Two of the Best Reads of 2023

Reprinted from auburnpub.com:

This month’s Book Report has two books that are among my favorites of all 2023.


Tracey Lange’s debut novel, We Are The Brennans was a Book of the Month Club pick from 2021, and her second novel The Connellys of County Down was recently chosen  too.

The Connellys of County Down opens as Tara Connelly is being released after eighteen months in prison for a drug conviction. When her brother doesn’t show up to pick her up, she is surprised by the cop who arrested her.


Tara’s arrest never sat right with Detective Brian Nolan. He never understood why she refused to give evidence against Roland Shea, the drug dealer he and his uncle and mentor were after. He didn’t believe that Tara was a drug runner, his gut told him something else was going on.


Brian gives a reluctant Tara a ride home, but where was her brother and sister? Tara moved back to the home she shared with her older sister Geraldine, an accountant for a local construction company. Geri raised Tara and her brother Eddie after their mother died and their father abandoned them.


Eddie is a single dad to Conor, who adores Tara. Eddie had a brain injury years ago and still suffers from the aftereffects, including debilitating migraines. Geri seems wary of Tara, and relegates her to the dusty attic bedroom when Tara returns.


Going back to her job teaching art in a Catholic school is impossible, and the only job Tara can get is working for two young gamers trying to go viral. It’s minimum wage, but Tara grows to like the young men.


Geri is clearly struggling with something, Eddie continues to deal with his injury, and Tara tries mightily to keep her family together and rebuild her life. The story of this family pulled me right in, the characters seem like people you would meet in real life. Lange does a good job as she keeps the reader guessing as to the real story behind Tara’s arrest. I highly recommend The Connellys of County Down for anyone who loves a good family story.


Ann Patchett has written many excellent books, and her latest, Tom Lake, might just be her best yet. As Lara, her husband, and three adult daughters- Emily, Nell and Maisie- head out into their orchard to pick cherries for the harvest, the girls ask Lara to recount the time she dated famous actor Peter Duke. 

Lara tells her story, beginning with her playing Emily in her community’s production of “Our Town” when she was in high school. She was so good, it led to Lara going to Hollywood to act in a big-time movie.


After filming the movie, she went to a small town in Michigan called Tom Lake to act in summer stock. It was there she met Peter Duke, and they became lovers. Peter had great ambitions to be a famous actor and he had the talent. Their affair burned bright, and Patchett recounts Lara’s time in Tom Lake so vividly you feel like you are right inside the story.


Lara’s daughters parse every morsel of her story, questioning any small differences from previous retellings of the story. Every character is so precisely drawn, we get to know all of them- from Emily, the eldest who is destined to inherit the family farm and marry the boy next door, to Maisie, studying to be a veterinarian and helping the neighbors with their animals, to Nell, who wants to be an actress.


The setting of the story in the orchard during the pandemic hits all the right notes about how we felt during that time. We tend not to think about our parents' lives before we existed, and Tom Lake may make you wonder.


This passage by Lara really sings and I will end with it:


“There is no explaining this simple truth about life: you will forget much of it. The painful things you were certain you’d never be able to let go? Now you’re not entirely sure when they happened, and the thrilling parts, the heart-stopping joys, splintered and scattered and became something else. Memories are then replaced by different joys and larger sorrows, and unbelieveably those get knocked aside as well, until one morning you’re picking cherries with your three grown daughters and your husband goes by on the Gator and you are positive that this is all you’ve ever wanted in the world.”


The Connellys of County Down by Tracey Lange- A+

Published by Celadon Books

Hardcover, $28.99, 272 pages


Tom Lake by Ann Patchett- A+

Published by Harper

Hardcover, $30, 309 pages

The Cold Millions by Jess Walter

The Cold Millions by Jess Walters

Published by Harper ISBN 9780062868084

Hardcover, $28.99, 352 pages

One of the books I always recommend is Jess Walters' novel Beautiful Ruins. Set in 1962, it tells the story of a young man working to keep his family inn open on the beautiful Italian coast of the Ligurian Sea. He dreams of Hollywood, and when an American movie star shows up in a boat, their lives become intertwined. It's one of the most perfectly constructed novels I have ever read.

