by JVBrown | May 27, 2021 | Robin, Staff Picks
Backman starts out by telling us that this is a story about idiots, which is off-putting. But what he means is that it is idiotically difficult being human. On the day before New Year’s Eve, a bank robber tries to rob a cashless bank of just enough money to pay rent,...
by JVBrown | May 27, 2021 | Robin, Staff Picks
This was not the book I expected, but honestly it was much more. Evelyn Hugo, born to Cuban immigrant parents in New York, dyes her hair an improbable platinum blonde and finds her way to Hollywood, where she does what is necessary to become a big star. Now...
by JVBrown | May 27, 2021 | Robin, Staff Picks
Chris Bohjalian can be relied on to take the reader to a new place and time. Whether it’s Vietnam and the birth of a new plague, or on a comic adventure with a flight attendant, or to early 20th century Turkey, his stories are believable and well-researched. In The...
by JVBrown | May 27, 2021 | Dana, Staff Picks
The book is set in New York in 1984 when Phoebe is 22 years old and dealing with the recent death of her father. She wants a glamourous lifestyle but can only find work at nightclubs as Astrid the Star Girl who tells celebrities their fortunes with movie tickets....
by JVBrown | May 27, 2021 | Dana, Staff Picks
I found this book buried in my bookshelf and I’m so glad I got to it! Bert Cousins shows up uninvited to Franny Keating’s christening party and ends up kissing her mother, Beverly. This small act ends up deeply affecting the four parents and six children involved as...
by JVBrown | May 27, 2021 | Dana, Staff Picks
This is the sixth and final installment of the beloved Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children series. It opens immediately after the events of the previous book, in which Jacob Portman is back in his grandfather’s house in Florida after escaping a hollow. He and...
