Quick Lit November 2019 Archives

The Dutch House: A Novel

by Ann Patchett

I love sibling stories and meaty family sagas, as well as stories told with a reflective, wistful tone. This one delivers on all counts. Cyril Conroy means to surprise his wife with the Dutch House, a grand old mansion outside of Philadelphia. But a symbol of wealth and success for some is a symbol of greed and excess to others—including, crucially, Cyril's wife—and the family falls apart over the purchase. In alternating timelines, we get the whole story, over five decades, from Cyril's son Danny. The audiobook is narrated by Tom Hanks.

Miracles and Other Reasonable Things

by Sarah Bessey

From the publisher: "In the brief instant Sarah Bessey realized that her minivan was, inevitably, going to hit the car on the highway on the bright, clear day of the crash, she knew intuitively that it would have life-changing consequences. Weaving together theology and memoir in her trademark narrative style, Sarah tells us the story of the moment that changed her body and how it ultimately changed her life. She invites us to a path of knowing God that is filled with ordinary miracles, hope in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, and other completely reasonable things."

Ordinary Grace

by William Kent Krueger

William Kent Krueger is a fairly new addition to my literary radar; this backlist title was ardently recommended by readers with great taste. In small town Minnesota, 1961, a 13-year-old boy is suddenly brought face to face with death, and it ushers him into a very adult world of love and loss and all their complications. Five people in his community die that year, Frank tells us in the opening pages, and this is his account of what happens, what it meant then, and what it means to him now. Recommended for Louise Penny fans, yes, and also those who enjoyed Snow Falling on Cedars and Summer Reading Guide pick The Current.

The Family Upstairs: A Novel

by Lisa Jewell

From the publisher: "Soon after her twenty-fifth birthday, Libby Jones returns home from work to find the letter she's been waiting for her entire life. She rips it open with one driving thought: I am finally going to know who I am. She soon learns not only the identity of her birth parents, but also that she is the sole inheritor of their abandoned mansion on the banks of the Thames in London's fashionable Chelsea neighborhood, worth millions. But what she can't possibly know is that others have been waiting for this day as well—and she is on a collision course to meet them." Ruth Ware called this, "Rich, dark, and intricately twisted, this enthralling whodunit mixes family saga with domestic noir to brilliantly chilling effect."

The Bookman’s Tale: A Novel of Obsession

by Charlie Lovett

If you love a good literary mystery (and I do) this is for you. Robin Sloan says, "With The Bookman's Tale, Charlie Lovett tells us a terrific story—there's mystery and suspense, murder and seduction—but more important, he shows us how it's all connected, all of this: the reading and the keeping and the sharing of books. It forms a chain long and strange enough to tie a heartbroken young scholar from North Carolina back to the Bard himself, who might or might not have been William Shakespeare."

Quick Lit November 2019

The Dutch House: A Novel

Miracles and Other Reasonable Things

Ordinary Grace

The Family Upstairs: A Novel

The Bookman’s Tale: A Novel of Obsession

Find your next read with:

100 Book recommendations
for every mood

Quick Lit November 2019

The Dutch House: A Novel

Miracles and Other Reasonable Things

Ordinary Grace

The Family Upstairs: A Novel

The Bookman’s Tale: A Novel of Obsession

Find your next read with:

100 Book recommendations for every mood

100 Book recommendations
for every mood