Fiction
The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen. A suspenseful, domestic thriller in the same vein as Gone Girl and Girl on the Train.
A Window Opens by Elisabeth Egan. "Book publishing employee moves over to a tech startup. Chaos and cray-cray ensue. How can she have it all? Who cares. It’s a fun read."
The Winter Queen by Boris Akunin. “Great detective read in the Agatha Christie tradition.” There is one of a series, by the way.
Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin. I am just getting into this book, and admit to having had to really soldier through the first 80 or so pages, despite the interesting characters and absolutely exquisite writing. Now I’m hitting a groove with it. I was going to wait until next year to recommend, but then I though, “why wait?” Read the Amazon reviews. It’s interesting how many people cite this as an “all time favorite.”
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel. Winner of the Booker prize, a novel about Thomas Cromwell, the villain of "A Man for all Seasons" (but not of Wolf Hall). "Lovely tempo and atmospheric style of writing in an historical setting. Quite a successful combination." "Who knew one could feel sympathy towards Oliver Cromwell? If you love the Tudor age and no detail is too much, this is the book for you. The writing style bugged friends of mine, I think they found it pompous, but it didn't bother me. I loved the book and enjoyed the different twist on an old and well-known storyline.” (Ed: It is indeed brilliant, but like many readers, I was beyond annoyed by Mantel’s ambiguous use of the pronoun "he." A hint to increase your enjoyment: If she says "he," she generally means Cromwell. She did better with this in the sequel.)
The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware. A journalist takes a trip on a luxury ship, it’s a thrilled with twists and turns until the end! Quick easy beach read!
Wonder by R.J. Palacio. "I stole this book from the hands of my 9 year old and would not give it back until I finished. August is a boy with a severe facial deformity going to public school for the first time. There, he must navigate friendships and taunts, dealing with the cruelty of children and their socially manipulative parents. Through it all, he is a good person, treasuring his family and friendships and trying hard to be normal. A heartwarming story with a message everyone, regardless of age, about acceptance and tolerance."
World Without End by Ken Follett. The sequel to the Pillars of the Earth. From Amazon: Ken Follett astonished the literary world with The Pillars of the Earth, a sweeping epic novel set in twelfth-century England that centered on the building of a cathedral and the men, women, and children whose lives it changed forever. Now, two centuries after the townspeople of Kingsbridge finished building the exquisite edifice, four children slip into the forest and witness a killing-an event that will bind them all by ambition, love, greed, and revenge...
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle. "I recently re-read and enjoyed it (I hadn't read it since 6th grade and was looking for books for my son and this just popped out as something I wanted to reread."
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. I loved re-reading this (and The Great Gatsby). “It’s interesting reading books about adults that you read when you were a teenager -- and now they take on a slightly different meaning when you read them with a ‘grown up’ perspective.” “You have to read it as an adult. It’s about the passions of a dysfunctional family and the happy resolution of its misery.”
The Yacoubian Building
A Year in the Merde By Stephen Clarke – “Hilarious! It's like the Englishman's version of Bridget Jones goes to Paris. I laughed out loud. Apparently, there is a sequel which is also very funny.”
The Year of Magical Thinking By Joan Didion – “Very heavy, but beautifully written and very insightful and honest. Apparently it is in the process of being produced as a Broadway play with Vanessa Redgrave.”
The Yellow Eyes Crocodiles by Katherine Pancol. Pancol is a best-selling author in France. “This is a light hearted romp through one woman’s mid-life crisis, and following re-emergence into the world as a woman, a mother and as a daughter and sister. While the author is French (I read the English translation) and there are purely Gallic moments, the themes of family life and friendship are universal. I laughed and cried, but it is not too serious. As my local wine shop says of some bottles, ‘a perfect summer sipper.’”
The Yellow Eyes of the Crocodile by Katherine Pancol. From Amazon:” When her chronically unemployed husband runs off to start a crocodile farm in Kenya with his mistress, Joséphine Cortès is left in an unhappy state of affairs. The mother of two—confident, beautiful teenage Hortense and shy, babyish Zoé—is forced to maintain a stable family life while making ends meet on her meager salary as a medieval history scholar. Meanwhile, Joséphine’s charismatic sister Iris seems to have it all—a wealthy husband, gorgeous looks, and a très chic Paris address—but she dreams of bringing meaning back into her life. When Iris charms a famous publisher into offering her a lucrative deal for a twelfth-century romance, she offers her sister a deal of her own: Joséphine will write the novel and pocket all the proceeds, but the book will be published under Iris’s name. All is well—that is, until the book becomes the literary sensation of the season.”
The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls by Anton Disclafani. “The book takes the read with 15 year-old Thea to a privileged all-girls riding camp and school in 1930, as much of the country is falling into the Depression. But Thea is sent there as a punishment for a scandal, away from her 1000 acre farm in Florida, her beloved pony and her twin brother. We slowly learn about Thea’s life and transgressions in her isolated farm world as Thea learns what it’s like to be surrounded by other girls her own age, care about what people think, how she looks and how much money has insulated her and those around her. She grows to love the camp and learn about herself and her parents, and the faults that parents cannot place on their children. Though she makes some horrible decisions, she is a sympathetic character and a thoughtful narrator.”
You Should Have Known by Jean Hanff Korelitz. “A New York City marriage therapist who contends there are no surprises in marriage and if he cheats on you (or whatever else it is that goes wrong), it is really your fault that you chose not to read the signals that were sent to you early in the relationship. But then it turns out that her marriage is not at all what she thinks it is, her husband an entirely different man than she thought. Not sure why I liked this novel so much as I wasn't really crazy about the characters, but it kept pulling me back in -- I guess a little bit like rubbernecking at a car accident, but with no blood.”
A Young Wife by Pam Lewis (Publishing insider recommendation – release date 6/14/2011) “About the Book: When fifteen-year-old Minke van Aisma travels to Amsterdam to care for the dying wife of an older, wealthy man named Sander DeVries, she has no idea what awaits her. Within hours of his wife's death, Sander proposes marriage, and within days the couple sets sail for the burgeoning oil fields of Argentina. But the future that seemed so bright takes a dark turn the morning their son, Zef, is kidnapped. Dire circumstances dictate that Sander immigrate to New York at once, leaving Minke little choice but to wait for their new baby's arrival, follow Sander to America, and abandon her firstborn. What follows is a triumphant turn-of-the-century saga of love, betrayal, and redemption that takes readers from the opulent life in Amsterdam during the 1900s to rough life on the Argentine coast to the impoverished life of a recent immigrant in New York.”
Z: a Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Ann Fowler. “Zelda’s side of the story.” Entertainment Weekly says: “Fowler expertly depicts the rapture of the couple’s early love, and later, the bullying and sickness that drove them apart…Z zips along addictively.” —Entertainment Weekly