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Book Review: White Houses by Amy Bloom | Book Club Mom
White HousesbyAmy Bloom I’m always drawn to historical fiction and because I didn’t know a lot about Eleanor Roosevelt, other than general knowledge of her as First Lady to Franklin D. Roosevelt and as a strong proponent of human rights, I downloaded this one from my library. In White Houses, the author looks at Eleanor’s…
Celebrating Women’s History month with Helen Keller: The Story of My Life | Book Club Mom
March is Women's History Month and today I'm sharing Helen Keller's excellent memoir. Helen Keller was a remarkable person who persevered through incredible difficulties. You can find this book for free on gutenberg.org. Helen Keller: The Story of My Life If you grew up in the United States, you very likely learned about Helen Keller…
Book Review: Mennonite Daughter: The Story of a Plain Girl by Marian Longenecker Beaman | Book Club Mom
Mennonite DaughterThe Story of a Plain GirlbyMarian Longenecker Beaman I really enjoyed this coming-of-age memoir about the challenges of growing up as a Plain Mennonite girl in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania during the 1950s and 60s. In this context, plain means a “lack of adornment: a prayer covering and simple dress patterns in subdued colors. No…
Book Review: The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen | Book Club Mom
The SympathizerbyViet Thanh Nguyen I don’t think I’ve read another book with a character as conflicted as the unnamed narrator in The Sympathizer, a young Vietnamese man who works for the secret police to identify Communists in South Vietnam, who is also a double agent reporting to the Communist party. The story is set in…
Book Club Mom’s Blogging Survey Results | Book Club Mom
Thank you to everyone who completed my Blogging Survey! I appreciate the time you took to tell me about your blogging experiences. I received 33 anonymous responses from a variety of different blogs and I’m going to try to summarize the results here: What type of blog do you have? I've condensed these into the…
Book review: The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon | Book Club Mom
The Frozen RiverbyAriel Lawhon I love when I read a book that leads me to looking things up after I’ve finished and this was a good one for that! The Frozen River, is an historical fiction that begins with the discovery of a body frozen into Maine’s Kennebec River and is based on the thirty-year-long…
Five suspenseful wintry reads for winter days…and nights | Book Club Mom
It's snowy outside and tonight I'm under a blanket on my couch. What better time to read something gripping! Here are five suspenseful wintry reads that I liked. Maybe you will too! Five Total Strangers by Natalie D. Richards: This Young Adult thriller is just as good or better than many of the adult thrillers…
Book Review: Same As It Ever Was by Claire Lombardo | Book Club Mom
Same As It Ever WasbyClaire Lombardo I seem to be reading a lot of family dramas lately! With this one, I was on the hold list at the library for a long time, so when it became available, I downloaded it right away, not remembering exactly why I’d selected it. I definitely liked the cover!…
Grammar check – sympathy and empathy: what’s the difference? | Book Club Mom
I don’t know about you, but I can always use a refresher on words and grammar. Do you sympathize with me? Maybe you empathize too! So what’s the difference between sympathy and empathy? According to merriam-webster.com: Sympathy and empathy both involve feelings of concern for someone, but empathy goes beyond a feeling of concern to…
Book Review: Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger | Book Club Mom
Ordinary GracebyWilliam Kent Krueger I loved this literary mystery set in 1961 in the small town of New Bremen, Minnesota. It’s also a coming-of-age story about thirteen-year-old Frank Drum, who, after four deaths that summer, learns hard truths about a community in which the simplicities and wholesomeness of small-town life during the early sixties promised.…
You still have time to respond to my blogging survey – tell me about your blogging experience! | Book Club Mom
I'm conducting a survey about blogging and would love to hear about your experience. From the basics to the highs and lows and what you do to get out of a slump. I'm planning to share these results in a later post. No personal information is collected and all responses are anonymous. This is a…
Book Review: The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson | Book Club Mom
The Devil in the White CitybyErik Larson I’ve read some excellent historical nonfiction books over the years and The Devil in the White City, which also fits into the true crime genre, is another great one. First published in 2003, Larson tells the story of Chicago’s World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, and includes two subplots,…
