introductions, but the author often had me smiling at the many others which are inserted almost seamlessly in the witty dialogue. MRS. CHRISTIE AT THE MYSTERY GUILD LIBRARY received a starred review from Library Journal (“a real treat for any Christie fan”) and Publishers Weekly (“Uncovering a killer, it turns out, can be just as fun in the Big Apple as it is in St. Mary Mead.”). Highly recommended. 

In her Author’s Note, Amanda Chapman recommends reading Lucy Worsley’s biography and John Curran’s Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks, saying of Agatha Christie, “I imagined I could almost hear her voice in my head as I began to write -- a bit reserved but warm, quietly confident and often very, very funny.”

Hazel Says No by Jessica Berger Gross

HAZEL SAYS NO by Jessica Berger Gross is certainly a roller coaster of a read. Set in Riverburg Maine, the novel features a family transplanted from Brooklyn: high school senior Hazel Greenberg Blum; her middle school brother, Wolf, who loves to act; professor and frustrated writer Dad named Gus; and Claire, fashion designer Mom. Settling in over the summer, things seem to be going well, but during the first day of school Hazel is propositioned by the high school principal and that event sets off a cascade of reactions. There’s plenty of hate mail and self-questioning; shunning of both kids; parenting crises and career angst for Gus and Claire… and then (that roller coaster) … media interest, trips to New York, local support, and new friends. The audiobook, excellently narrated by Emma Galvin, captures the shock, the sadness, the anger, the self-doubt, the creativity, the joy, the relief… This debut novel deftly explores societal themes (#MeToo; white privilege, antisemitism, small town insularity) while telling a coming-of-age story – mostly for Hazel, but for her parents and younger brother, too, as they all mature and change. In fact, Berger Gross makes the point rather obviously: “it was Wolf’s big monologue [in Charlotte’s Web] and he remembered, he FELT every word: Whatever will happen, will happen. I may not live as long as I'd like, but I've lived very well. A good life is much more important than just having a long life. So starting now, I'm going to stop worrying about myself. There are more important things than just thinking about yourself all the time.” HAZEL SAYS NO could be triggering; it contains some difficult moments and sensitive content; this title received a starred review from Booklist. 

Hazel's reading list:  “Remembering how good reading made her feel - grounded and alive. She’d read as much as she could before college. Virginia Woolf and bell hooks. Jhumpa Lahiri and Lauren Groff. Celeste Ng and Lorrie Moore, Curtis Sittenfeld and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Elena Ferrante and Sheila Heti and Min Jin Lee and Jennifer Egan and more Zadie Smith.” 

The Lost Passenger by Frances Quinn

THE LOST PASSENGER by Frances Quinn is a work of historical fiction set primarily from 1910 to 1916 and features a young woman named Elinor Hayward whose father, a self-made man, is known in the Manchester area of England as the “cotton king.” After a brief courtship, Elinor marries a local aristocrat, Frederick Coombes. She learns too late that the Coombes family wanted her money for their estate and the only way she can stay in their good graces and have time with their heir, her young son Teddy, is to submit to disheartening efforts to mold her in their image. Thus, she is excited for the brief respite of a trip with her father, Frederick, and Teddy on the Titanic’s maiden voyage. That disaster, confusion, and huge loss of life give Elinor and Teddy a chance to disappear in New York and “find” a new family amongst the diverse immigrants there as Elinor assumes a new identity and learns new survival skills. [Swedish proverb: “You cannot prevent the birds of sadness from flying over your head, but you can stop them from nesting in your hair.”] THE LOST PASSENGER, billed as “the U.S. debut of an acclaimed British novelist,” made me think about another British author, Barbara Taylor Bradford, and her Harte family saga which began with the publication of A Woman of Substance over 45 years ago in 1979. That title is also a captivating story of a young, resilient woman who takes advantages of opportunities and makes a new life for herself. 

The Note by Alafair Burke

THE NOTE by Alafair Burke is a dark, suspenseful mystery which merited a LibraryReads selection for January 2025. Three friends, May, Kelsey, and Lauren are at the center of the story. Each has been previously involved in a scandal. Half-Chinese, half-white lawyer May became known as “Asian DA Karen” after a viral video. Kelsey (white, wealthy, and spoiled) is infamous as a murder suspect due to the shooting death of her husband. And Lauren, a gifted Black musician, has struggled for professional recognition after her long-standing affair with a married donor was made public. Suddenly there is another disappearance during their Hamptons vacation reunion, and they are increasingly under suspicion by the local police. Their friendship comes under strain while Burke supplies numerous twists that keep the pace hopping and readers guessing about more than one murder.   

