Wishful Drinking

by Carrie Fisher

In honor of the 2 year anniversary of her passing, I'm recommending you read one of my favorite memoirs, "Wishful Drinking" by Carrie Fisher. I've loved Carrie over the years more for her wit and humor than for her roles in Star Wars, and I find this book to be a perfect summary of her personality.

Filled with her trademark sardonic humor as well as personal photographs and stories, this book is the perfect mix of humble, heart-warming, and hilarious. If you've never looked past Star Wars and given Carrie's writing a chance, this is the perfect place to start.

Mike

Place a hold here!

Book Club

Directed by: Bill Holderman

With: Jane Fonda, Candice Bergen, Mary Steenbergen, Diane Keaton

Of course, working in a library, I would be attracted to a movie titled “Book Club”. This movie is full of big name actors and a comedy that does not disappoint. Four women have been holding a book club in each of their homes for 40 years. They each in turn choose the book to be read that month. One book changes all their lives, in a positive way that you might not expect if I were to tell you the title. This is a feel good movie, not necessarily a “chick flick” (my husband liked it too) that I think you will also enjoy.

Beckie

The Man Who Invented Christmas

With: Dan Stevens, Christopher Plummer and Jonathan Pryce

This movie is based on the actual events that influenced and shaped the Charles Dickens story “A Christmas Carol”. Dickens inspiration for character names, events and the ever elusive ending to the tale. There are some surprising details that I haven’t fact checked but seem entirely possible for the time the story was written, which make this movie even more fascinating. This movie was excellently executed in very way and anyone that has ever seen or read “A Christmas Carol” will thoroughly enjoy this movie.

Beckie H.

The Garden of Small Beginnings

 by Abbi Waxman

Lilian found herself instantly a single mother when her husband was killed in a car crash about 50 yards from their home. She totally lost it right after the accident but now, three years later, she is functioning much better. She is a book illustrator for a publisher of mostly text books.After her newest assignment, illustrating a gardening book, she and the rest of her department are let go.
This book is well written, with just the right amount of shocking language, sass and humor. Watch out there are parts that will make you cry. Isn’t it true that a good book lets you feel all your emotions?

Give this first book by Abbi Waxman a try, I think you’ll like it.

Beckie H.

The Family Next Door

By Sally Hepworth

This little neighborhood looks perfect from the outside. Most households are families with young children and the busyness that comes with that. But looking closer, each family has its problems and secrets. One mom isn’t sure her last baby is her husbands. Another suspects her husband is having an affair. Essie’s life looks perfect and few of her friends know that she suffered a breakdown after the birth of her first child that almost cost her everything. Now after the birth of her second child, she is starting to feel desperate again. When Isabelle moves into the neighborhood, she is a curiosity to everyone. Why is she single? Why renting? What mysterious job does she have? Essie feels a connection to her right away and Isabelle is fascinated with Essie which makes everyone else uncomfortable. It soon becomes clear that it is no accident that Isabelle is in this neighborhood and she has the power to brings shocking secrets to life.

~ Dixie

Just in Time

By Marie Bostwick

Marie Bostwick is one of my favorite authors. Her stories are uplifting and I always like the ending. In her novel, Just in Time, Grace Saunders’ life has difficult aspects. She is working full time at a job that is just-a-job and suffering with the loss of her husband. Through great friendship and love her life is turned around. A reoccurring theme in Marie’s stories is the presence of quilts and the therapeutic benefits of quilting, being a quilter myself, I enjoy this trait in her stories.

~ Beckie H.

One Way or Another

By Elizabeth Adler

What begins as a beautiful evening at a party on a yacht ends with attempted murder…and a quest for revenge. Ellen never expected a dream vacation to turn so ugly. One moment she was standing on the deck of a fifty-foot yacht and then next she is in the water.

~Crystal

Rebel of the Sands (Rebel of the Sands #1)

By Alwyn Hamilton

Mortals rule the desert nation of Miraji, but mythical beasts still roam the wild and remote areas.  For humans, it’s an unforgiving place, especially if you’re poor, orphaned, or female.
Amani Al’Hiza is all three.  She’s a gifted gunslinger with perfect aim, but she can’t shoot her way out of Dustwalk. Then she meets Jin, a rakish foreigner, in a shooting contest, and sees him as the perfect escape route.

