Fiction

Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos. I found this book, the first novel by poet de los Santos, extremely engaging, and I stayed up way too late finishing it. (What else is new?) It's dually narrated by Clare, an 11-year-old dealing with her mother's intense emotional difficulties, and a 32-year-old lost-ish soul named Cornelia. How their lives intersect is the crux of the story. This would be an excellent beach read. Nice writing, entertaining (if improbable) tale.

Love Water Memory by Jennie Shortridge. "Have you ever woken up to find yourself thigh-deep in the cold water of the San Francisco bay, not knowing who you are? Yeah, me either. But it happened to the protagonist of this story. What trauma caused her to upend her life, lose her mind and memory? You’ll have to read it to find out. Hint: the trauma was not seeing that #TBT picture of Britney and Justin in matching ‘90s denim at the AMAs".

The Lover's Dictionaryby David Levithan. "This was the most originally laid out book I have ever read. It's a quick and moving read."

Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll. MID-SUMMER ADDITION! I read this until 4:00 this morning, so please excuse my incoherence. This is such a quintissential beach read, I felt it was worth calling to your attention. Also, because I almost didn't read it because of the weird cover - so weird I just had to include a picture of it. (WTH?). Okay, brief synopsis: Through sheer force of will, TifAni FaNelli, now known as Ani (Ah-Nee) has finally gotten everything she wanted - the rich, blue-blood fiance, the awesome job, the right clothes. But she is both haunted and driven by some terrible, very public incident from her high school years, when she attended an elite school on the Main Line in suburban Philadelphia. You go back and forth between her high school life and her present-day "perfect" life as the old story unfolds. I hadn't read much about it, but enough to be warned that the "Gone Girl" comparisons are overdone, which they are. It's dark and you aren't sure how reliable the narrator is (or whether you're supposed to love her or hate her). I am probably too tired to think through all the many flaws, but as this is (ostensibly) a "beach book" website, I think the key words are: "read this until 4 a.m." The most Gone Girl-esque thing about it was how it grabbed me by the collar and didn't let me go.

Luncheon of the Boating Partyby Susan Vreeland. "France. Historical novel that chronicles the backdrop to this famous Renoir painting. A fun read for those who liked Girl With A Pearl Earring or Madame X (of the same ilk as this book)." Instantly recognizable, Auguste Renoir’s masterpiece depicts a gathering of his real friends enjoying a summer Sunday on a café terrace along the Seine near Paris. A wealthy painter, an art collector, an Italian journalist, a war hero, a celebrated actress, and Renoir’s future wife, among others, share this moment of la vie moderne, a time when social constraints were loosening and Paris was healing after the Franco-Prussian War.

Lying Awake by Mark Salzman. From Amazon: "Sister John's cloistered life of peace and prayer has been electrified by ever more frequent visions of God's radiance, leading her toward a deep religious ecstasy. Her life and writings have become examples of devotion. Yet her visions are accompanied by shattering headaches that compel Sister John to seek medical help. When her doctor tells her an illness may be responsible for her gift, Sister John faces a wrenching choice: to risk her intimate glimpses of the divine in favor of a cure, or to continue her visions with the knowledge that they might be false-and might even cost her her life."

I Am Madame X by Gioia Dilberto: “it's a part historical documentation and part fictionalized memoir of the storied, risque model in the famous John Singer Sargent painting and a fun read... similar to Girl with A Pearl Earring.”

The Madonnas of Leningrad by Debra Dean. "Historical fictiony book about a women sliding into Alzheimers whose most vivid memories are those from her time hunkered down in the Hermitage during the siege of Leningrad during WWII."

The Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz. From Amazon: “From the New York Times bestselling author of Moriarty and Trigger Mortis, this fiendishly brilliant, riveting thriller weaves a classic whodunit worthy of Agatha Christie into a chilling, ingeniously original modern-day mystery.”

Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear. "This is a series of 15 cozy British mysteries written over the past 15-16 years. Born into a lower-class service family, Maisie is taken under the wing of an aristocrat family, educated, and sent off to serve as a nurse in World War I. Returning from war, she becomes a private investigator, and every book in the series shows how she evolves over time, how she finds and spurns love, how she connects to family, and how she solves murders, art theft, and other crimes. I’m on my second read-through of the whole series, and am falling in love with it all over again. Really recommend this as a year-long project if anyone wants/needs a new-to-them series to dig into."

Man Alive! by Mary Kay Zuravleff. “Smart fiction - family drama set in Bethesda and Bethany.”

Old Filth and The Man in the Wooden Hatby Jane Gardam. These were on last year’s list but still get mentions. “Don't be put off by the drab covers and unappealing titles. These two books are my favorites of the year. Traveling back and forth in time, they are the story of Edward Feathers ( Filth), his wife Betty and Filth's rival Terry Veneering. Lovely passages from the vague point of view of the aging but still feisty British. Filth is a ‘raj orphan’, one of the children sent home to English foster care to avoid the tropical diseases in colonial outposts in the Far East. Love story, adventure story , moves from Hong Kong to the British countryside . Funny, sad, and very British.”

The Man Who Loved Childrenby Christina Stead “Every family lives in an evolving story, told by all its members, inside a landscape of portentous events and characters. Their view of themselves is not shared by people looking from outside in--visitors, and particularly not relatives--for they have to see something pretty humdrum, even if, as in this case, the fecklessness they complain of is extreme.” (Barnard Book Club).

The Man Who Loved Dogs by Leonardo Padura. Published in 2009, translated to English in 2014, and recommended to me in 2019. Lonardo Padura’s historical novel is complex and fascinating. This Cuban writer takes you to Spain, France, Russia, Cuba and Mexico City for the assassination of Leon Trotsky in 1940. I loved it!

The Mandibles by Lionel Shriver. “This novel which takes place in 2029, examines a family in New York after the United States - it’s currency, government, etc. - has collapsed. The book follows an upper middle class family that has been counting on a family fortune, and examines how they deal with their new dystopian reality. More in depth than a true beach book, but I read it last summer and it was a great read”.

Mango Seasonby Amulya Malladi "India. Arranged marriages. Culture clash. Coming of Age. An Indian woman I met at a party recommended this book to me after we had a long discussion about arranged marriages in different cultures (fyi, she claims India has the highest success rate....)."

The Manny by Holly Peterson. "The ultimate junky, funny, easy beach read."

The Many Lives and Secret Sorrows of Josephine B by Sandra Gulland. "This is the first in a series of three historical fiction novels about Josephine Bonaparte. Very interesting, good historical details, lots of fun." Gulland was on the early side of the historical fiction trend, one that really got rolling with The Other Boleyn Girl a couple of years later.

March By Geraldine Brooks. “Sort of the male version of Little Women and it's not too long."

Marjorie Morningstarby Herman Wouk “Published in 1955, about a woman who rebels against the confining middle-class values of her industrious American-Jewish family. Her dream of being an actress ends in failure. She ultimately forfeits her illusions and marries a conventional man with whom she finds sufficient contentment as a suburban wife and mother, thus finally coming to accept her parents' values.” (Barnard Book Club)

Fiction

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