Some unsolicited thoughts and opinions from a mother and daughter who love reading and talking about books!

In recommending The Starless Sea, I struggled to name the genre of the book. I’ve decided it is fantasy – along the lines of Harry Potter but written for adults. The Starless Sea tells the story of Zachary Ezra Rollins who attends a small Vermont college, majors in Computer Games and keeps mostly to himself. One day, Ezra happens upon an old book in the library which, upon reading, he realizes tells the story of his life exactly up to that moment.

I’m always up for a good Jodi Picoult book when I need something easy to read on vacation, or after reading something challenging. (This time it was Catch and Kill by Ronan Farrow). Although this one fit the bill in terms of a gripping story told with her trademark flair, the subject matter made it much harder to digest than Picoult’s usual fare. (Which, by the way, is called “child peril lit.”)

Ann Patchett has done it again – written a fabulous novel from beginning to end. I am amazed at how reliably she produces books that I absolutely love. The Dutch House tells the story of a brother and sister, Danny and Maeve, who were abandoned by their mother at a young age. When their father remarries and soon thereafter dies, their stepmother throws them out of their magnificent family home in the Philadelphia suburbs.

I love starting a book when I know that at the very least, it will be well-written and engaging, and with Ian McEwan, that is always a safe bet. The Children Act was no exception in his superb, always inventive and psychologically investigative collection of novels.

When you read a Julian Barnes book, you know that it’s probably not going to be a happy tale. But it will be exquisitely written – almost poetic. The Only Story is indeed not happy. As the Globe and Mail said, “Julian Barnes’s latest novel is for the person who likes to listen to sad songs after a breakup. The Only Story hurts while it comforts.”