Book Life Rambles

City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert G👀dreads: In 1940, nineteen-year-old Vivian Morris has just been kicked out of Vassar College, owing to her lackluster freshman-year performance. Her affluent parents send her to Manhattan to live with her Aunt Peg, who owns a flamboyant, crumbling midtown theater called the Lily Playhouse. There Vivian is introduced to an entire cosmos of unconventional and charismatic characters, from the fun-chasing showgirls to a sexy male actor, a grand-dame actress, a lady-killer writer, and no-nonsense stage manager. But when Vivian makes a personal mistake that results in professional scandal, it turns her new world upside down in ways that it will take her years to fully understand. Ultimately, though, it leads her to a new understanding of the kind of life she craves-and the kind of freedom it takes to pursue it. Now ninety-five years old and telling her story at last, Vivian recalls how the events of those years altered the course of her life - and the gus...

The Women by Kristin Hannah Google The book tells the story of Frances "Frankie" McGrath, a young nurse who serves in the United States Army Nurse Corps during the Vietnam War G👀dreads: Women can be heroes. When twenty-year-old nursing student Frances "Frankie" McGrath hears these words, it is a revelation. Raised in the sun-drenched, idyllic world of Southern California and sheltered by her conservative parents, she has always prided herself on doing the right thing. But in 1965, the world is changing, and she suddenly dares to imagine a different future for herself. When her brother ships out to serve in Vietnam, she joins the Army Nurse Corps and follows his path. The real battle lies in coming home to a changed and divided America, to angry protesters, and to a country that wants to forget Vietnam. Genre: Historical Fiction, War Story, Domestic Fiction, Vietnam Circa: Mid 60's to early 70's. It's been recommended a lot on the FB page and people in r...

  The Queens of Crime by Marie Benedict From Google/AI: "The Queens of Crime" by Marie Benedict, the main characters are the real-life crime writers Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, Margery Allingham, and Baroness Orczy. They are portrayed as a group of women crime writers who come together to solve a real-life murder in France. Dorothy L. Sayers leads the group, and they are known as the "Queens of Crime". The novel is inspired by a true story of a young English nurse murdered in France, and the author uses newspaper headlines and Dorothy's own novels to create the fictional resolution. Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Thriller.  Circa: 1930. I like that it's about real-life crime writers solving the murder instead of investigators, reporters, or more recently, a friend or relative of the victim or the senior citizens at Shady Pines. Although I haven't listened to any with the senior sleuths yet. I mean, isn't Agatha Christie the...

Strange Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent  ⭐ G👀dreads: Reclusive Sally Diamond is thrust into the media spotlight when she tries to incinerate her dead father, causing widespread outrage. Now she’s the center of attention, not only from hungry reporters and police detectives, but also a sinister voice from a past she does not remember. As she begins to discover the repressed memories of her horrific early childhood, Sally steps into the world for the first time, making new friends, big decisions, and learning that people don’t always mean what they say. But who is the man observing Sally from the other side of the world, and why does he call her Mary? And why does her new neighbor seem to be obsessed with her? Sally’s trust issues are about to be severely challenged in this “truly incredible reading experience” Librarian Google says it's " one that won't be easy to forget any time soon ". Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Crime Fiction, Suspense, Psychological Thriller ⭐ This book...

  The Sicilian Inheritance by Jo Piazza  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The cover is a beauty From G👀dreads: Sara Marsala barely knows who she is anymore after the failure of her business and marriage. On top of that, her beloved great-aunt Rosie passes away, leaving Sara bereft with grief. But Aunt Rosie's death also opens an escape from her life and a window into the past by way of a plane ticket to Sicily, a deed to a possibly valuable plot of land, and a bombshell family secret. Rosie believes Sara's great-grandmother Serafina, the family matriarch who was left behind while her husband worked in America, didn’t die of illness as family lore has it . . . she was murdered. Thus begins a twist-filled adventure that takes Sara all over the picturesque Italian countryside as she races to solve a mystery and prove her birthright. Flashing back to the past, we meet Serafina, a feisty and headstrong young woman in the early 1900s thrust into motherhood in her teens, who fought for a better life not just ...

