BROKEN COUNTRY by Clare Leslie Hall appeared on my radar when it debuted on the NY Times bestseller list this week, along with several reviewers raving about it. At first, I was turned off by comparison to Owens’s WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING (which I hated), but really, it’s nothing like it. Taking place on an English farm in the late 1960s, it is a gorgeously written story about love lost and the tragic fallout when that past love reappears. It is very moving and twisty, and while the main character, Beth, may annoy you with her actions, her husband, Frank, is the book’s star, and the ending is weep-worthy.

Readers who like literary fiction like Ann Patchett, Tracey Lange, Elizabeth Strout, Charlotte Ng, and Jodi Picoult may want to try this. It definitely has a place on my best of 2025 list.

I understand that Dave Barry’s humor is not everyone’s cup of tea, but when I need a good laugh, I turn to his books and/or old columns (he retired from writing weekly columns years ago). So I was excited to read his forthcoming memoir, CLASS CLOWN: The Memoirs of a Professional Wiseass–How I Went 77 Years Without Growing Up (coming in May), a subtitle I can relate to.

Well, it was fun—not quite the hilarious romp I expected—but it was fascinating to see how he went from being a newspaper journalist to a humorist and learn about some of the events he participated in. Despite the lack of tears-inducing laughter, I ultimately enjoyed his well-written story and would recommend it as a “feel-good” memoir.

It incited me to bookmark many of his books in audio for future listening, although I’ll have to make sure not to listen to them when in public or driving a car (once, I nearly drove off the road from laughing so hard). And I’ll probably reread one of my favorites, DAVE BARRY’S BOOK OF BAD SONGS.

For a good laugh, read his column here about staying in an NYC City, which he dubbed the “Hotel Shpennsylvania.”

I’m going to post the books I’ve mentioned on my Facebook page, so expect several posts to arrive in the next few days.

I read the 31st book in the Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich, and it was great fun. I had just about given up on these about five books ago as each plot line followed the same worn format (Lula being annoying, cars getting blown up, Grandma going to viewings, the continuing dilemma of whether Joe or Ranger will end up in Stephanie’s bed), but then I picked up DIRTY THIRTY, which ended on a cliff hanger, and I couldn’t wait to read NOW OR NEVER. The cliffhanger wasn’t resolved until the end, and whether Stephanie’s choice of who to marry is wise remains to be seen. If you decide to read these, they are best in audio.

The responses to my query about keeping my blog have been mixed, but so many were positive that I’ve come up with a solution.

I will continue to post on all three platforms (Facebook, Goodreads, WordPress Blog), but here’s the deal to make it easy for you:

[For those who don’t want to wade through the explanation below, here is the TL;DR (Too Long; Didn’t Read)].

1) If you aren’t on Facebook, continue getting my blog via email.
2) Following my Facebook page means you don’t need to subscribe to my blog.
3) You can just do Goodreads, but sometimes, I post a lot of titles at once with no annotations.

Whatever I read will be posted on Facebook and duplicated on my blog, so if you follow my Facebook page, “robinsbooks,” there is no need to subscribe to the blog. However, if I create a more extended “theme” blog post, I will post the link on Facebook so you won’t miss any of my pearls of book content. You can then “unsubscribe” to my blog so you won’t receive emails (you can do this by clicking on the link at the bottom of the blog email, or I can take care of it for you).

Please know that if you plan on just following my Goodreads posts, I post my current reading and everything I want to read, including forthcoming books over the next year. I don’t always annotate my “Read” titles, so if you want to really know how I feel about a book, it is best to subscribe to the blog or watch Facebook.

I hope this makes sense, but my not making sense is a specialty, so that’s nothing new.

OK, so I know I have been bad about keeping up this blog, but I do have good intentions! In fact, my current intentions are so good that I want to get a few posts going, but I need to know if there is still anyone who cares. The issue is that I need to relearn how to create posts, and I’m not sure it’s worth the effort. I am posting my current reads on Facebook and Goodreads, but I’m sure there are a few followers who might want a blog post.