~Crystal

Fairytale

By Danielle Steel

Christophe and Joy Lammenais built Chateau Lammenais into a small but renowned Napa Valley winery and an idyllic home where they raised their beloved daughter, Camille, who takes on increasing responsibilities for the estate they all treasure. But after Joy’s early death from breast cancer just after Camille’s graduation from Stanford, a lonely Christophe soon falls prey to the machinations of a sophisticate from his native France—who moves, with her two reprobate sons, to consolidate her power over Camille and the property when Christophe is killed in a plane crash. With a French “fairy godmother” on the scene, however, the son of a neighboring vintner to assist, and a grand Harvest Ball on the horizon, lovely Camille may make some potent magic of her own.

~Crystal

Charley Davidson series by Darinda Jones

Sixth Grave on the Edge (Charley Davidson #6)

By Darynda Jones

Now that Reyes Farrow has asked for her hand, Charley Davidson feels it's time to learn more about his past, but Reyes is reluctant to open up. When the official FBI file of his childhood abduction lands in her lap, Charley decides to go behind her mysterious beau’s back and conduct her own investigation. Because what could go wrong?
Unfortunately, another case has fallen into her lap—one with dangerous implications. Some very insistent men want Charley to hunt down a witness who is scheduled to testify against their boss, a major player in the local crime syndicate. If Charley doesn't come up with an address in 48 hours, the people closest to her will start to disappear.

Seventh Grave and No Body (Charley Davidson #7)

By Darynda Jones

Twelve. Twelve of the deadliest beasts ever forged in the fires of hell have escaped onto our plane, and they want nothing more than to rip out the jugular of Charley Davidson and serve her lifeless, mangled body to Satan for dinner. But Charley has more on her plate than a mob of testy hellhounds. For one thing, her father has disappeared, and the more she retraces his last steps, the more she learns he was conducting an investigation of his own, one that has Charley questioning everything she’s ever known about him. Charley is not having the best week of her life.

~ Crystal

The Family Gathering

  By Robyn Carr

If you read Burton Library book blogs on a regular basis you know I am a huge Robyn Carr fan. I think everything she writes is great, this book is no exception. The Family Gathering is a Sullivan’s Crossing Novel. Cal’s brother Dakota left the military and went to visit his brother in Colorado. This story is about his new beginning and the romance he finds. Carr’s books are always filled with romance with a twist of malicious conflict that has to be worked out. This is another good one, enjoy.

~Beckie

Year One

by Nora Roberts

Yet another first in her trilogy-type books, this one seems to engage the reader with a more gripping subject.  The premise is the world has been infected by the Doom, a virus that spread rapidly over the planet, killing most of the human race. The story follows many groups of people who managed to live, and how they cope with a world that has regressed to no electricity, no internet, and no government in a matter of weeks. 

~Becky

Gifted

DVD

This movie never was a huge hit the theaters but I think you might want to check it out. Frank Adler is raising his seven-year-old niece Mary who happens to be a math genius. He has enrolled her in first grade in attempts to give her a normal childhood, something her math genius mother never had thanks to her overzealous mother Evelyn. Because her math abilities are discovered by her first grade teacher soon after starting school (and probably because she was enrolled in school) her grandmother shows up wanting custody of Mary. Evelyn thinks that Mary would be better off back to Boston where she could have the best education possible. She wants to take Mary away from Frank and the only life she has ever known.

~Beckie

Talk to the Paw

by Melinda Metz

Inspired by a true story, a cat named MacGyver moves to California from Pennsylvania with his owner into a neighborhood of story-book themed homes. Jamie Snyder has moved to California for a year of self-discovery paid for with an inheritance after her mother’s death. MacGyver senses her loneliness and in his very cat way wants to help her feel better. Because Jamie is focused on what she wants to do with the rest of her life, she does not really want to start a relationship with a man, but MacGyver see things differently. In an attempt to draw Jamie to meet a lonely neighbor, he sneaks out of the house at night and steals personal objects (underwear and such) from David, a three-year widower. Other circumstances draw the two together, eventually they figure out what MacGyver has been up to. This sweet romance is a fun read.

~Beckie

A Street Cat Named Bob

DVD

This is the movie adaptation of the book with the same name. This is the true story of James Bowen who is struggling with addiction. He finds an injured street cat and uses what little money he has to buy antibiotics for it. James is barely getting by himself but he can’t help caring for the cat that is soon known as Bob. James tries to find Bob’s owners with no luck. As far as Bob is concerned, he has already found his owner. The pair are soon inseparable and this friendship helps both of them heal and find hope for the future. A sweet story.


~ Dixie

Hope in the Holler

By Lisa Lewis Tyre

This is a great middle grade book that would be enjoyed by boys or girls. Wavie is 11 years old and has just lost her mother to cancer. Now she has to go live in a small town in Appalachia with family she didn’t even know she had. It doesn’t take long for Wavie to realize she does not want to live with this horrible aunt, uncle and cousin. Wavie does, however, love the mountains, fresh air and the kids she meets. As Wavie tries to figure a way out, she learns a family secret that just might be her ticket out of there!