Reading preferences? I’m all over the place! | Book Club Mom
I never have a quick answer when someone asks me what types of books I read. Isn’t that weird? I mean, I read a lot and I work in a library so books are everywhere for me. I should be ready with an answer. I know people who are loyal to one genre. Some mostly…
Book Club Mom’s blogging survey – tell me about your blogging experience! | Book Club Mom
Hi Everyone, I hope you're all having a nice weekend! I'm conducting a survey about blogging and would love to hear about your experience. From the basics to the highs and lows and what you do to get out of a slump. I'm hoping to share these results in a later post. No personal information…
Blogging: looking back and looking forward | Book Club Mom
You might have noticed that my blog changed this year. It wasn’t deliberate. And now when I think about it, in my eleventh year of blogging, dare I say it? My interest waned. But why? It wasn’t one thing. I still read a lot of books this year, so my interest in reading hasn’t changed.…
Book Review: Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner | Book Club Mom
Long Island CompromisebyTaffy Brodesser-Akner I really enjoyed this family saga about a wealthy Jewish-American family from Long Island. The story begins in 1980 on the morning Carl Fletcher, an executive at the family-owned packing business, is kidnapped from his driveway. Although Carl survives, the impact of this trauma ripples through the family’s lives. Forty years…
Book Club Mom’s Best Books of 2024 | Book Club Mom
I read a lot of great books this year! Here are all my 5, 4.5, and 4-star reads: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Wager by David GrannThe Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBrideOld Yeller by Fred GipsonSomething Wicked This Way Comes by Ray BradburyPachinko by Min Jin LeeThe God of the Woods by Liz Moore ⭐⭐⭐⭐…
Book Review: An Unwanted Guest by Shari Lapena | Book Club Mom
An Unwanted GuestbyShari Lapena The best kind of book between Christmas and the New Year is the kind you can mindlessly escape into, but one that also has a good suspenseful plot, with interesting characters and clever twists. After a busy Christmas and lead-up, An Unwanted Guest was a perfect choice for me. Lapena loosely…
Book Review: The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst | Book Club Mom
The Line of BeautybyAlan Hollinghurst I selected this book because I found it on the New York Times 100 Best Books of the 21st Century where it ranks at 32. Published in 2004, the book won the Man Booker Prize. It was available as an eBook at the library so I downloaded and settled in.…
Book Review: The Likeness by Tana French | Book Club Mom
The LikenessbyTana French I didn’t think this was going to be a long book because my paperback version was not too thick, but once I opened it up, I saw that the print was dense and the margins were a little smaller than usual. At 466 pages, I still thought I could easily read it…
How’s it going with my piano lessons? Find out on my latest YouTube! | Book Club Mom
Hey Everyone, I've been taking piano lessons for three months. They're hard! Find out my bad habits, what I've learned, and what I'm struggling with. And watch me play a Mozart Sonata (at half speed - will I ever get to full speed?) https://youtu.be/3vbDQyAWvdQ Thanks for visiting—come back soon!
When you talk books at a doctor’s appointment | Book Club Mom
While I was at a routine screening today, I got talking to the technician who asked me about my job. When she heard I was a librarian, she asked me if I had read anything good lately. We talked about a couple books, then she recommended two I haven't read. They're both historical fiction set…
Book Review: The Last Pilgrim by Noelle Granger – historical novel about the last surviving passenger of the Mayflower! | Book Club Mom
Hi Everyone, today I'm sharing a review of a book I read in 2020. The Last Pilgrim - The Life of Mary Allerton Cushman by Noelle Granger - is an excellent historical novel about the last surviving passenger of the Mayflower. I hope you'll take a look! The Last PilgrimbyNoelle Granger ★★★★ I’ve always been…
Book Review: Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick | Book Club Mom
MayflowerbyNathaniel Philbrick Do you think you know all about the Mayflower? Check out Nathaniel Philbrick's comprehensive and scholarly account that begins with Mayflower’s voyage in 1620 and ends with the conclusion of King Philip’s War in 1676. These 102 Separatists and Non-Separatists struggled to survive when they arrived in Plymouth and did anything they could…
Book Review: The Word Is Murder by Anthony Horowitz | Book Club Mom
The Word Is MurderbyAnthony Horowitz Here’s an interesting start to a mystery series in which the author plays himself as a character. The Word Is Murder is the first of five books in the Hawthorne and Horowitz series about a disgraced and difficult ex-detective who teams up with Horowitz to write a crime book. Years…