So, please reply to me at robins books at gmail dot com or make a comment below. Here are a few recent books I enjoyed for your attention.

Yes, it’s been a couple of years since I’ve been here but thought I’d get the reading ball rolling with postings I started on Facebook and Instagram, based on the books I lug home each week from the library. It’s a mixture of titles I had put on hold and some that called my name from the library shelf. As I peruse them, I determine if they should be added to a future TBR (to-be-read) list. So without further ado, here is this week’s post.

Book Snacks from the Library Stacks

THE WISHING GAME by Meg Shaffer. Goodreads reviews have been positive and glowing, saying this homage to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a lovely feel-good story and that’s always a good thing. For sure on the TBR list.

THE WAGER: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny, and Murder by David Grann. A compelling true sea story taking place in 1742. Fans of Grann’s previous works (KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON and LOST CITY OF Z) will want to try this book, perfect for the beach. Definitely on the TBR list.

COMMITMENT by Mona Simpson. I picked this up based on Simpson’s first book, ANYWHERE BUT HERE, which I loved when it came out years ago. A future maybe.

SUCH KINDNESS by Andre Dubus III. This is the newest book by the author of HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG and it appears to follow the trope of a down-and-out character who does what they can to survive in life. Maybe I’ll read when I’m in the mood for a Willy Vlautin read-a-like.

FIFTH AVENUE GLAMOUR GIRL by Renee Rosen. I’m a massive fan of “biofic” novels – that is, fictionalized biographies of famous figures. This is based on the rags-to-riches story of cosmetics giant Estée Lauder told through a friend’s lens. Similar authors are Fiona Davis (all set in NYC) and Paula McLain, or for another novel of glamourous lives, watch for Gill Paul’s BEAUTIFUL RIVALS, based on the rivalry between Helena Rubenstein and Elizabeth Arden. On the TBR list.

REVENGE OF THE SAGUARO: Offbeat Travels Through American’s Southwest by Tom Miller. It’s always good to read something by a local author, and this could fill the bill. Added to TBR list.

YOU NEVER KNOW by Connie Briscoe. Almost 30 years ago, I read SISTERS AND LOVERS by this author and enjoyed it, but I haven’t read another book by her since. This domestic suspense novel with multiple twists will surely be on my future TBR list.

THE SEASIDE LIBRARY by Brenda Novak. I am a fan of books set at the beach, and how can one go wrong with this title AND the cover. It could be a good readalike for Nancy Thayer and others who set their stories near the ocean.

THE MARRIAGE ACT by John Marrs. A “what if” futuristic novel: “What if marriage was a law? Dare you disobey”? Reading this with THE HANDMAID’S TALE by Margaret Atwood might be interesting but scary. For sure, on the TBR pile.

WONDERFUL TONIGHT by Pattie Boyd. This is a fascinating memoir by the former wife of George Harrison and Eric Clapton. I read it years ago, but I wanted to give it another quick read. Let’s face it, didn’t most women my age want long blonde hair, to live in England and hobnob with the Beatles when we were teens back in the 1960s?

THE LIBRARIANIST by Patrick deWitt. This is the low-key story of a retired librarian in Portland (OR) whose life is changed when he helps a confused woman back to her assisted living facility. My librarian friend, Kim McGee, said this, “Fans of Ann Patchett’s reflective writing with a dollop of THE STORIED LIFE OF A.J. FIKRY and unique characters of Fredrik Backman will immediately become immersed.”

That’s it for this week. Stay tuned for another stack of snacks next week.

Even though 2020 might not have been the best year of our lives, there was no dearth of enthralling titles to keep us occupied over the year. Following is a selection of titles I especially enjoyed but check here for the complete printable list with annotations.

During the first few chapters of Rumaan Alam’s Leave the World Behind, I thought I was reading a suspenseful story of an AirBnB stay gone wrong but that wasn’t the case. The unsettling story of two couples grappling with unknown events became much more than that. Some readers have loved it and some have hated it not seeing the point (and I admit it wasn’t particularly clear) but these are the kinds of books that make for a great discussion.

