I fell in love with Kina Grannis when I heard her version of “Can’t Help Falling in Love” in Crazy Rich Asians. This is her version of “Someday” by Sugar Ray, one of the songs she recorded during the pandemic.
This week’s Top Ten Tuesday from That Artsy Reader Girl is a Thanksgiving freebie. While wondering what new giant balloons we’d be treated to in this year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, I decided that although Macy’s has historically been great about making balloons that include characters from films, tv, and literature, they might like some suggestions for bookish characters we’d like to see moved from the page to the sky. Here are my top ten recommendations:
How about you? What characters would you like to see added to their giant balloon repertoire?
Also, would you like to join this year’s Virtual Advent Tour? Signups are now open for December.
Ticketmaster and Citibank are thwarting my buying tickets to see P!nk next summer, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy a Bob Dylan cover by her from earlier this fall to celebrate getting over the hump.
So this week’s Top Ten Tuesday topic from That Artsy Reader Girl asks for specific “awwww” moments in books, and like many participants, I struggled to come up with those. So I’m sharing ten books that made me hug them or my people when I got to the end of them:
Are there particular awww moments, or awww books in general, that stand out for you?
Hey! We’re caught up to halfway through the year!
Early Morning Riser by Katherine Heiny
Jane, a young teacher, moves to a new town and promptly falls into a relationship with the town handyman, who, it turns out, has already been with practically every other woman in the county. And it turns out living with that is harder than Jane thought it would be. There are twists and turns and tricks of fate and senses of responsibility and found family (whether you want to be found by them or not) and before you know it, 15 years have passed, and your life is your life.
If you’d like a novel version of the Beatles’ lyric, “Life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans,” this is it. It wasn’t my cup of tea, but I could appreciate what others saw in it.
Paper. Library copy. Pages: 320
The Bromance Book Club by Lyssa Kay Adams
This is the first novel in a series about high-powered Nashville men who read romance novels to better understand the women they love. In this story, a professional baseball player is on the verge of losing his wife after a serious fight and an ego-crushing revelation, when his teammate and some of his well-heeled friends reveal that the secret to saving his marriage can be found by reading romance novels. By taking an intensive crash course in what female protagonists are looking for in general and applying that to what his wife may feel she is missing in particular, he hopes to heal the rift with the woman of his dreams.
It was cute, but alpha males aren’t really my thing. Might or might not read another someday.
Audiobook. Library copy. Pages: 339
As always, I’m terrible at writing about the books I read. But let’s take a first stab at getting caught up before the end of the year:
An Impossible Imposter by Deanna Raybourn (review found here)
Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake by Alexis Hall
Rosaline, the bi single mum of a precocious daughter and amateur baker, has been selected to take part in a Great British Bake-Off-style reality show. As with every reality show, everyone taking part ticks off a single, obvious box (gay, grandmother, homemaker, entrepreneur, student, etc.). But as Rosaline starts to get to know her fellow contestants behind the scenes, she finds deeper connections — including possible romance — first with a well-spoken, driven architect and later with a kind electrician. Will she find her true love or her showstopper first? Or will she struggle both on the show and in her personal life, continuing a trend that disappoints her doctor parents to no end.
Perfect for fans of GBBO or other cooking shows. I’m looking forward to the next book in the series.
Paper. Library copy. Pages: 435
The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill
In this delightful tale of the power of friendship and generosity, the villagers in a downtrodden hamlet are suspicious of everything: Outsiders. Dragons. Learning. Reading. Each other.
Except at the orphanage, where a small group of children and their older caretakers make ends meet, barely, but where love — and books — abound.
Then, one day one of the orphans disappears. While this does bring the townspeople together a little bit, it mostly unites them behind the prejudice their mayor holds toward the Ogress who lives on the village outskirts, who has, unbeknownst to them all, been helping every single one of them make ends meet with the bounty that she grows and bakes.
Will small-mindedness, distrust, self-interest, and hatred win out?
At some point in the very near future, Kelly Barnhill is going to join my very short list of authors whose books I just buy, rather than borrow from the library. Highly recommended for all.
Paper. Library copy. Pages: 400
The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan
A man loses something precious and then spends the rest of his life trying to atone for that misstep by trying to reunite things with their people. When he dies, he tasks Laura, the young woman who’s kept house for him, to carry on his work. A woman, Eunice, heads to a job interview, finds a charm, gets the position, and lands herself a BFF. The book slips back and forth through time, alternating between Laura and Eunice’s stories, but inching forward to their inevitable meeting.
The book was too ambitious and didn’t fully pull off its periodic forays into otherworldliness. But other than that it was a pleasant enough way to pass the time while doing dishes. I did have to speed up the reader to 1.5 times her desired cadence to keep from gnashing my teeth.
Audio. Library copy. Pages: 278