Two great reads from 2023 begin my 2024.

Reprinted from auburnpub.com

Welcome to 2024 and a new year that means new beginnings. Many people make resolutions, and reading goals are a popular project for readers. Websites like Goodreads encourage people to set a goal for the number of books read, and you can find Reading Challenges with prompts for the different types of books to read- i.e.- Books Set in a Foreign Country, Books That Begin With a Different Letter of the Alphabet From A-Z, Books With A Flower on the Cover- you get the idea.

That can be a fun project and a way to connect with other readers, as well as a way to expand your reading choices and get out of your comfort zone.

I began 2024 with a goal to read one fiction and one nonfiction book from 2023 that was critically acclaimed. For the fiction book, I chose Amanda Peters The Berry Pickers. It tells the story of Ruthie, a four year-old Indigenous girl who disappears from a Maine orchard where her family works every harvest. 

Ruthie was sitting on a rock eating a sandwich with her older brother and then she was gone. Her family- mother, father, three older brothers and one older sister- was distraught and searched for her for weeks with no success.

The family returns to their home on Nova Scotia but they are never the same. Her mother insists that Ruthie is alive somewhere. Her brother Joe, the last one to see her before she disappeared, spirals out of control feeling guilty that he left her alone.

The family’s story is interspersed with the story of Norma, the only daughter of a couple who struggled for years trying to have a baby before Norma came along. Norma’s mother refuses to let Norma out of her sight except for school, and Norma comes to feel stifled by her lonely life.

The Berry Pickers is a beautifully written debut novel, with characters the reader cares deeply about. We feel their pain and sadness and although you know where the story is going, it is the journey that keeps you reading this wonderful book. I give it my highest recommendation. Fans of Jacqueline Mitchard’s The Deep End of the Ocean will like this one.

Rachel Maddow’s nonfiction Prequel- An American Fight Against Fascism takes the reader back to WWII. In the run-up to WWII, Adolph Hitler and the Nazi Party decide that the key to winning the war in Europe is to keep the United States out of the war. 

Many Americans were reluctant to get involved another world war far from our shores, particularly wary after the loss of life in WWI. The Nazis used that reticence to their advantage, and they stoked the divisions in American life to accomplish their goal.

The Germans used money to influence Congressmen, religious leaders, and other influential people to achieve their goal. The Nazi Party had many members in the United States, even filling Madison Square Garden with an event.

(If you read Susan Elia MacNeal’s fascinating novel Mother Daughter Traitor Spy you will be familiar with the popularity of the the Nazi Party in Los Angeles at this time.)

Maddow lays out in meticulously researched detail how the German government used antisemitic feelings in the United States to turn people against President Roosevelt and members of his government.

One of the most interesting parts of the book shows how the Germans used the franking program to spread their propaganda to the American people. Congresspeople are allowed to send mail for free to their constituents, and everything that gets read into the Congressional Record (like speeches made on the House floor) is eligible to be mailed for free.

The German government hired people to write speeches for certain Congresspeople who would then read those speeches verbatim, get them into the Congressional Record, and then mailed across the country. It was actually a direct mailing advertising company owner who figured out this scheme and blew the whistle on them.

Prequel reads like a fictional thriller yet it is reality. It’s got a suspiciously timed deadly plane crash, a trial that is part Marx Brothers movie, and an intrepid reporter who gets directly involved in the story. It resonates with current events and I’m not sure if that is frightening or reassuring.

For podcast fans, Maddow’s podcast Ultra is the companion to Prequel and also very well done. I give Prequel my highest recommendation as well. History fans will love it.

The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters- A+

Published by Catapult

Hardcover, $27, 306 pages

Prequel by Rachel Maddow- A+

Published by Crown

Hardcover, $ 32, 382 pages

A Very Punchable Face by Colin Jost

A Very Punchable Face by Colin Jost

Published by Crown ISBN 9781101906323

Hardcover, $27, 312 pages

If you know Colin Jost as the Weekend Update co-anchor for Saturday Night Live, you won't be surprised to discover that his memoir, A Very Punchable Face, is very funny. If you know that he was the head writer for SNL, you may not be surprised to know that his book is also very well written. 

