Well-Read: Reading with Robin - Best of 2014

Tempting Fate by Jane Green

One of the things that I love about a Jane Green novel is that I am immediately drawn into the story, its characters and their relationships.

When Gabby first met Elliot she knew he was the man for her. After twenty years of marriage she has never doubted her love for him. But now their daughters are growing up and Gabby feels the time slipping away. She is feeling restless for the first time in her life and then she meets Matt. It is tempting, to say the least, to have the attention of someone who sees Gabby differently than she has been seen in some time and timing, of course, is everything. Jane will be here at the end of January for a very special event. See below for details.

An Italian Wife by Ann Hood

An Italian Wife is a mutigenerational story of an Italian-American family. It’s the story of Josephine Rimaldi complete with all of her joys, losses and passions, spanning over seven decades. The novel beings in turn-of-the-century Italy, when fourteen-year-old Josephine is forced into an arranged marriage who is about to depart for America, where she later joins him. She goes on to be a traditional Italian wife giving birth to seven children. The last, Valentina, is conceived in passion, born in secret, and given up for adoption. An Italian Wife is Hood’s most passionate novel to date.

Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands by Chris Bohjalian

This book is just gorgeous. Chris tells a story in such loving and compassionate detail that I am always in awe of his storytelling.

Closer Your Eyes, Hold Hands is the story of Emily Shepard, a homeless teen living in an igloo made of ice and trash bags filled with frozen leaves. Half a year earlier, a nuclear plant in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom has experienced a cataclysmic meltdown, and both of Emily’s parents were killed. Emily’s father was in charge of the plant and the meltdown may have been his fault. Despite Emily’s dire circumstances, her resilience, smarts and sense of humor remain. Chris’ daughter, Grace Experience, beautifully narrates the audio version.

Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult

Oh, the Picoult novel. Need I say more? Leaving Time was my favorite book of the year. I fell in love with the mother-daughter journey and the beauty and majesty of the elephants that surround them.

For more than a decade, Jenna Metcalf has never stopped thinking about her mother, Alice, who mysteriously disappeared in the wake of a tragic accident. Jenna refuses to believe that she would be abandoned as a young child and searches for her mother online and reads over and over the pages of Alice’s old journals. A scientist who studied grief among elephants, Jenna hopes the journals will provide a clue to her mother’s whereabouts.

As a fan of Picoult’s books for over twenty years I thought I would finally be able to spot the “aha-twist” moment. It was not to be.  So well done!!

Bittersweet by Miranda Beverly-Whittemore

This was the perfect summer treat of a novel. Bittersweet has the perfect blend of suspense, drama and characters behaving badly.  Mabel Dagmar is on scholarship at a prestigious East Coast College. She is quite ordinary and is surprised to be befriended by her very beautiful and affluent roommate, Genevra Winslow. Ev invites Mabel to spend the summer at Bittersweet, her cottage on the Vermont estate where her family has been holding court for more than a century. Mabel moves right in and wants it all. The boyfriend, access to wealth and what she’s wanted most of all –the sense that she belongs. Of course nothing is ever as it seems and Bittersweet it is.

These next two are debut novels and there is nothing I enjoy more than a fabulous debut. I’m looking forward to whatever is coming next from both Ted Thompson and Pamela Moses.

The Land of Steady Habits by Ted Thompson

I met Ted over the summer when he was part of  a debut novelist panel at Bryant Park in New York City.  As he read from The Land of Steady Habits I knew this was going to be a book for me. And it was. This happens to be the only book in my line-up with a male protagonist.

Anders Hill is entering his early sixties and by all accounts seems content in the “land of steady habits” –a nickname for the affluent part of Connecticut where he resides. So what’s a content man to do? He abandons his career and family for a new condo and life. He might not have thought this through well enough. With his identity no longer wrapped up in his position or marriage, Anders turns up at a holiday party full of his ex-wife’s friends and is surprised to find that the world he rejected may be just the one he needs.

The Appetites of Girls by Pamela Moses

I picked up this book by the book jacket alone. Then I read a little about Pamela and learned that she is a Brown grad and that The Appetites of Girls takes place largely in Rhode Island and more specifically Brown University. Stir in a coming of age story complete with four suitemates who could not be less alike and voila! You have just my kind of a read. College brings four young women together – Ruth, Francesca, Opal and Setsu where their stories and appetites collide. Despite their differences, they remain close to each other through the years and guard a well-kept secret.

Never Too Late-Your Roadmap to Reinvention by Claire Cook

Known to Reading With Robin listeners as the first interview each June with novels such as: Must Love Dogs, Life’s a Beach and Time Flies, Cook steps outside of the novel-box with this motivating, thoughtful book about making your dreams and goals a reality. In her unique and humorous storytelling style, Claire gives her readers cutting edge tools to get where they want to go. Sharing her own stories about her writing career complete with its successes and failures you will be greatly motivated to get going on your own plan. You might be tempted to put down the book and get started but don’t! You won’t want to miss a single word. This is from Claire-

"If you or anyone you know is planning to reinvent your life in 2015, there's still time to order the paperback or download the ebook of Never Too Late: Your Roadmap to Reinvention (without getting lost along the way), the #1 Amazon Bestseller in Women's Personal Growth! Here's the link

And mark your calendars for South County Hospital Healthcare System's Women's Wellness Day on September 19. I'll be giving the keynote, and I can't wait!"—Claire Cook, USA

Today bestselling author of Must Love Dogs