My favorite novel of the year is the fascinating The Mystery of Mrs. Christie by Marie Benedict. Based on the real life event of Agatha Christie’s 11-day disappearance in 1926, the story is told from the viewpoints of Agatha and her husband who narrate the story of how and why she managed to pull it off along with a few twists along the way.

For more insight into Agatha’s story (along with other exposés of other real-life authors’ scandalous lives), get a copy of Writers Between the Covers by Shannon McKenna Schmidt and Joni Reardon.

Crime Fiction

If you’re looking for something to keep you on the edge of your couch, any of the following will take care of your needs.

The Guest List was a compelling gothic-tinged mystery set on a remote Irish island featuring the wedding of two celebrities and an array of suspicious guests. And then the storm rolled in…

If you’re looking for a simple procedural murder mystery, try Matt Goldman’s Nils “Shap” Shapiro series. Most are set in Minnesota although in Dead West, Nils travels to Los Angeles to solve a mystery. Readers who miss Sue Grafton may wish to give this series a try, and if so, start with Gone to Dust.

Even though the ending left me a little puzzled, I loved Alice Feeney’s mind-bending, Sometimes I Lie, and her follow-up, I Know Who You Are, also kept me in suspense. Her third book, His and Hers, is told from three viewpoints with twists galore and the suspense didn’t let up until the very last page.

In Julie Clark’s The Last Flight, two strangers meet in an airport and decide to switch identities, each taking a different flight. But one of the planes crashes killing all aboard, which sets a path of mayhem for the survivor. One might be tempted to take this on a long plane trip but trust me, this is best read while on the ground, preferably in your back yard.

Nonfiction

It was a good year for narrative nonfiction, especially memoirs. Here are a few of my favorites.

I love books about adventure and Roman Dial’s The Adventurer’s Son was both gripping and moving. The first half of the book focused on Roman Dial’s epic experiences and the second half chronicled his family’s exhaustive search of their son who disappeared in Costa Rica. This is perfect for those who liked Into the Wild by Jon Krakauer.

During the height of the lockdown last spring, I read Peggy Rowe’s About Your Father and it was the perfect uplifting book for the time. Peggy Rowe, Mike Rowe’s (of Dirty Jobs fame) 82-year-old mother, channeled her inner Erma Bombeck and wrote a wonderful homage to married and family life complete with heartfelt observations about growing older.

Anne Glenconner’s Lady in Waiting was one of my favorite memoirs of the year. Although born around royalty (Princess Margaret was a good friend), Glenconner’s life wasn’t all silver spoon-ish. Her married and family life had many tragedies but despite it all she kept her sense of humor. The most interesting part of the memoir was the story of how she and her husband developed the island of Mustique, which became a celebrity destination.

I adore a good tell-all about any business and even though I can’t remember the last time I was in a bar, the story of building a trendy speakeasy from scratch was fascinating. In Unvarnished, Eric Alperin writes in minute detail how he developed bar Varnish from the ground up and includes a huge amount of cocktail recipes. Try this is you liked Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain.

The Secret Life of Groceries by Benjamin Lorr examines life behind the fish counter at Whole Foods market, how a new food product makes it to the grocery store shelf, the origination and development of Trader Joe’s, the slave labor of harvesting shrimp in Asia, plus more. This was a wee bit dry in places but you’ll never look at grocery shopping in quite the same way. If you want to learn even more about how grocery stores operate, try Michael Ruhlman’s Grocery.

Do you ever drop off donations to the local Goodwill store thinking they will all appear on that store’s shelves in a few days? Probably not going to happen. They could be on their way to Mexican secondhand stores or even overseas. Adam Minter’s Secondhand also gets a little too detailed at times but the journey of where our used goods go is very informative. [When we were in Arizona, we would see almost daily a rickety truck piled high with used mattresses heading south to be sold in Mexico, and turns out that is one of the top imports from the US to Mexico.]