I have to say I was mildly surprised to discover that A Very Punchable Face is one of the laugh-out-loud funniest books I have ever read, and I read a lot of books by funny people. The only book I laughed harder at was Justin Halpern's S*it My Dad Says.

Jost grew up on Staten Island, on a block where his extended family owned all of the houses. He didn't speak until the age of four, and when he did he said he talked like he was Carmela Soprano. He was a chubby kid, not very athletic until he took up swimming. As a lifeguard at the local beach club, he lists his seven most important duties, five of which involved monitoring the beer kegs for the members.

After getting accepted to the prestigious Regis High School in Manhattan, he took a ferry, bus and subway one and a half hours each way to get to and from school. He ends up at Harvard, where he works hard to get onto the staff of National Lampoon.

There are chapters about the seven times he got stitches, spending a semester abroad in Russia where he didn't speak Russian and his hosts didn't speak English, and his job working on a local newspaper after college.

And then he lands a job as a writer on SNL. Jost gives us some great backstage information, from his meeting with Lorne Michaels where he was unsure if he was hired (he was), a chapter on some of the memorable sketches he had a part in writing, his successful partnership with Michael Che, his co-anchor on Weekend Update, and their disasterous co-hosting of the Emmy Awards.

Some of the funniest parts of the book are his footnotes at the bottom of the pages, which contain some of his best one-liners of the book. His chapter "Why I Love My Mom" about his mom responding to 9/11 and nearly dying twice, is harrowing and a beautiful tribute that any mom would love to receive from her son.

This world can be so troubling at times, it's great to be able to pick up a book and have a laugh. I give Colin Jost's A Very Punchable Face my highest recommendation. 

The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel

The Roanoke Girls by Amy Engel
Published by Crown ISBN 9781101906668
Hardcover, $25, 274 pages

It's interesting that I read two books set in Kansas back-to-back. One, To The Stars Through Difficulties by Romalyn Tilghman, (review to follow) is about a wonderful group of small-town Kansans who band together to help each other and their community in the aftermath of a tornado in a neighboring town.

The second book, Amy Engel's The Roanoke Girls, is also set in a small town in Kansas, but with a much darker tone. Teenage Lane Roanoke moves from New York City to her grandparents' farm in Kansas following the suicide of her mother.

Lane's mother was a very sad, disturbed woman and Lane is unsure about moving from the bustle of New York to a desolate town where she knows no one. Her concerns are eased immediately when her loving, charismatic, handsome grandfather Yates Roanoke warmly welcomes Lane, telling her how happy he is that she is coming to live with them.

Lane meets her cousin Allegra, who alternates between being thrilled to have another young person living in the home with her to anger and distrust of Lane. The farm is rounded out by their grandmother Lillian, who disappears after dinner to drink, Sharon, the housekeeper/cook who is fiercely loyal to Lillian, and Charlie, the farmhand who is always lurking about at the edges.

One of the first things Lane sees is a photograph of all the Roanoke women- Yates' sisters, and his daughters, all beautiful women who all either died young or ran away. Allegra's photo is there, with a space next to her for Lane's photo.

Lane and Allegra are teenage girls and they become involved with two boys from town, something that their grandparents actively discourage. Something is off about the Roanoke farm, but Lane can't quite put her finger on it.

Years pass, and Lane returns home because Allegra has disappeared. Lane is determined to find out what happened to her and to finally confront the secrets of why all of Roanoke women either left or died.

The Roanoke Girls has a very creepy Southern Gothic feel to it, even though it is set in Kansas. People who grew up on V.C. Andrews novels and TV's Law & Order:SVU will most likely be drawn to The Roanoke Girls. The story reminded me of Laura McHugh's powerful novel The Weight of Blood, and I was not surprised to see that she blurbed the back of the book.