His latest novel, The Cold Millions, drops the reader into 1909 Spokane, Washington where many lives converge. Gig and Ryan Dolan are young Irish immigrants who hop trains and try to find any kind of job they can. They come up against job agencies who take financial advantage of men like the Dolans, police who don't like these "bums" sleeping outside, and uber-wealthy businessmen, like mine owner Lemuel Brand, who uses his money to take every advantage he can to stay powerful.

Tired of being taken advantage of, Gig gets involved with union organizers and gets thrown in jail, along with 500 other men, after a big protest. Ryan turns to famed union speaker Elizabeth Gurley Flynn to help him get his brother out of jail. Flynn sees that she can use young Ryan to gain sympathy and money for the cause of protecting and promoting the union.

Ryan also turns to vaudeville performer Ursula, who is romantically involved with both Gig and Lemuel Brand. Brand is a man who uses everyone in his orbit, pitting people against each other, having loyalty to none. 

Once again, Walters' carefully constructs a fascinating world, again weaving real people into his fictional narrative (Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were in Beautiful Ruins), like Flynn and labor lawyer Fred Moore. I loved the sibling relationship between Gig and Ryan, it felt so grounded in reality. The dichotomy of Ursula using her femininity to get what she wanted, while Elizabeth Gurley Flynn was  harangued because she "acted more like a man" works so well here.

One might think that reading about union organizing in 1909 has no resonance in 2020, but as I was reading, all I could think was wow, these things are still happening today. Wealthy men want to control society to benefit themselves only, women who don't act in a matter that is considered docile are ridiculed, people at the bottom of the economic rung are scorned, and eventually when people have had enough, they will protest against injustice.

The Cold Millions is a brilliant book to get lost in, that makes you think that maybe we will make it out of these troubled times as apparently they have always been with us in one form or another. I give Cold Millions my highest recommendation.

Two New Novels For Spring

Reprinted from the Citizen:

Today is Mother’s Day, and it is surely a very different Mother’s Day than the ones we have traditionally celebrated. Most of us won’t be able to see our moms in person, so whether it’s by Skype, FaceTime, What’sApp, Zoom or the old school telephone call, I hope you take the time to connect with your mom. And if you know someone whose mom is no longer with them, maybe take the time to contact them just to tell them you’re there for them.

My mom gave me my love of reading, and I like nothing more than finding a book I know she will love and sending it to her. Talking about books is great way to connect, and it’s something else to talk about besides the weather and how cooped up we all feel these days.

Spring is a big time for publishers, with many new titles hitting the shelves, and authors going around the country to visit bookstores and readers to talk about their books. Now that they can’t do that, they turn to the internet to connect with readers. 

One of my favorite places is A Mighty Blaze, a Facebook page created by two authors, Caroline Leavitt and Jenna Blum. Every week, authors who have new books out talk about their work on A Mighty Blaze’s Facebook page. If you find yourself looking for a new read, head over to the Facebook page to hear from the authors themselves.

Lian Dolan’s new novel, The Sweeney Sisters is for those of you who have sisters or want sisters. Three sisters come together to deal with the death of their father, a larger-than-life and beloved author. 

Liza is the oldest daughter, the one who still lived in their hometown. She owns an art gallery, is married to a successful man, and mom to two teens. If you need something done, go to Liza. She is organized, and at her home on Thanksgiving, every course is timed to perfection and the tablecloths are pressed.

Maggie is daughter number two, a free spirit artist who likes to stir up trouble. If someone is going to blurt out something at the wrong time, it’s Maggie. Tricia is the youngest, a hard-charging lawyer and marathon runner. 

