Rumor has it that April showers bring May flowers. Rumor also has it that every month we let you know what we’ve been reading and our monthly recommendations! This month, we are featuring some hits from our favorite authors and poets. (Hint hint…April is Poetry Month!) Be sure to keep up with our picks–you’ll get to see new titles with fabulous reviews from the Bay Books team, and we’re sure you’ll love these fantastic books just as much as we do. We recommend a wide range of genres and themes. Get ready to explore more books!
Tina’s Picks
Once and Again by Rebecca Serle
I’m not sure that any author messes with time travel quite the way that Serle does but she does it masterfully. In this novel, a rare gift is given to three generations of women–the gift to redo anything once. But is this a gift or a burden? Does the knowledge of it begin to influence your life or does it bring wisdom? Well done and a story that will draw you in and make you think.
You’ll Do: A History of Marrying for Reasons Other Than Love by Marcia A. Zug
At one turn, both hilarious and cringeworthy, we’re presented with a fresh, engaging social history exploring the instrumental use of marriage. She draws on sources including court cases, historical anecdotes, her family’s history and in doing so, provides ample evidence of how generations of American men and women have used marriage to fight racial, gender, and class discrimination while also using marriage to gain money or status, elude criminal prosecution or ensure parental rights. Author Zug also documents the risk of exploitation and abuse. All in all, this was an engaging read which I would truly recommend.
What Have You Done? by Shari Lapena
“How many ways, I think, can a girl be assaulted? I never got to live my life. I never got to be old enough, to become unattractive enough, to be left alone. To finally just be.”
This wasn’t the first line in this book, but perhaps it should have been. Shari Lapena is a new author to me that I found while on vacation and I quickly read through three of her books in a row. The plots are built around some of the most traumatic personal family experiences you might imagine when involving children but in this one, she gets to the heart of what it’s like to be a female growing up in a world where beauty is highly prized because it is desirable. For those who have it, they are easily manipulated, harassed, abused, not believed when seeking help and all because of youth and beauty. It is a murder mystery as well so expect some red herrings and plot twists. The ending is satisfying but very emotional.
Everyone Here is Lying by Shari Lapena
Creepy. In a sweet little postcard perfect town, every adult has a secret which seems to affect everyone’s child’s well being. Except for one child. And that’s the kicker in this psychological thriller with a twist you truly won’t believe. Author Shari Lapena plays upon the typical course of thinking when a child goes missing: Sex Trafficking? Molestation? Murder? Lover’s retaliation for an affair gone wrong? It will keep you glued to the pages.
Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid
Okay, this one has been out for a while, but I have resisted reading it, even though I was an avid tennis player. But as usual, Reid pulls out a story that not only describes the game of tennis thoroughly and lovingly, but also the drama that surrounds it. Whether it is between a coach and player, player and player, opponent and favored winner—Carrie Soto is Back is so much more than about tennis. It’s group dynamics, romance, love, and dignity at its best. For me, it brought back so many memories of spending time on the court with my dad and my first ‘sky’ ball.
Wendy’s Picks
Euphoria by Lily King
Inspired by the real-life experiences of renowned anthropologist Margaret Mead, this story takes place in 1930’s New Guinea and revolves around 3 young anthropologists who find themselves embroiled in a complicated love triangle that is as sensual and intoxicating as it is destructive. With some parallels to Barbara Kingsolver’s The Poisonwood Bible (one of my all-time favorites), we are swept into the study of and interaction with vastly different cultures, the egos and ethical contradictions involved, and the inevitable negative impact left behind by the western world. A page-turning, stunning novel.
A Nature Poem for Every Spring Evening, Edited by Jane McMorland Hunter
As a passionate year-round resident of northern Michigan, I embrace and find joy in every season. But…SPRING can be challenging, a time of year that is both wearing and hopeful. I keep this volume of spring poems on my coffee table or nightstand and have found beauty and comfort in the words of some of the world’s most famous poets–from Emily Dickinson to Eleanor Farjeon. If you are looking for some celebratory or insightful reflections to get you from March 1 to May 31, you will enjoy this lovely compilation.
Becky’s Picks
More Than Enough by Anna Quindlen
High school English teacher Polly’s life is turned upside down when an ancestry test, given to her by her book club buddies as a joke, reveals an unexpected match…. She finds herself asking surprising questions about her family and friends in this wise and wonderful novel of life, loss and moving on. Polly’s book club friends, who have become her closest friends, have heard it all. Quindlen’s warmth, humor and insight into the power of love and hope remind the reader how friendship can change your life in the most powerful ways.
Dog Songs by Mary Oliver
Oliver’s style, using simple, clear language to explore more complex ideas often draws parallels between a dog’s life and human existence. She includes poems about dogs she knew that will make the reader both laugh and cry. The collection is joyful, comforting and poignant as it reminds the reader of lessons dogs offer about love and nature.
Grace’s Pick
The Flame: Poems, Notebooks, Lyrics, Drawings by Leonard Cohen
I’ve had this Leonard Cohen collection in my arsenal for some time now, and what better time to revisit it than for April’s Poetry Month? This is one of those few books that–as a musician, self-proclaimed Leonard Cohen superfan, and poetry lover–I find myself returning to time and time again. This volume was the final collection published by Cohen during his lifetime, and, much like his songs, these poems are timeless, moving, generation-spanning gems. The collection offers it all: not only poetry, but excerpts from Cohen’s notebooks, unreleased song lyrics, and numerous self-portraits and sketches penned by the artist himself. I find it rare in life to come upon a book that reads as if the author were speaking (or singing) directly to you, and The Flame is undoubtedly one of these rarities.
My advice? Read this book, then read it again, gift it to someone you love, then take it back. Read it once more. If you want to smile, listen to his song “Passing Through” (specifically the Live in London version, 1972.) If you want to cry, listening to pretty much any of his other songs should do. And, of course, if you feel like waltzing, there’s certainly always “Take This Waltz.” Then read the book again. In that order.
Karin’s Pick
Into the Hush by Arthur Sze
Sometimes readers are put off by poetry because they suppose poems are often difficult to understand. Poems are seen as being too much trouble to mess with because they seem to be so open-ended, so unresolved; it might seem like too much work to try to arrive at what they might mean. But given half a chance, poetry doesn’t have to be difficult or obtuse. If one is willing to read a bit more slowly and think a bit more openly, poetry can create new understandings and ultimately allow a reader to see the world a bit differently.
In his latest volume, Into the Hush, the current U.S. Poet Laureate, Arthur Sze, encourages a reader to do just that. Sze’s evocative use of language draws the reader into thinking about the objects, emotions, and relationships of this world. Reading his poems allows us to be privy to a poet using language to marry perceptive description with deepening understanding, The images he creates are both beautiful and thought-provoking. You will be the richer for givingInto the Hush a try!