Thanks to TLC Tours for putting me on Amy Engels' tour. The rest of her stops are here:

Amy Engel’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Monday, March 6th: A Chick Who Reads

Tuesday, March 7th: Booksie’s Blog

Wednesday, March 8th: Bookchickdi

Thursday, March 9th: All Roads Lead to the Kitchen

Thursday, March 9th: Buried Under Books

Friday, March 10th: Not in Jersey

Monday, March 13th: Laura’s Reviews

Tuesday, March 14th: Sweet Southern Home

Wednesday, March 15th: Thoughts on This ‘n That

Thursday, March 16th: Books and Bindings

Friday, March 17th: Rebel Mommy Book Blog

Monday, March 20th: Fuelled by Fiction

Tuesday, March 21st: Kritter’s Ramblings

Tuesday, March 21st: SJ2B House of Books

Wednesday, March 22nd: Write Read Life

Thursday, March 23rd: Luxury Reading

Monday, March 27th: No More Grumpy Bookseller

Tuesday, March 28th: A Fantastical Librarian

Wednesday, March 29th: Snowdrop Dreams of Books

Wednesday, March 29th: Patricia’s Wisdom

Weekend Cooking- Food, A Love Story by Jim Gaffigan

This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food.

Food: A Love Story by Jim Gaffigan
Published by Crown Publishing, ISBN 9780804140416
Hardcover, $26, 352 pages

Jim Gaffigan is a well known stand-up comedian and actor whose biggest claim to fame is his "Hot Pockets" routine about the frozen food item eaten mostly by drunk college students and/or lazy people with a microwave.

He has written two books, Dad Is Fat, about living with his wife and five young children in a one-bedroom New York City fifth-floor walkup, and his second is Food: A Love Story, about his love affair with food.

As a stand-up comic who has traveled all over the world, Gaffigan has eaten in many restaurants. When he travels on tour, he tweets to his fans, asking them where and what he should eat. This section of the book is terrific, and in addition to being very funny, it includes wonderful tips for traveling "foodies" (a term Gaffigan disdains).

Gaffigan divides the United States into five major food areas-

• Seabugland (Northeast Coast)
• Eating BBQland (Southeast/Parts of Midwest)
• Super Bowl Sunday Foodland (Midwest/Parts of East)
• Steakland (Texas to Upper West)
• Mexican Foodland (Southwest to Texas)

He is not a big fan of seafood, especially shellfish, saving particular distaste for oysters. His discussion of barbeque, which is used as "a verb, noun, and adjective and even a potato chip" is funny and informative.

Gaffigan recounts how each city is proud of its own unique recipe for barbeque, and that in every Southern city he meets the same guy who says the same thing "Obama ate there, and you can get it shipped anywhere you want." He also mentions places that you can get great BBQ not in the South, with Syracuse, NY (Dinosaur BBQ) on that short list.

He tells a funny story about dragging his family to a gas station in Kansas City, MO to eat at Oklahoma's Joe's, where Gaffigan joined a very long line at 11am. The line was filled with "predominantly, pudgy, balding, exhausted men in their thirties and forties," all happy to be there, though if these same men were confronted with such a long line at a grocery store to get milk or diapers, they would leave the store rather than wait for such unimportant items for their family.

Another hilarious story had him following a man in Kmart, who was drinking gravy from a styrofoam cup he got in the KFC located in Kmart.  His description of the ambience of Kmart as a store that always looks like "it was just attacked by a flash mob" brought a chuckle of recognition.

Food: A Love Story, had me laughing all the way through it, and as I was reading in on the treadmill (Gaffigan would disapprove of this- exercise, I mean), my fellow exercisers would look at me as if I was a little crazy. (Note: laughing while reading on a treadmill can be dangerous. If you get doubled up with laughter, you can potentially fall. Not that that almost happened to me.)

Serious foodies may take offense, but Gaffigan is a comedian who has found his niche in poking fun of his eating habits, and most of us can find something to relate to in this humorous book. He also loves his family (I adored his section about taking each child individually to his favorite deli, Katz's), and I got some great ideas on where to eat. (And anyone who believes that Shake Shack has the best burgers in world is my kinda guy.)

If you need a good laugh, and like to eat, (which is, like, everybody) Food: A Love Story, is for you.

rating 4 of 5

In my Reading Challenge for 2015, Food: A Love Story fulfills my Funny Book selection.

