|
Book Chat's Top Recommendations February 2023
|
|
|
|
|
Anne-Marie the Beauty
by Yasmina Reza
""I was bored with my husband," says Anne-Marie, the irrepressible voice of Anne-Marie la Beauté, "but you know, boredom is part of love." Mostly she is speaking here of her more famous friend and colleague, the French actress Giselle Fayolle, in whose shadow she has spent her career. "My life was a near miss," she adds, before explaining that she enunciated well because "I loved to say the words." A very short novel with the power and resonance of a much longer one, Anne-Marie la Beauté is a profound and moving act of remembrance, a clear-eyed assessment of the hard-edged nature of fame, a meditation on aging--and a wonderfully observant and comic exploration of human foibles. In short, another thought-provoking master class in how we perform life by the peerless Yasmina Reza"
|
|
|
Counterfeit : a novel
by Kirstin Chen
Ava Wong, a strait-laced Chinese American lawyer and her former college roommate from Mainland China, who dropped out under mysterious circumstances, join forces in an ingenious counterfeit operation selling replica luxury handbags. 150,000 first printing.
|
|
|
The dearly beloved : a novel
by Cara Wall
"Set in the years 1950-1970 in a changing America and London, follow[s] two married couples - ministers and academics - whose intricate bonds of faith and friendship, jealousy and understanding, are tested by the birth of an autistic child"
|
|
|
Killers of a certain age
by Deanna Raybourn
"They've spent their lives as the deadliest assassins in a clandestine international organization, but now that they're sixty years old, four women friends can't just retire - it's kill or be killed in this action-packed thriller by New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award-nominated author Deanna Raybourn. Billie, Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie have worked for the Museum, an elite network of assassins, for forty years. Now their talents are considered old-school and no one appreciates what they have tooffer in an age that relies more on technology than people skills. When the foursome is sent on an all-expenses paid vacation to mark their retirement, they are targeted by one of their own. Only the Board, the top-level members of the Museum, can order the termination of field agents, and the women realize they've been marked for death. Now to get out alive they have to turn against their own organization, relying on experience and each other to get the job done, knowing that working together is the secret to their survival. They're about to teach the Board what it really means to be a woman--and a killer--of a certain age"
|
|
|
The maid : a novel
by Nita Prose
When she discovers the dead body of the infamous and wealthy Charles Black in his suite, hotel maid Molly Gray finds her orderly life upended as she becomes the prime suspect in the case and is caught in a web of deception that she has no idea how to unravel.
|
|
|
Ms. Demeanor : a novel
by Elinor Lipman
Under house arrest after an intimate encounter on the roof of her NYC apartment building goes public, Jane Morgan, with her legal license suspended, strikes up a friendship with a fellow white-collar felon while trying to figure out the truth about her mysterious accuser. (general fiction). Simultaneous.
|
|
|
I'm glad my mom died
by Jennette McCurdy
The iCarly and Sam & Cat star, after her controlling mother dies, gets the help she needs to overcome eating disorders, addiction and unhealthy relationshipsand finally decides what she really wants for the first time in her life. Illustrations.
|
|
|
Rough sleepers : Dr. Jim O'Connell and his quest to create a community of care
by Tracy Kidder
This masterful work of reporting and nonfiction storytelling takes us deep into the world of Dr. Jim OConnell, a Harvard Medical School graduate, who, following his lifes calling, serves Bostons homeless community, facing one of American societys most shameful problems, instead of looking away. 100,000 first printing.
|
|
|
|
|
|