The Twelve Days of Dash & Lily

THE TWELVE DAYS OF DASH & LILY by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan (Dash & Lily’s Book of Dares) is meant to be a romantic holiday interlude. Dash is his charming self, if a bit troubled by Lily’s withdrawal… and poor Lily: her grandfather has had numerous health problems and she has lost her ability to appreciate the wonder of Christmas. I missed Lily’s joie de vivre while admiring Dash’s willingness to be there for her. Still, the dialogue here is entertaining and the characters (especially after watching Netflix’s Dash & Lily) seem like family. The issues deepen, too, as these teens mature and learn more about themselves, each other, and their relationship. Readers will be rooting for them and, like me, looking forward to the next book in the series: Dash & Lily Mind the Gap.

By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult

BY ANY OTHER NAME by Jodi Picoult tells the story – in different time periods – of two women writers, real life Emilia Bassano, a contemporary of William Shakespeare, and her fictional descendant Melanie Green, a modern playwright. Both struggle for recognition and combat the many prejudices against female writers. In fact, Melanie’s fellow playwright, a young black man named Andre, submits her play (about Emilia Bassano) to a contest and then must pretend to be Mel Green so as to get the play produced. Also bending to society’s dictates, Emilia’s life is one of proximity to the court of Elizabeth I as she (at age 13) becomes mistress to the Lord Chamberlin. Once pregnant, she experiences an unhappy marriage with a cousin and eventually, per Picoult’s telling, writes plays long attributed to William Shakespeare. Although given Emilia’s situation there are a number of sex scenes, Picoult’s many fans will appreciate the details of daily life in Elizabethan England as well as her exploration of the sacrifices women must make so that their voices can be heard. BY ANY OTHER NAME received a starred review from Booklist and was named to the LibraryReads Hall of Fame selections for August.

I recently read FOOLS AND MORTALS by Bernard Cornwell which is also set in Shakespeare’s time and tells the tale of his younger brother, Richard. Our book club agreed that the opening in this novel was too slow and that while the mystery surrounding stolen plays was diverting, we would recommend other works by Cornwell instead.

The Loves of Theodore Roosevelt by Edward F. O'Keefe

THE LOVES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT is a new book in which Edward F. O'Keefe chooses to tell the story of this influential President by focusing on five women who greatly shaped him.  First, there is Roosevelt’s mother, Mittie, a resilient Southern belle transplanted to New York and living there during the American Civil War. Two sisters, nicknamed Bamie and Conie, were sources of strength during his childhood illnesses and also surprising sources of political advice throughout his career. It is said of Bamie that had she been a man, she would have been President instead of TR. And then there are Roosevelt’s two wives. Alice, who died tragically at twenty-two just days after giving birth to their first child, is portrayed in part through correspondence in newly found love letters which O’Keefe discovered when researching this text. TR’s second wife, Edith Kermit Carow, is often credited with developing the role of America’s First Lady and noted for her ability to guide TR without him realizing it.

O’Keefe also reflects on the ways in which Roosevelt’s time parallels our own:  massive technology changes (e.g., airplanes, driving in cars, electricity), plus evolution from an agrarian to more industrial society, accompanied by a wave of immigration, debates on rights for women, and resulting effects on cultural norms. Readers will enjoy this text because of - and despite - its brimming with obscure facts and details. The length (over 460 pages) may be a bit daunting as well. However, O’Keefe clearly admires Roosevelt and this unique perspective is a labor of love, adding to the stellar writing by historians like Edmund Morris and David McCullough.  An interview with the author is available from PBS NewsHour:

Private Equity by Carrie Sun

PRIVATE EQUITY by Carrie Sun is a memoir from a young MIT alumna about her career in high finance. If you know anyone in this business, you have heard the stories and the media regularly publishes tales of burnout and the difficult culture, especially for young women in tech and finance There's a strange feeling - both happy and sad and mixed with disbelief - when you finish this book-length memoir. Carrie Sun begins this story when she is in her late 20s and interviewing for a job with an investment firm as a personal assistant to one of the principals. That in itself is an amazing process, conducted over multiple days and requiring nearly a dozen reference calls. Even her recruiter calls it “by far the most intense search he had ever worked on.” Honestly, I would have stopped well before she did, but she persists, ultimately struggling with the workload and burns out.  This is a tough, tough business and that is the reaction I had when I mentioned this text to people: “oh, it's going to be a hard read.” Yes, but it was also looking at a culture or a world that seems glamorous (all those catered lunches!) from the outside and then being better able to appreciate the expectations, the very long hours, and the striving. Kirkus describes PRIVATE EQUITY as “a measured account of how soul-devouring the corporate world is …. a useful cautionary tale...” Vogue named it one of the best books of 2024 so far.  Sun dedicates the text to “my mother, my father, and all those who have the courage to quit.”