The Accident by Chris Pavone

The Accident by Chris Pavone
Published by Crown Publishing ISBN 978-0-385-34845-4
Hardcover, $26, 385 pages

Chris Pavone won the Edgar Award for his first novel last year, The Expats, which I read and enjoyed. It featured Kate, a former CIA operative who moves to Europe with her husband and son and finds herself caught up in a dangerous situation that her nerdy husband created. It was a fast-paced read, with lots of twists and turns, a real page-turner.

His newest novel, The Accident, has as one of it's main characters, Hayden, a mysterious CIA operative (is there any other kind?) who worked with Kate in The Expats. (Kate makes a cameo appearance here, which is fun.)

Pavone worked in the publishing business, which plays a big role in The Accident. Isabel Reed, a literary agent, receives a mysterious manuscript at her office. It is a biography of media mogul Charlie Wolfe, one of the most powerful people on the planet, who just happens to be planning a Senate run.

The author is "Anonymous", and this person has some bombshell revelations about Mr. Wolfe, including the fact that he accidentally killed a college coed and, with his father, a deputy CIA director, and his best friend David, who was with him, got rid of the body. Oh, and he also helped the CIA destroy reputations and influence elections in other countries.

It would seem that the author is David, but David committed suicide by flying his plane into the sea after getting a terminal cancer diagnosis. But did he really die? They found the plane, but no body.

Hayden is tasked with finding the real author and retrieving every copy of the manuscript that exists. When people who have made copies of the manuscript end up dead, Isabel Reed must go on the run and try to outwit the killer.

Just like The Expats, The Accident is a real barn burner. You must be prepared to set aside enough time to read it in one sitting, because you will not be able to put it down. I find it interesting that Pavone writes such fascinating female characters, first Kate, and now Isabel, as the protagonists in his thrillers. They are the real stars of these action-packed novels.

If you are interested in the publishing world, Pavone gives you a real insider's look. I only hope that it is not as dangerous as it appears here. In his Acknowledgements, he lists many of the people who don't always get a thank you, including the sales and marketing team, and the copy editors and proofreaders at Crown Publishing, which was a nice touch.

Fans of John Grisham will enjoy Pavone's books, as they are heavy on plot twists, with a few jaw-dropping revelations that had me nearly dropping my book. I highly recommend both of Pavone's books, and was happy to see that in this book, I wasn't as confused by the ending as I was by The Expats.  I could see both of these books as films, and if they haven't been optioned yet, they should be.

rating 4 of 5

Chris Pavone's website is here.

My review of The Expats is here. 

Read an excerpt of The Accident here.

Thanks to TLC Tours for putting me on this tour. The rest of Chris Pavone's stops are here.

Monday, March 3rd:  No More Grumpy Bookseller

Monday, March 3rd:  Drey’s Library

Monday, March 3rd:  Why Girls are Weird

Wednesday, March 5th:  A Bookish Way of Life

Thursday, March 6th:  Bookish Ardour

Friday, March 7th:  She Treads Softly

Monday, March 10th:  Joyfully Retired

Tuesday, March 11th:  Bound by Words

Tuesday, March 11th:  Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Tuesday, March 11th:  Kritter’s Ramblings

Wednesday, March 12th:  Book Dilettante

Friday, March 14th:  River City Reading

Monday, March 17th:  Staircase Wit

Tuesday, March 18th:  Bookchickdi

Wednesday, March 19th:  Book-alicious Mama

Thursday, March 20th:  Chaotic Compendiums

Friday, March 21st:  Not in Jersey

Monday, March 24th:  A Bookworm’s World

Tuesday, March 25th:  Reading Reality

Wednesday, March 26th:  Bibliotica

Thursday, March 27th:  Ageless Pages Reviews

Friday, March 28th:  Patricia’s Wisdom

The Moon Sisters by Therese Walsh

The Moon Sisters by Therese Walsh

Published by Crown Publishing ISBN 978-0-307-46160-5

Hardcover, $25, 320 pages

Olivia and Jazz are adult sisters, still living at home with their parents. One day, Olivia comes home to find that her mother is dead. The question that will haunt the sisters is whether their mother died accidentally or whether she committed suicide. The gas on the stove was on, the pilot light out, the windows and doors closed.

