I want to thank one of our most loyal L&L readers, Ellen, for recommending Awake.  I hadn’t heard of Jen Hatmaker before reading this book, so it’s unlikely I would ever have picked it up on my own.  I’m so glad that I read this captivating book.

I always feel funny reviewing a book long after it was popular but somehow I missed reading it until now. But I decided I needed to review The Song of Achilles in case any of you, like me, sometimes take a decade to read an award-winning book. I read Miller’s second book, Circe, much closer to its release and loved it, so I don’t know why I delayed so long reading The Song of Achilles. But I’m so glad I finally read it.

There are many reasons I almost decided not to review The New Menopause: (1) I come from a generation that believes polite people don’t talk about personal things like menopause.  (2) I worried how our male readers would react. (3) I thought that even young women of my co-editor’s generation wouldn’t be interested in something which feels so far off in their future.  But I decided in favor of writing the review because I learned more from this book than I have from any book I’ve read in a very long time. 

I first heard about Say Nothing on Clint Smith’s Instagram.  As the author of one of my all-time favorite works of non-fiction, How the Word is Passed (read review here), I took his recommendation to heart and am so glad.

I really don’t know why I’m so late to the party when it comes to reading Dennis Lehane’s novels.  I knew he was a Boston author.  Maybe I thought his books contained too much violence. Whatever the reason, I want to make sure our L&L readers don’t make the same mistake I did.  

With an author as prolific as Margaret Atwood, I know it’s unlikely I’ll ever read her complete works. And although she is Canadian literary royalty, I hadn’t picked up one of her books in a long time. So when I came across The Year of the Flood in a little free library, I grabbed it, only to discover it was book two of a trilogy!