Things take a turn when a former neighbor shows up claiming to be their half-sister, the oldest daughter of their father. You will laugh out loud at parts, and there is a just enough romance to keep it interesting.

Jason B. Rosenthal’s memoir My Wife Said You Wanted To Marry Me tells the true story of his life and love with his wife, author and artist Amy Krouse Rosenthal. The world first knew about them when Amy’s “Modern Love” essay in the New York Times titled “You May Want To Marry My Husband” appeared in 2017.

Amy’s essay dealt with the fact that she was dying and wanted to tell the world about her wonderful husband, detailing all of his good qualities and describing their life together. Five million people read Amy’s essay as it went viral.

Now Jason gets to tell their love story in his memoir. Amy said that when they went on their first date she knew they would get married, but it took Jason a year to know that. He speaks lovingly about Amy and her wonderful family.

Amy was a list maker and when they married, she created a list of Marriage Goals and Ideas, with things like “Get dressed up and go on dates” and “Never stop learning- take classes, read, cook and travel”. For the most part, they kept to the list throughout their life

She was also creative, and became a famous children’s book author. Amy and Jason were a great couple, and they raised three terrific children, Justin, Miles and Paris. 

They were excited to see their children grow into wonderful adults and when the youngest was heading off to college, Amy made a list of things they would do as empty nesters. Life was good.

And then Amy got sick. Jason describes the awful parts of the end of his wife’s life, and it is hard to read. But the thing that shines through is the love they had for each other and how lucky they were to have had it. It’s a love letter to his wife, much like Calvin Trillin’s brilliant book, About Alice.

The Sweeney Sisters by Lian Dolan- A

Published by William Morrow 

Hardcover, $27.99, 304 pages

My Wife Said You May Want To Marry Me by Jason B. Rosenthal- A
Published by Harper Books

Hardcover, $26.99, 256 pages

Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore

Valentine by Elizabeth Wetmore
Published by Harper Books ISBN 9780062913265
Hardcover, $26.99, 320 pages

Elizabeth Wetmore's debut novel, Valentine, takes place in West Texas in 1976. It's oil country, and a hardscrabble place to be. The story begins with Gloria, a 14 year-old Mexican girl getting into a truck with a man she doesn't know.

Gloria is sexually assaulted all night long and beaten but manages to escape and make it to an isolated ranch house where a very pregnant Mary Rose is alone with her young daughter. Mary Rose takes Gloria in, and when the attacker comes looking for Gloria, Mary Rose holds him at gunpoint until the sheriff arrives.

Valentine tells the story of how this event affects the women in Odessa. Mary Rose moves with her daughter into town, fearful of living so far from anyone else, while her husband stays at the ranch. She has agreed to testify against the young man, who comes from a well-to-do family who has gotten him out trouble more than once. The nightly phone calls threatening her only make her more determined to testify, even though her husband is furious at her for doing that.

Mary Rose moves onto the street where Corrine, a recently widowed retired teacher lives. Corrine and her husband saw Gloria get into the truck with her attacker, and not stopping her haunted Corinne's husband.

Corrine is grieving, drinking hard and avoiding all contact with anyone, except for ten-year-old Debra Ann. Debra's mom ran away and Debra spent a lot of time with Corinne's husband. When the young girl finds a homeless Vietnam vet, she helps him, bringing him food and keeping him company.

Karla is a single mom who works as a bartender at the local bar/restaurant. She began as a waitress, where she was routinely harassed by the many men who came in for lunch and dinner. It's the only job where she can make enough money to support her child, so she must put up with their behavior, dodging the more dangerous men.

Suzanne is a successful Avon saleswoman, the ultimate room mother who knows how to work a room. She came from "trash" and strategized her way to becoming one of the most respected women in town. She has a will of steel, and while people may underestimate her, it is at their own peril.