Their father is lost in his grief, unable to help his daughters through theirs. Their father's mother, Babka, owns a bakery, where their dad works. Olivia has synesthesia, which is defined as "the stimulation of a sense other than the one receiving input; sensory areas with faulty wiring." She could smell sights- "Papa was fresh grass, the sun was Mama"-, and taste words- Mama's freckles "tasted like togetherness".  She could see sounds- "Babka's voice looked like a tumble of soft flour."

Olivia feels guilty that her mother died while she was off with a young man. Olivia had been home schooled by her mother, and they spent much of their time together. She felt like she should have seen that her mother was depressed.

And so Olivia gets it into her head that she should take her mother's ashes and scatter them in a bog where her mother had set a novel she was working on at the time of her death. The truth was, her mother had been working on this book for a very long time, but never made much progress.

As Olivia was legally blind (she looked into the sun too long and it blinded her), she couldn't drive to the bog to scatter the ashes. Jazz, who was set to start a new job at the funeral home where her mother had her services, felt forced to follow Olivia and take her to the bog.

Their car breaks down, and Olivia ends up with a group of train hoppers on a train, not knowing that Jazz has also hopped the train looking for her. Olivia falls for one of the hoppers, Hobbs, a mysterious man with markings all over his face and another man on his tail.

There are magical elements to this story, and some ghost stories, which I did not know are ubiquitous in West Virginia, where the story takes place. Along with the questions surrounding Mama's death, we have the mystery of why Hobbs is being followed by Red, a man who appears to be a bounty hunter.

The story is told alternately by Olivia and Jazz, and interspersed in the story are letters written by Mama to her father, a man who disowned his daughter and cut off all contact with her. Her letters are heartbreaking, and we get to know Beth (Mama) through these letters, as well as through Olivia and Jazz.

The sisterly relationship is the heart of the book, and Walsh really nails it. The sibling rivalry, the way they fight with and protect each other and argue and love each other will feel so real to anyone who has a sister. 

The writing is poetic, and I loved what Babka told Olivia when Olivia told her about a dream she had- "Dreams like feet better than knees". What a fantastic thing to say, and it comes up more than once in this magical, haunting novel.

Another line I liked was said about Hobbs by one of the female train hoppers- "Too bad his walls are so high up, and I'm such a lazy climber." You get the character of Hobbs right away from just that one line.  

But what Mama said really puts the point on this book: "All of life's twist and turns might be analyzed at some later date, shown to be necessary in order to arrive at some other point in the future- a point that would end up being important in a life." She believed that fate would put you wherever you needed to be.

There are some real twist and turns in the story that will knock the breath out you as you read them, and I did not see one big one coming that just made me sob. Walsh puts you through the ringer and it is an emotional ride well worth taking.

rating 4 of 5

Thanks to TLC Tours for putting me on this book tour. The rest of Therese Walsh's stops are here:

Therese Walsh’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:

Monday, March 3rd:  Lit and Life

Tuesday, March 4th:  Beth Fish Reads – “Today’s Read” guest post

Tuesday, March 4th:  Book Club Classics!

Wednesday, March 5th:  Book-a-licious Mama

Thursday, March 6th:  girlichef

Friday, March 7th:  Books in the Burbs

Monday, March 10th:  Bookchickdi

Tuesday, March 11th:  Traveling with T

Wednesday, March 12th:  Patricia’s Wisdom

Thursday, March 13th:  Book Snob

Friday, March 14th:  The Book Barn

Tuesday, March 18th:  Fiction Addict

Tuesday, March 18th:  5 Minutes for Books

Wednesday, March 19th:  Time 2 Read

Thursday, March 20th:  Bibliotica

Monday, March 24th:  Mockingbird Hill Cottage

Wednesday, March 26th:  A Novel Review

Thursday, March 27th:  A Bookish Affair

Tuesday, April 1st:  Suko’s Notebook

Wednesday, April 2nd:  A Reader of Fictions

Tuesday, April 8th:  Books a la Mode

Therese Walsh's website is here.