Reading, reading, reading! | Book Club Mom
I mentioned yesterday that I've been reading a lot. In fact, I read a monster book that I haven't review yet. And right now, I'm reading two books at the same time. The first one is another monster book and I had to put it on hold so I could read my Whodunits mystery book…
Blogging update: what’s new with me? | Book Club Mom
Hi Everyone, As always, I'm juggling blogging with work and life and lately, I never seem to have enough time to do it all! But I'm still plodding along. I miss being on the blog and visiting everyone every day. I'm trying to move back to that so I hope you'll be patient with me.…
Book Review: Society of Lies by Lauren Ling Brown | Book Club Mom
Society of LiesbyLauren Ling Brown ★★★ My new book club’s selection for next month is Society of Lies, Lauren Ling Brown’s debut mystery/thriller set on the campus of Princeton University. The story focuses on two sisters, Maya and Naomi. Maya, ten years older, has returned for both her reunion and Naomi’s graduation. What should have…
Book Review: The Fiction Writer by Jillian Cantor | Book Club Mom
The Fiction WriterbyJillian Cantor ★★★ I picked this thriller on a whim because I liked the cover, the classic mansion on top of a cliff. How could I resist? I love stories with settings like this. In this case, the mansion is a modern one in Malibu and the story is a multi-layered retelling of…
Book Review: The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware | Book Club Mom
The Turn of the KeybyRuth Ware If you’re looking for a good scary read for the Halloween season, check out The Turn of the Key by Ruth Ware. I’ve read three other books by Ware (see bottom of post) and this is by far creepier and scarier than the others! I love any story that…
I’m so behind on my book reviews! Here are 3: The Lies I Tell by Julie Clark, One Two Three by Laurie Frankel and How To Be Eaten by Maria Adelman | Book Club Mom
Hey Everyone, I’m so behind on my book reviews, and have already started a new book, so before I forget what they were all about, here are three shorter reviews! The Lies I Tell by Julie Clark I started this thriller on the fly while I was waiting to get called for a doctor’s appointment.…
Classic gothic fiction – so many books I didn’t know about! | Book Club Mom
I recently went down the rabbit hole to explore gothic fiction. Before I began, a few things came to mind: haunted houses and castles, hints of the supernatural, romance, dark imagery, death, and all the descriptors on the above graphic. Here’s what I else found out! Characterized by mystery and terror, the genre took shape…
Book Review: Case Histories by Kate Atkinson | Book Club Mom
Case HistoriesbyKate Atkinson You might know that I usually prefer to read stand-alone books because I don’t like the idea of committing to a bunch of books in a series, but I’m taking an exception here. I recently read Case Histories, which was first published twenty years ago. I selected it for our mystery book…
Book review: The God of the Woods by Liz Moore | Book Club Mom
The God of the WoodsbyLiz Moore Here’s another winner, a great atmospheric mystery about Barbara Van Laar, a thirteen-year-old camper who goes missing, fourteen years after her eight-year-old brother, Bear disappeared on the same campgrounds. Set in the Adirondacks in New York, the story begins in 1975 on the morning of Barbara’s disappearance. As the…
End of summer means time for a fall reading list! | Book Club Mom
I’ve always liked the end of the summer. Now I know summer isn’t really over...yet, but this morning, I loaded up my Kindle with some interesting books, and put holds on a bunch of books I want to read. I’ll have plenty to keep me busy while I wait. Now it will just be a…
Book Review: Pachinko by Min Jin Lee | Book Club Mom
PachinkobyMin Jin Lee I don’t know what took me so long to read this fantastic family saga, spanning eighty years and following three generations of a Korean family in Japanese-occupied Korea and Japan. The story begins in 1910, in a small fishing village in South Korea, with Hoonie and Yangjin. Yangjin was just fifteen when…
Who’s That Indie Author? T. W. Dittmer | Book Club Mom
T. W. Dittmer Name: T. W. Dittmer Book Titles: The Valley Walker and Five-Toed Tigress Genre: Mystical Thrillers Tell us about yourself. My full name is Timothy Watson Dittmer. My friends call me Tim. I was raised in Gary, Indiana, the son of a steel worker who turned to preaching the Gospel. After high school…
Book Review: The Block Party by Jamie Day | Book Club Mom
The Block PartybyJamie Day Back in the early 2000s, I became a fan of the TV show, Desperate Housewives. As I browsed for something new to read, I chose The Block Party because the premise reminded me of the ladies on Wisteria Lane. The story is both a murder mystery and a juicy drama, featuring…