September Books

*The Readers of Broken Wheel Recommend by Katarina Bivald whose first novel features Sara who arrives from Sweden to meet her pen pal, Amy, just as Amy's funeral is ending. Marooned in a farm town that has almost no future, Sara starts a bookstore in honor of her friend's memory and sets in motion a chain of events that changes her life and almost everyone she meets. I didn’t fall in love at first, but eventually found the book engaging and literate.

Class by Lucinda Rosenfeld is the story of Karen Kipple, a white, upper-middle-class New Yorker who suffers from liberal guilt despite working for a non-profit and keeping her first-grader in the neighborhood public school—until racial bullying challenges her values and priorities. Despite being described as “a daring, discussable satire about gentrification and liberal hypocrisy,” I didn’t feel that the book achieved its potential.

*Before I Forget by life style maven, B Smith, and her husband, Dan, (with Vanity Fair’s Michael Shnayerson), is B’s unfolding story on coping with early-onset Alzheimer's. Short chapters interweave their story with advice, that can help couples and other readers learn about dealing with memory loss and other challenges of aging. 

*The Stars are Fire by Anita Shreve is based on the true story of the 1940 historic fire in Maine and follows the experiences of a pregnant woman who struggles to save her best friend and their young children only to discovers that she has lost her house, possessions and her estranged husband who may have perished or simply left her to cope with the devastation.  

*Bright, Special Days by bestselling author, Jay McInerney examines the challenges of seeking “the good life in New York City” with limited financial resources and faulty moral compasses. Russell and Corrine seem to be enjoying charmed lives with fashionable parties, fulfilling careers, luxurious vacations and beautiful twin children. A high-risk financial opportunity, the discovery that they are being priced out of their tony NY neighborhood lead to a re-examination and change of course. “A sexy, vibrant, cross-generational New York story--a literary and commercial read.”