The characters in Valentine are so compelling, and the story so powerful, it is a remarkable debut. I found myself drawn to Corinne and Mary Rose especially. Corinne's deep grief is palpable on the page, and Mary Rose's anger at what happened to Gloria fuels her desire to get justice for the young girl, and protect other young girls from a similiar fate.

Though the men run the world in Odessa -"You raise a family in Midland, but you raise hell in Odessa" is a common theme- it's the women who must deal with this harsh world the men have created. They face dangerous sexism and racism. Each of these women have to figure out how to survive and thrive, support each other, and make the world better for the young girls coming up behind them.

Valentine gets my highest recommendation, it's one of the best books I have read this year, and it is the Read With Jenna Today Show pick for April. It's suggested for fans of Barbara Kingsolver and Elizabeth Strout, and as I love both of those authors, I highly agree with that.

Thanks to Harper Collins for providing a review copy.

The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich

The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
Published by Harper Books ISBN 9780062671189
Hardcover, $28.99, 448 pages

Give me a novel based in fact and a setting in a place I'm not familiar with and I am all in. And if it's written by Louise Erdrich, all the better. Her latest novel, The Night Watchman, is based on the life of her grandfather, an American Indian who fought the federal government when they tried to take away the land of his people in North Dakota in the 1950s.

The man based on her grandfather is Thomas, a night watchman in the jewelry making factory in a Native American homeland in North Dakota. Thomas is also on the Turtle Mountain Advisory Commitee that oversaw the area, and between both of those jobs he spends as much time as he can with his loving wife Rose and their children.

Thomas becomes concerned when he learns that the US House of Representatives is considering a bill that would end support of the Native Americans on Turtle Mountain, effectively forcing the residents there to leave their homes and move to the big city to find jobs to support their families. Selling the land would violate a treaty signed with the tribe years ago, and Thomas rallies the people to petition the government to honor their agreement and defeat the resolution.

Patrice is a young woman who works in the jewelry factory and lives with her mother, drunken father, and siblings in a rundown home. She works hard and hopes to get a promotion so she can earn more money to support her family.

When her older sister, who had married and moved away to the big city, disappears, it is up to Patrice to find her. Her journey to the big city brings her into contact with men who take advantage of young women, and Patrice has to use her wits to get out of more than one jam.

She has two men back home who want to date her, although she doesn't want to date them. Wood Mountain is a boxer who ends up on her train to Minneapolis, and he decides that he should keep an eye on her. Barnes is the math teacher who wants to be her boyfriend.

Every character in The Night Watchman is interesting. Thomas, Rose, Patrice, Wood, even the secondary characters like the Mormon missionaries who attempt to convert the Native Americans, are so fully realized, you find yourself wanting to know more about each of them. Erdrich writes in each of their voices brilliantly.

Erdrich packs a lot of story into her lovingly crafted novel, and you learn a lot about life on Turtle Mountain in the 1950s- the traditions, the food, the culture, the family connections. The scenes set in Washington DC as Thomas and Patrice and others go to meet with congressmen, are also fascinating.

The Night Watchman is a book to get totally immersed in, and in a time when most of us can't leave our homes, it's great to be taken somewhere else for a day or two. It's especially appealing to those who like history. I highly recommend it.

Friday 5ive- Living in a COVID World

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post about five things that caught my attention during the week. Everyone in NYC seems to be settling in to a new reality. More businesses are closing (our dry cleaner closed, many restaurants who were doing takeout and delivery have closed), and the only people you see on the streets are walking their dogs or going to the grocery stores, which seem to be better stocked now.

1)  The weather has been so dreary and cold, the sight of these tulips blooming in front of our apartment building brought me joy.

2)  I'm trying to keep busy by doing one small project per day. Last week I reorganized my bookshelves (which was a BIG, all-day project), on Wednesday I reorganized my greeting card box, which only took about 30 minutes, but I feel better.  (And I have a lot of Halloween cards, I'm not sure why). Yesterday I cleaned out a big pantry bin and kitchen cart. Our apartment will be so well organized when this is done. Now all I need is a label gun.