Terry Virts isn’t exactly a household name but he sure knows his space travel! I was fascinated by all of the nitty gritty details about training, traveling, and living in space he packed into How To Astronaut. This is the perfect for curious minds that want to know the “no-holds-barred” scoop about “going” in space.

This is going to be a fabulous year for books from Oregon authors and I’ll be highlighting a batch in my next post.

Thanks to everyone who is following my reading journey. If you missed my previous musings, links are at the end of this post.

Once I exhausted all of the mystery series and started finding the children’s books a little, well, childish, I decided it was time to make a run to the right of the desk where the adult books were shelved. So one day, I skulked past the gimlet eye of Miss Clark and entered a whole new world of books. At first glance, many appeared to be a bit beyond my ken, but it didn’t take long to discover a treasure trove of books with “teen” spine stickers mixed in with the fiction. After loading my arms for the long trek home, I soon found myself immersed in the exciting new world of teen troubles.

Young Adult Books, 1950s/1960s Style

As a dweeby sixth-grader with frumpy dresses and a home perm who so badly wanted to be popular, books by Anne Emery and Rosamond du Jardin were a balm to my tween angst. All dealt with teen trials and tribulations, both frivolous and thoughtful, but mostly I identified with the stories where the main character was trying to be part of the cool kids’ group. Oh, and boy trouble…

Anne Emery’s Dinny Gordon series featured a teen whose career goal was to be an archaeologist, which sparked my interest in also exploring ruins and going to Egypt (spoiler alert: it didn’t happen). The series went through Dinny’s freshman to senior years, and I devoured them all. Another favorite by this author was The Popular Crowd, which I read multiple times.

Rosamond du Jardin wrote in a similar vein, and I plowed through all of her books such as Class Ring, Boy Trouble, One of the Crowd, which were all part of Tobey and Midge Heydon series. Here is a lovely description of parents in a simpler era:

“The Heydon family resides in the town of Edgewood where Mr. Heydon sells plumbing supplies and Mrs. Heydon is a homemaker who enjoys baking chocolate cakes and lemon cream pie.”

I also read books by Janet Lambert and Betty Cavanna and continuing my interest in the medical profession, novels like Candy Stripers. Occasionally I wandered into the nonfiction aisle and picked up books on Oregon history (Sacajawea was a favorite) and astronomy.

Mad about Magazines

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my magazine addiction started in grade school with the distribution of the Weekly Reader, and it wasn’t long before I got hooked on the hard stuff. In 1964 the Beatles took over the imagination of tween/teen girls (and yes, I was one although I became more of Herman’s Hermits fan), and I started noticing magazines such as ‘Teen, Tiger Beat, 16, and more. With such lurid headlines as “Beatles Weird Wishes” and “Herman’s Wild Life!” it was easy to part with my allowance so I could follow the latest about my idols.

16 magazine was my favorite, and I remember a contest where one “lucky” reader could win Herman’s (Peter Noone) snaggle canine tooth he’d had removed. (I hope no one thinks of less me of when I admit I actually entered that creepy contest.) I didn’t read Tiger Beat very often (think it was hard to find), but I enjoyed Ann Moses’ recent memoir, Meow!: My Groovy Life with Tiger Beat’s Teen Idols, with lots of juicy behind-the-scenes revelations and interactions with the stars of the day.

‘Teen magazine was another fave that I read religiously. I don’t remember many of the articles, but I did lust after the fashions (especially the go-go boots) and perused the Pen Pal page to see who might have the same interests I did–you know, books, boys, and surfing–OK, so maybe I didn’t surf, but it was cool to think I could.

I also discovered MAD magazine, and even though I’m sure much of the content went right over my head, I thought it was hilarious, especially the movie and TV show satires. I still remember my brother and me listening to the 33 1/3 RPM record insert of “It’s a Gas” and giggling uncontrollably. If you never had the pleasure of hearing this classic, listen to it here.

Next up: I discover smut and the start of my love for psychological suspense.

8th grade, trying hard to be groovy

Earlier posts:

The Very Early Years

Chapter Books

Nancy Drew and Chums