84, Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff
It all began with a letter inquiring about second-hand books, written by Helene Hanff in New York, and posted to a bookshop at 84, Charing Cross Road in London. As Helene's sarcastic and witty letters are responded to by the stodgy and proper Frank Doel of 84, Charing Cross Road, a relationship blossoms into a warm, charming, feisty love affair.
I loved reading this book and found it to be completely charming.
Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Semple
Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she's a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she's a disgrace; to design mavens, she's a revolutionary architect, and to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, simply, Mom.
Then Bernadette disappears. It
began when Bee aced her report card and claimed her promised reward: a
family trip to Antarctica. But Bernadette's intensifying allergy to
Seattle--and people in general--has made her so agoraphobic that a
virtual assistant in India now runs her most basic errands. A trip to
the end of the earth is problematic.
To find her mother, Bee compiles
email messages, official documents, secret correspondence--creating a
compulsively readable and touching novel about misplaced genius and a
mother and daughter's role in an absurd world.
I can't tell you enough good things about this book. It was fun, captivating and witty. I couldn't wait to read more about Bernadette. I found myself laughing out loud numerous times.
Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
New Bremen, Minnesota, 1961. The
Twins were playing their debut season, ice-cold root beers were selling
out at the soda counter of Halderson’s Drugstore, and Hot Stuff comic
books were a mainstay on every barbershop magazine rack. It was a time
of innocence and hope for a country with a new, young president. But for
thirteen-year-old Frank Drum it was a grim summer in which death
visited frequently and assumed many forms. Accident. Nature. Suicide.
Murder.
Frank begins the season
preoccupied with the concerns of any teenage boy, but when tragedy
unexpectedly strikes his family—which includes his Methodist minister
father; his passionate, artistic mother; Juilliard-bound older sister;
and wise-beyond-his-years kid brother—he finds himself thrust into an
adult world full of secrets, lies, adultery, and betrayal, suddenly
called upon to demonstrate a maturity and gumption beyond his years.
I was pulled into this book right away and loved the depth of the characters.
Have you read any of these books? If so, what did you think? What have you been reading?
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