​Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng
336 pages
 
What’s it about?
When the Richardson family of Shaker Heights, Ohio meets Mia Warren and her 15-year-old daughter Pearl- all their lives change dramatically.  The Richardson’s have always lived a life of comfort and privilege- that is until Mia arrives.  Mia is an artist whose way of life is completely opposite of the Richardsons.  The contrast of the two families is very illuminating!
 
What did it make me think about?
As many good novels do- this book makes you think about what actually makes a family.  Is it genetics?  Is it love?  Is it culture?  No easy answers in this book.
 
Should I read it?
If I had just received a gift card for the holidays then I might splurge on this novel.  I must admit to starting this book at the same time I picked up an 8 week-old puppy so I had to read it in little bits.  Usually this is the kiss of death for a book.  Somehow this novel survived, and more importantly it made me think.  What an interesting book this was to read over the holidays!
 
Quote-
“The girls he’s grown up with in Shaker- and the boys, too, for that matter- seemed so purposeful: they were so ambitious; they were so confidant; they were so certain about everything.  They were, he thought, a little like his sisters, and his mother: so convinced there was a right and a wrong to everything, so positive that they knew one from the other.  Pearl was smarter than any of them and yet she seemed comfortable with everything she didn’t know: she lingered comfortably in the gray spaces.”

If you Like this try-
 Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeymii
​*Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
​Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
*And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini

9 stars

​The rules of magic by Alice Hoffman 
366 pages

What’s it about?
This novel centers around the Owens family.  The Owens have been plagued by a curse since the 1600's.  The curse makes falling in love catastrophic for all involved.  It is now present day New York City , the 1960's,  and the Owens family still must deal with it's past.

What did it make me think about?
 This was just a fun book about love, family, and witchcraft.   

Should I read it?
This book is a prequel to Alice Hoffman‘s “Practical Magic”.  I was concerned that I would not enjoy it because I had not read her previous book.  No worries- this book stands on its own. It was not my favorite Alice Hoffman book, but she is such a interesting writer that her stories always pull me in.

Quote-
“ Life is short, it was over in an instant, but some things lasted. Hate and love, kindness and cruelty, all lingered and,  in their case,  all Had been passed on.”

If you like this try-
Land of Love and Drowning by Tiphanie Yanique
Church of Marvels by Leslie Parry
The Golem and the Jinni by Helena Wecker
A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler

7 stars

​The Swans of New York by Melanie Benjamin
335 pages
 
What’s it about?
This novel is all about Truman Capote and his relationship with the “Swans of New York”- in actuality Babe Paley, Slim Keith, C.Z. Guest, Gloria Guinness, and Pamela Churchill.   These women were the reigning queens of Manhattan’s high society in the late 1950’s and 60’s.  This is a novel about a storyteller that could not resist telling a good story.  He just never dreamed of what it would cost him.
 
What did I think?
I read Truman Capote’s “In Cold Blood” as a young adult and was mesmerized, as most of America was.  Truman Capote was a talented writer but a tormented soul.  He certainly makes for a fascinating character in a novel.    He was a piece of work! 
 
Should you read it?
This novel was just fun.  It was a look into a world of wealth that is beyond imaginable.  It was gossipy, sad, and interesting. 
 
Quote-
“For that was what Babe did, it was her primary occupation.  Acquisition.  She sometimes thought of herself as a museum curator, only the museum was herself, her homes, her way of life.”
 
“Suddenly Gloria cringed, remembering something she’d told Truman not long ago, her head muddled by the false intimacy fueled by too much champagne and not enough food.”
 
If you like this try-
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney
​The Unfortunates by Sophie McManus

​7 stars
​