Wondering what your next great read will be? Looking for literary inspiration? Floundering in search of fabulous fiction? Here’s my annual list of books read and rated.

*Tom Lake by Ann Patchett. For everyone who ever had a summer romance or did community theatre. 

Wellness by Nathan Hill.  Complex exploration of marriage and modern life.

*Still Life by Sarah Winman. Evocative and panorsmic story of life and lives in Florence during and after Ww11 unputdownwble.

**Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison. Astonishing coming of age story brilliantly written

The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff survival tale in eastern woods

*Loot by Tania James.Mesmerizing tale of a India, love and an animatronic tiger

The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict. Overwrought fictional account of JP Morgan’s private librarian

**Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride. A tour de force of storytelling. Unputdownable tale of race, class, love and loss and just desserts.

*Simon the Fiddler by Gillette Giles.  Post- civil war Texas and an engaging itinerant fiddler in love

The Little Liar by Mitch Album.  A holocaust tale set in Greece

Caste by  jeanette Wilkerson. Non-fiction, electric dive into 3 forms of racism

Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange. Another take on contemporary Indian life

The invisible Hour by Al Hoffman. Good time travel story until it wasn’t.

Bee Sting by Paul Murray. Where’s the there there? I gave up.

Coal Black Horse by Robert Olmstead. Harrowing Civil War tale of a young boy who set out to find his army father.

*Covenant of Water by  Abraham Vergese. Immeasurably deep family saga steeped in Indian culture and history

*Eastbound by Maylis de Kerangal , Short, heartpounding tale of a Russian conscript attempting desertion on the Trans Siberian Railway.

*Long Island by colm Tobin. Deep psychological dive into complex love triangle 

Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn and Janie Chang. Historical fiction centered on SF earthquake with 4 pivotal leading ladies.

*This Other Eden by Paul Harding. Vaguely historical and poetically powerful story of impoverished, in inbred but proud residents of an island off Maine.

 The Postcard by. True story of Jewish French survivors of ww11 and the search for the truth of what happene

Bee sting by. . Where’s the there there@. I gave up

*James by Percival Everett. Deeply imagined Retelling the Huckleberry Finn story through the voice of the slave James

*The Women by Kristin Hanna. Reliving the Vietnamese War years through the eyes of the forgotten women nurses who cared for our soldiers.

The Ventriloquists by E Ramzipoor. Courageous troupe of characters in Belgium against their Nazi occupiers.

*Lady Tan’s Circle of Women by Lisa See. A wonderful journey into the lives of women-and one woman dr— during the Ming Dynasty. Richly researched and told

*My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout. Extraordinary, quiet lingering book.  Now I must read more of her work. 

Absolution by Alice McDermott. Lives of American wives during and after the Vietnamese War.

Sourdough by  Robin Sloan. Quirky fun novel combining food, technology and a secret recipe.

**Bastard out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison. Stunning, visceral story of a southern childhood amid poverty,betrayal and love. One of NYT top 100 books.

**Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips. Extraordinary historical novel about post civil war impacts in Virginia, early treatment of the “insane” and loce, memory and fsmily. Unputdownable.fe

A Paris Story by Ruth Reichl. A light confection fun to read while in Paris.

A Night in Cornwall by Daniel Silva.  This one was a sleeper. Not in the spy sense!

**We a must Not Think of Ourselves by Laura Grodstein.  Lives in the Warsaw Ghetto. Fiction based on real lives and devastating history. Incredibly powerful.. . 

Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner. A mystery, spies, French countryside and anthropology in a challenging story.

Foster by Clair Kegan. A small, lovely tale of family where you find it.

Briar Club by Kate Quinn. A cast of characters in a 1950’s period story

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Here’s to a 2025 and to a year of thrilling new reads. And, as always, I welcome your faves of ‘24, too.