Murder's a Witch by Danielle Garret ⭐⭐⭐ Goodreads: I’m a witch with a problem. Okay, make that lots of problems. Following a slight misunderstanding with magical law enforcement, I wind up expelled from the hidden supernatural community known as the Seattle Haven. My parole office dumps me in a tiny beach town with nothing but my collection of worldly possessions and a warning that this is my last shot. I don’t think I’m cut out for the human world, but when stuck between a prison cell and a haunted halfway house, I suppose I’ll take option B. Things start out better than expected, I even manage to make a few friends, but when my boss at the local coffee house is found dead in an alley, I get tangled up in the investigation, and might have to blow my cover to prove my friend’s innocence. Add to that a fussy ghost landlady, warring vampire and shifter roommates, and my rapidly dwindling savings, and I’m beginning to wonder if I might have been better off serving that prison sentence...

First Lie Wins by Ashley Elston  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ From G👀dreads: Evie Porter has everything a nice Southern girl could want: a doting boyfriend, a house with a white picket fence, a tight group of friends. The only catch: Evie Porter doesn’t exist. The identity comes first: Evie Porter. Once she’s given a name and location by her mysterious boss, Mr. Smith, she learns everything there is to know about the town and the people in it. Then the mark: Ryan Sumner. The last piece of the puzzle is the job. Evie isn’t privy to Mr. Smith’s real identity, but she knows this job isn’t like the others. Ryan has gotten under her skin, and she’s starting to envision a different sort of life for herself. But Evie can’t make any mistakes—especially after what happened last time. Genre: Fiction, Thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Crime  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Not your typically thriller, its a thriller that actually thrills! Things unfold along the way instead of wrapping everything up at the end.  I figured ou...

  Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus  ⭐⭐⭐⭐ From G👀dreads: Chemist Elizabeth Zott is not your average woman. In fact, Elizabeth Zott would be the first to point out that there is no such thing as an average woman. But it’s the early 1960s and her all-male team at Hastings Research Institute takes a very unscientific view of equality. Except for one: Calvin Evans; the lonely, brilliant, Nobel–prize nominated grudge-holder who falls in love with—of all things—her mind. True chemistry results. But like science, life is unpredictable. Which is why a few years later Elizabeth Zott finds herself not only a single mother, but the reluctant star of America’s most beloved cooking show Supper at Six. Elizabeth’s unusual approach to cooking (“combine one tablespoon acetic acid with a pinch of sodium chloride”) proves revolutionary. But as her following grows, not everyone is happy. Because as it turns out, Elizabeth Zott isn’t just teaching women to cook. She’s daring them to change t...

The Lunar Housewife by Caroline Woods Google A stylish and suspenseful historical page-turner following an up-and-coming journalist who stumbles onto a web of secrets, deceptions, and mysteries at a popular new literary magazine--inspired by the true story of CIA intervention in Cold War American arts and letters. G👀dreads Louise Leithauser's star is on the rise. She’s filing stories at her boyfriend Joe's new literary magazine and the novel she's writing is going swimmingly. But when she overhears Joe and his business partner fighting about listening devices and death threats, Louise can't help but investigate, and learns that someone is pulling Joe’s strings--someone who doesn't want artists criticizing Uncle Sam. Meanwhile, opportunities are falling in Louise's lap that she'd have to be crazy to refuse. Can Louise let doors keep opening for her, while the establishment censors her fellow writers? As her suspicions mount, Louise's novel is colored by ...

Thank You For Listening by Julia Whelan  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Recommended by the FB book recommendation page. Someone was asking for recommendations for great narrators. Several were saying Julia Whelan is their favorite and that her book Thank You For Listening was great. ETA: They were not wrong. Google After a tragic accident, Sewanee Chester has settled into a career of being an audiobook narrator and leaving behind her acting career. She started in the audiobook career reading romance, but since her success has left that genre behind. Then she does something unexpected. To pay for her grandmother Blah’s (short for Barbara—who steals every chapter she’s in) nursing home expenses, she needs extra cash. So, she takes an offer she can’t refuse: co-narrating a romance novel. G👀dreads For Sewanee Chester, being an audiobook narrator is a long way from her old dreams, but the days of being a star on film sets are long behind her. She’s found success and satisfaction from the inside of a sound boot...