If you have ever been to Cuba you are going to love this novel. If you have never been to Cuba it might make you hesitate. Next Year in Havana is the July pick of Reese Witherspoon's Bookclub. It tells the story of two women grandmother and granddaughter, their family secrets, their experiences in Cuba and their two love stories... one taking place during the revolution. The other takes place in present day Cuba.
I loved it and could not put it down from beginning to finish. (I love retirement where you can binge on a good book.)
Song to go with this book Havana
Andrew Sean Greer won the Pulitzer Prize for Less. It is a delightful story of a down and out writer who avoids his ex-lover's wedding by going around the world. How can you not love a book with writing like...
"... the plane suffers a prolonged bout of turbulence. Less finds himself searching for an appropriate prayer. He was, however, raised Unitarian; he has only Joan Baez to turn to, and "Diamonds and Rust" gives no solace."
I LOL all the way through this book. It's a perfect summer read.
Song to go with this book Here I Go Again
This book came out in 2010. I don't know how I ever missed reading it as I love all things Sherlock Holms. The Beekeeper's Apprentice picks up on Sherlock's story when he is retired in Sussex when he meets the modern young woman Mary Russell, who becomes first his protege and then his partner.
I am in the middle of it right now and am enjoying it. But then how can you not love a Sherlock Holmes story?
Song to go with this book Roar
Lately I have been drawn to novels about multi-generational women. This debut novel by Lauren K. Denton is about a young woman, Sara who lives in New Orleans and runs a fashionable shop and her grandmother Mags who own a run down b&b in Sweetwater Alabama. It's a sweet book, well written with lovely characters. If you need a "gentle" story without terrorists, spies, violence this one is lovely.
Song to go with this book Sweet Home Alabama
Speaking of presidents... Bill Clinton and James Patterson's mystery, The President Is Missing, is getting great reviews. Publisher's Weekly describes it as "a page-turning thriller that rivals the best work of such genre titans as Brad Meltzer and Vince Flynn." Indeed that is high praise. I think it will be a fun next read after Hope Never Dies.
Song to go with this book Theme From Jaws