First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston

Title: First Lie Wins
Author: Ashley Elston
Narrator: Saskia Maarleveld
Publication: Penguin, audiobook, 2024
Genre: Suspense
Setting: United States

Description: Evie Porter is Ryan Sumner’s new girlfriend, and he just invited her to move in with him. They seem like the perfect couple - except that Evie is not her real name.

Miss Manners can always be relied upon

(or as she would probably phrase it, "Miss Manners, upon whom one can always rely")

The Divine Miss M

Dear Miss Manners: Could you please educate us on the difference between a living room, sitting room, drawing room, saloon, library, lounge, parlor and boudoir?

Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum - third and my favorite of the series

Title: Ozma of Oz
Author: L. Frank Baum
Illustrator: John R. Neill
Publication: The Reilly & Lee Co., hardcover, 1907
Genre: Juvenile fantasy/series

Description: Dorothy Gale is accompanying her Uncle Henry on a voyage to Australia, traveling for his health, when she is swept overboard during a storm. Floating on a chicken coop with a talking chicken she names Billina, Dorothy does not despair, knowing she has survived dangerous situations in the past.

China Court by Rumer Godden

Title: China Court
Author: Rumer Godden
Publication: Manderley Press, hardcover, 2023 (originally 1979)
Genre: Historical Fiction
Setting: Cornwall

Description: When Deborah Quin dies, it is the end of an era. Although she was once Ripsie, a waif from the village, she married one of the sons of the house and has lived in and maintained both China Court and its impressive gardens since then.

Five Things including a Book Sale

Last week, my mother and I attended an author event at Boston College featuring Celeste Ng, which we enjoyed. BC has a freshman seminar in which many read Ng’s first novel, Everything I Never Told You. It was great to see several hundred students listening to Ng describe her writing process, including her habit of beginning her books with a very dramatic sentence.  I had to check this out:

The Helsinki Affair by Anna Pitoniak

Title: The Helsinki Affair
Author: Anna Pitoniak
Narrator: Amanda Dolan
Publication: Simon & Schuster, audiobook, 2023
Genre: Suspense/Espionage

Description: Amanda Cole is the CIA’s Deputy Station Chief in Rome and longs for a more exciting assignment. She gets her wish when a Russian comes to the embassy to share information on a plot to kill a prominent American senator.

The Door-to-Door Bookstore by Carsten Henn

Title: The Door-to-Door Bookstore
Author: Carsten Henn
Translator: Melody Shaw
Publication: Hanover Square Press, hardcover, 2023 
Genre: Fiction
Setting: Present-day Southern Germany

Description: Carl Kollhoff worked for many years at an old, established bookstore called City Gate. After his mentor, Gustav Gruber, the bookstore owner, retired and his jealous daughter Sabine took over, the bookstore changed. Sabine pushed Carl off the selling floor and his only activity now is hand-delivering special requests to a handful of clients.

The Women by Kristin Hannah

Title: The Women
Author: Kristin Hannah
Publication: St. Martin’s, hardcover, 2024
Genre: Historical Fiction
Setting: United States and Vietnam

Description: Frances “Frankie” McGrath has grown up in a conservative Catholic home near San Diego that reveres military service. When her beloved older brother graduates from the Naval Academy and leaves to fight in Vietnam, Frankie accelerates her nursing degree and enlists with the army herself.