~ Dixie

The Dark Lake

By Sarah Bailey

This story takes place in rural Australia with Gemma Woodstock as a detective with the police. Gemma has a complicated life, full of secrets. When a former classmate is found dead, Gemma and her partner are put on the case. Gemma has a history with the victim but tries to hide it because she wants to stay on the case. As details of the victim are revealed, so are details of Gemma’s past. Clever twists and turns that will keep you guessing who done it!

~ Dixie

AM I OLD YET?

The Story of Two Women, Generations Apart, Growing Up and Growing Young in a Timeless Friendship

By Leah Komaiko

This is a true story about two women, one forty-four, one ninety-four, who form a friendship that starts out casual but turns into a strong bond that neither one expected. Leah, the younger woman, has always had trouble with the truth of growing old and her own mortality. In order to face her fears, she agrees to spend one hour per week with an elderly woman in a nursing home. This is a touching, tender memoir of the love and lessons these two gave each other. Loved it!

~ Dixie

Judah's Wife

By Angela Hunt
Another winner in Angela Hunt’s historical fiction. This first book in her new series The Silent Years is set a half century before the birth of Christ. Leah has a desperately hard childhood and when she marries Judah she is anticipating a peaceful life. The nation Judah is named after is conquered by a cruel king who makes it illegal for Jews to follow the law of Moses. Judah’s father refuses to comply and it costs him his life. As he is dying, he commands his son to take up the sword and fight for the nation of Israel. Leah, who hates violence, struggles to come to terms with the war that her husband and his family accept as necessary to preserve their way of life and their nation.

~ Dixie

The Widow

By Fiona Barton
Audiobook format

The story begins in an English University town years after the abduction of 2 year old Bella Elliott from her yard while her mother was inside doing housework. The author had me guessing whether the accused child-porn-loving husband (Glen) had abducted little Bella, and if so, what (if anything) did his wife Jean know. Is Bella's wild single mother complicit?

The Widow is a psychological thriller/mystery with a strong female lead character Kate, an award-winning investigative journalist who sincerely cares about finding Bella and unburdening Jean from her doubts and secrets.

Try this if you enjoy fast-moving stories from different points of view like Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins.

~ Paula

Pupcakes

By Annie England Noblin

There he stood in the doorway: overweight, depressed and nearly homeless—a pug named Teddy Roosevelt. Teddy was Brydie Benson’s latest problem, arriving on top of her messy divorce. Brydie needed a place to start over, so this rent-free home seemed a great idea. She just never counted on Teddy, or his owner, the Germantown Retirement Village’s toughest customer, Pauline Neumann.
Along with a new start comes a possible new love, in the form of Nathan Reid, a local doctor with a sassy Irish Wolfhound named Sasha. And as fall turns to winter, and then to Christmas, Brydie begins to realize that life is a little bit like learning a new recipe for puff pastry—it takes a few tries to get it just right!

~Crystal

Because You Love to Hate Me: 13 Tales of Villainy

By Ameriie

In this unique YA anthology, thirteen acclaimed, bestselling authors team up with thirteen influential BookTubers to reimagine fairy tales from the oft-misunderstood villains' points of view.
These fractured, unconventional spins on classics like "Medusa," Sherlock Holmes, and "Jack and the Beanstalk" provide a behind-the-curtain look at villains' acts of vengeance, defiance, and rage--and the pain, heartbreak, and sorrow that spurned them on. No fairy tale will ever seem quite the same again!

~Crystal

Against All Odds

By Danielle Steel

Taking chances is part of life, but when you bet your future against the odds, it’s a high-risk game. Kate Madison’s stylish resale shop has been a big SoHo success, supporting her and her four kids since her husband’s untimely death. Now they are grown and ready to forge lives of their own. And they all choose to play against the odds, to their mother’s dismay.

~Crystal

Three Dark Crowns (Three Dark Crowns #1)

By Kendare Blake

In every generation on the island of Fennbirn, a set of triplets is born—three queens, all equal heirs to the crown and each possessor of a coveted magic.
But becoming the Queen Crowned isn’t solely a matter of royal birth. Each sister has to fight for it. And it’s not just a game of win or lose… its life or death. The night the sisters turn sixteen, the battle begins.

The last queen standing gets the crown.

~Crystal

Empire of Dust (Blood of Gods and Royals #2)

By Eleanor Herman

In Macedon, war rises like smoke, forbidden romance blooms and ancient magic tempered with rage threatens to turn an empire to dust.

~Crystal