Traffic on our recent Atlantic City trip was appalling – delays on the way up due to pounding rain and on the way back due to crashes and construction. I volunteered to help drive, but then Hampton couldn’t rage, so I just had to spend hours and hours reading. Shucks (;
Honestly, at this point, I’ve lost track as to which books I read on the ways to and fro and which have just been recent. All are recommended, so I’ll try to give just enough info to help you decide if it’s something you’re into.
Without any further ado, in alphabetical order (mainly):
• American Pop, Snowden Wright — Hampton picked this up on our trip to DC. With its epic familial tragedies, it reminded me of the tv show Succession. But with a bit of hope, à la The Immortalists.
• The Bookstore, Deborah Meyler — this month’s bookclub selection. A British grad student dealing with questionable life choices in a plucky, vaguely unrealistic romcom way.
• Here to Stay, Mark Edwards — found through Amazon’s early read program, this isn’t being published ’til next month but felt vaguely familiar in a WHY ARE YOU MAKING THIS CHOICE horror movie kindof a way.
• The Night Janitor, T.F. Allen — a free read through Booksprout. Charming supernatural thriller à la later Dean Koontz. So, clearly, I loved it.
• The Passenger, Lisa Lutz — I would never survive being on the lam.
• What You Did, Claire McGowan — forever jealous my brain cannot create such a twisted plot.
• Where Did You Go, Bernadette?, Maria Semple — A satire on motherhood and the Pacific Northwest, two things I know nothing about. Still going to see the movie.
• all the Jessa Archer —
Curtains for Romeo: Coastal Playhouse Mysteries #1
Arsenic and Olé: Coastal Playhouse Mysteries #2
In the Nib of Time: Hand Lettering Mysteries #2
Kerning to Crime: Hand Lettering Mysteries #3
Scales of Justice: Legal Beagle Cozy Mystery #1
Jessa continues to amuse me with her quick, cozy reads. I even bought two of these to make up for ARCs I missed!
Despite — or perhaps because of? — my own performance background, the Hand Lettering series may be my favorite. Maybe? But that’s basically like choosing between rosé, a negroni, and whiskey; good choices all around.
My current main read – besides O.Henry lines – is T.F. Allen’s The Keeper. More on that later. What are you reading?
Ann Davis-Rowe 
I recently read T Kira Madden’s memoir “Long Live The Tribe of Fatherless Girls” and LOVED it. There’s so much good fiction out there, but I just can’t seem to want to read anything but nonfiction these days.
Added to the list! I need to read more non.