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Love, Marriage & the Legacy of Mary Oliver
Fredrik Backman, Denne Michele Norris, "The Summer Day," and more ...
BookBrowse Highlights
Hello Readers!
In First Impressions this week, Kathleen West’s Making Friends Can Be Murder delivers an entertaining mystery and meditation on friendship with a dash of romance mixed in. Reviewers also comment on Marie Rutkoski’s Ordinary Love, following a woman who questions her life choices as she is drawn back towards a relationship from her youth.
Our Editor’s Choice pick, When the Harvest Comes by Electric Literature editor-in-chief Denne Michele Norris, explores a new marriage, a fraught family past, and queer identity.
Along with our review of Fredrik Backman’s latest novel, My Friends, we bring you a “beyond the book” article on the poet Mary Oliver and her famous “The Summer Day.”
Also, take a look at our ongoing and upcoming book club discussions, and see if you can solve our current Wordplay!
Thanks for reading,
The BookBrowse Team
PS - want to participate in live book club discussions via Zoom or Google Meet? Let us know below!
Would you be interested in participating in a BookBrowse-hosted book club discussion over Zoom or Google Meet?Further details to come, we're gauging initial interest. |
First Impressions
Each month, we share books with BookBrowse members to read and review. Here are their opinions on two recently released titles.
Making Friends Can Be Murder by Kathleen West
“I had a great time reading Making Friends Can Be Murder by Kathleen West! The premise — a group of women, all named Sarah Jones, getting tangled up in a murder case — was fresh and fun, and the mystery kept me hooked. Sarah, the main character, is new to town and just looking for community, but she ends up in the middle of a fraud case, an FBI investigation, and a decades-old cold case with ties to a summer camp. There's a great mix of humor, suspense, and quirky characters (a nun with a mysterious past? Yes, please!). It's entertaining, light, and twisty — perfect for a weekend read. Fans of character-driven mysteries, light thrillers with humor, and stories about small-town secrets will enjoy this one.” —Mitzi K. (Cumming, GA) |  |
“This cozy mystery is more intriguing and the characters better fleshed out than most books in this genre. The book's premise is unique and you find yourself caring about the characters from page one.” —Helen B. (Winthrop, ME)
“What a fun book. A little mystery, a little romance, a little comedy, and a life lesson about finding oneself. What's not to love.” —Linnie M. (Mansfield, TX)
Ordinary Love by Marie Rutkoski
“Friends since fifth grade, Emily and Gen realize their love for one another in their senior year of high school. Their relationship changes over time, through misunderstandings, life choices, intimacy, friendships, guilt, and loss. After a years-long separation they cross paths once again, their magnetic attraction still so powerful after all these years. Emily is unsure she can resist, or even if she wants to…The book is told through Emily's experiences and her self-talk vividly portrays her self-doubt, the tug-of-war she has with her feelings, and where/how she really fits into her world.” —Kathy D. (Spotsylvania, VA) |  |
“The protagonists are presented in such a way that you think you know them until there is a deep dive into the developing personalities…The story expands and contracts as it progresses and culminates in an ending which is not totally expected. Bring your tissues.” —Marcia K. (Willoughby, OH)
“An incredibly moving, heartwarming, and heart-wrenching love story that swept me away.” —Melissa C. (Saint Johns, FL)
Editor’s Choice
When the Harvest Comes by Denne Michele Norris
Breathtaking in its simplicity and elegance, When the Harvest Comes is a story about love, rejection, and queer identity. The novel opens with Davis and Everett about to be married in the privileged enclave of Montauk beach, where Everett's parents own a home. A gay black twenty-something from Cleveland, Davis has struggled for acceptance and incubated resentment because of a judgmental father. If every novel begins with a question, When the Harvest Comes has a simple one: What if Davis knew his father was coming to the wedding even though he wasn't invited? … continued Review by Valerie Morales |  |
Beyond the Book
Mary Oliver and “The Summer Day”
Fredrik Backman's new novel, My Friends, repeatedly quotes "The Summer Day," a well-known poem by poet Mary Oliver (1936-2019): "Tell me, what else should I have done? Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” … continued Article by Kim Kovacs |  |
Discussions
Discussions are open to all, so please join us! If you would like to receive a message when a particular discussion opens, you can sign up for a one-time notification. You can also find inspiration for your book club among our more than 200 past discussions. Currently, our book club members are discussing The Ghostwriter by Julie Clark and The Lamplighter’s Bookshop by Sophie Austin, among many other books. Starting this week, we feature Hazel Gaynor’s Before Dorothy. |  |
Wordplay
Solve our Wordplay puzzle to reveal a well-known expression, and be entered to win a one-year membership to BookBrowse!
"B a L"
Click for the answer to the last Wordplay (T the V B the S), and a detailed breakdown of its meaning and history.
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