Ann Patchett’s Tom Lake is a stunning read that earns all 5 stars. Set during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, the novel follows Lara Nelson and her daughters—Emily, Maisie, and Nell—as they quarantine at their family orchard in Northern Michigan. While picking cherries, Lara recounts her time as a young actress in New Hampshire, focusing on her romance with Peter Duke, who later became a famous actor. The daughters are eager for details about Lara’s past, and each responds differently to her revelations and then reflects on her own life. Through these stories, Patchett explores themes of love, memory, and the choices that shape our lives. Her writing […]
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5-Star Reads from 2020
I read some great books in 2020 (and some duds if I’m being honest). These were my favorites. There’s something here for just about everybody. (I’m a professional reader, author, and librarian, in case my opinion matters). The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical, but after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it’s not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it’s everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Many years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape. The other secretly passes […]
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