Now I can find any card I need!

3)  My sister-in-law thoughtfully sent us a two-pound box of chocolates from Krause's Chocolates, the best chocolates around, in Saugerties, NY. It's a nice thing to support local businesses that are online and can deliver if you can do it. I've ordered books to send to family members from local independent bookstores in our area, and they are so grateful for the help.

Krause's Chocolates

4)  Staying connected with family and friends is important too, and we have been What's App-ing and FaceTiming with family, and I did a Zoom Happy Hour with two good friends, Kelly and Trish from back home, that was so wonderful, it made me very happy. (But we did miss Barbara.) I also participated in a Zoom mass celebrated by our priest from our hometown. That was an oasis of peace in the midst of the craziness on NYC.

5)  I haven't been able to read too much this week, but I finished Andy Greene's The Office- The Untold Story of the Greatest Sitcom of the 2000s which I really enjoyed. This is a must-read for fans of the show. 

 I did start Louise Erdrich's new novel, The Night Watchman, a novel based in part on her grandfather, who was a nightwatchman and worked to prevent the federal government from taking land from Native Americans in North Dakota in the 1950s. There is a book populated with many characters, and each one is more interesting than the next. You get a real sense of community, and you get immersed in their culture. I can't wait to get back to it.

I hope you are staying safe and healthy and home. We will get through this together. Peace my friends!

The Better Sister by Alafair Burke

The Better Sister by Alafair Burke
Published by Harper Books, ISBN 9780062853370
Hardcover, $26.99, 320 pages

The Better Sister is the third book from Alafair Burke that is related thematically, although the characters are different in each book. The Ex deals with a lawyer called upon to defend her ex-boyfriend from a murder charge. The Wife features a woman whose high-profile professor/author husband is accused of preying sexually on young women. And in her latest, The Better Sister, a high-powered magazine editor finds her husband murdered in their  East Hampton vacation home.

Chloe worked her way up in publishing to become the editor-in-chief of the last successful feminist magazine standing. She married Adam, a former prosecutor for the Southern District of New York, now a lawyer in a white shoe firm. Adam was previously married to Chloe's older sister Nicky, who was always the wild-child bad sister to Chloe's rules-following, hard-working good sister.

One day Adam found Nicky floating facedown in their pool, with their toddler Ethan next to her. She had been drunk or on drugs (not unusual), and Adam divorced her and took Ethan to live in New York, where Chloe began to spend all her free time with them.

Adam and Chloe married, and Chloe became Ethan's defacto mom. Nicky was out of the picture, staying back home in Cleveland to care for their parents.

When Chloe finds Adam stabbed to death in their East Hampton home, she knows that the police will look hard at the spouse, they always do. She also has to contend with the fact that she is not legally Ethan's mother and has to contact Nicky, who soon shows up.

Chloe and Nicky revert back to their sibling relationship- Chloe is the responsible one, Nicky is the screw-up. But when the police turn their attention to Ethan as a probable suspect, Chloe and Nicky must make amends and decide to work together to prove Ethan innocent.

The Better Sister is a twisty, timely suspense story. Chloe is a women who is a prominent media person, and with that comes the trolls who send her hateful, even threatening, messages on social media. Chloe believes that perhaps one of them could be the killer.

Burke throws in a lot of red herrings, and she excels in letting the reader believe they may have solved the mystery, only to be surprised at the big reveal. Being a former prosecutor, she brings a sense of reality and tension to the courtroom scenes.

As the mother of two young men, I really felt such empathy for Chloe as a mother, trying to protect her son. I had a pit in my stomach during many scenes.

One thing you learn from The Better Sister is that secrets can destroy people, and I can only think that if they communicated better, some of their big problems could be avoided.

I read The Better Sister in one sitting, furiously turning the pages to find out who dunnit and why. I highly recommend it for anyone who likes a great suspense story.