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Happy New Year to all of you book readers! And what better way to begin 2024 than to start a Book Journal. I know that some of you have Book Journals and have been very loyal to them throughout the years. But if you're new to the Book Journal world, then you'll soon realize how important they can be to your reading habit.
We currently have four different Book Journals in stock. Each of them include pages to fill out with title, author and month/year you read the book. Each journal encourages you to rate the book you just read and include a blurb about the plot, characters, themes and whether you'd recommend it to another reader.
I've been keeping a Book Journal for years. Mine isn't anything special. It's a lined Moleskine journal with plenty of room to write about books. My current Book Journal covers books I've read from 2017 to the present.
Thanks to my Book Journal I know how many books I've read in a particular year, and what I liked and didn't like using a rating system with 5 stars being the best of the best.
I read 56 books in 2023, my top five being TOM LAKE by Anne Patchett, HELLO BEAUTIFUL by Ann Napolitano, FARRELL COVINGTON AND THE LIMITS OF STYLE by Paul Rudnick, NORTH WOODS by Daniel Mason, and THE FROZEN RIVER by Ariel Lawhon.
Writing in your Book Journal after you've finished a book can add so much to your reading journey. I guarantee that your Book Journals will have a treasured space on your bookshelves.
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I've selected four books for you this month. Two hardcovers and two paperbacks. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
Happy Reading!
Ken
kenbksco@gmail.com
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Hedge
by Jane Delury
Maude is a forty something talented garden historian in Delury's latest novel. Although she is devoted to her daughters, she has fallen out of love with her husband Peter. When she and Peter decide on a trial separation, he stays in California with the girls and she gets a summer job restoring the gardens of Montgomery Place, a mansion built in the early 1800s in New York's Hudson River Valley. It's here that she meets Gabriel Crews, an archaeologist working on a nearby dig. She discovers that Gabriel's passion for landscape history matches her own. When their friendship ignites, it sets in motion
secrets that will profoundly change Maud's life, as well as everyone she cares about. Author Carolyn Leavitt says, "Delury's immersive novel is about family and lovers, passion and responsibility, and it's filled with such gorgeous writing, compassion, and stunning surprises that I couldn't bear to tear myself from the page."
Lisa, Daniel and special guest author Liam Callanan will talk with author Jane Delury as part of the Readings from Oconomowaukee virtual series on Wednesday, January 17 at 7:00 p.m.
CLICK HERE to register for this free event!
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Signal Fires
by Dani Shapiro
Dani Shapiro's latest novel, winner of the National Jewish Book Award, is absolutely amazing. Two Jewish families, the Wilfs and the Shenkmans, live across from each other on Division Street in Avalon, New Jersey. As readers we discover the secrets they keep, the stability of their marriages, the children that join them on their journeys, and the connections they have with each other. Shapiro tells her story beautifully as she breaks with traditional chronological order and gives us a time frame much more moving and meaningful. And as stars collapse and stories collide, the Wilfs and the Shenkmans become bound in ways they never could have realized. The Los Angeles Times says of the book, "In a construction as delicate as needlework but deceptively sturdy... Shapiro shows in fiction what she's spent decades teasing out in memoir: that our lives are ruled by subtle human connections we sometimes fail to understand because few of us are wholly plugged into the unseen forces that affect our lives." You're in for a treat if you choose this novel for your reading group.
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The Frozen River
by Ariel Lawhon
This winning historical novel was one of my favorites in 2023. Ariel Lawhon skillfully recreates life in small town Maine in the late 1700s. The novel was inspired by the life and diary of Martha Ballard, a renowned midwife and healer. The novel opens with the body of a man found frozen in the Kennebec River. Was his death an accident or murder? Martha thinks the latter as she tries to prove its link to the rape of the minister's wife months earlier. Throughout her attempts to find the truth behind the murder, we follow her as she delivers babies, administers to the sick, and watches over her family. I particularly enjoyed Martha's loving relationship with her husband Ephraim and her strength in times of hardship. Author Lauren Belfer says, "The Frozen River is so vivid, so textured and multilayered, that I felt I'd opened a door and entered post-revolutionary America, walking beside Lawhon's compelling characters in a time and place riven by hardship, disease, and misogyny, but also intense love and searing natural beauty. This novel was unlike anything I'd read before, and it left me awestruck."
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The Air Raid Book Club
by Annie Lyons
Lyons has written a warm and enjoyable novel about Gertie and Harry Bingham who open a bookstore in the suburbs of London in 1911. Bingham Books is quite successful with a knowledgeable staff, loyal customers and a popular book club. But in the late 1930s Harry dies of a medical condition and Gertie doesn't think she has the stamina to carry on without her husband. But her staff and customers rally around her, share her grief, and encourage her to keep the store open. When a dear friend suggests she take in a teenaged German/Jewish war refugee she reluctantly agrees. Hedy Fischer and Gertie clash at first but eventually become friends with the help of Hemingway, Gertie's mild-mannered yellow lab and Hedy's love of books. When the Blitz begins Hedy and Gertie form the Air Raid Book Club, using books to lessen the strain of the bombing raids. This is a heartwarming story of found family, love, and making connections through books. Author Ruth Hogan calls the novel "a warm and tender tale about the power and healing of friendship and community and the magic of books. Annie writes her characters with humor and respect and their stories will stay with me for a very long time."
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BOOKS & COMPANY BOOK GROUPS
Open to the Public
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Wednesday, Jan. 24
1:00 p.m.
in person at Books & Co.
Whistling Past The Graveyard
by Susan Crandall
Registration required-
limited seating available
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
Wednesday, Feb. 28
1:00 p.m.
in person at Books & Co.
The Lincoln Highway
by Amor Towles
Registration required-
limited seating available
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
registration will open on Wednesday, Jan 24th at 1:00 p.m.
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Wednesday, Jan. 17th
6:00 p.m.
in person at Books & Co.
Gallant
by VE Schwab
No registration required for PRADAS book group meetings.
Wednesday, Feb 21
6:30 p.m.
in person at Books & Co.
Better Than the Movies
by Lynn Painter
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Tuesday, Jan 23
4:00 p.m.
in person at Books & Co.
Insomnia
by Sarah Pinborough
No registration required for Mystery book group meetings.
Tuesday, Feb 27
4:00 p.m.
in person at Books & Co.
Assistant to the Villain
by Hannah Nicole Maeher
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Virtual Author Event
Readings from Oconomowaukee
JANE DELURY
in conversation with
Daniel Goldin & Lisa Baudoin
with special guest
LIAM CALLANAN
Wednesday, January 17th
7:00 p.m.
Via Zoom
Registration required
| Join us for our first Readings from Oconomowaukee event in 2024! Bookstore proprietors Daniel Goldin and Lisa Baudoin will be in conversation with author Jane Delury with special guest author Liam Callanan. They will be discussing Delury's new book Hedge- An emotionally charged, richly observed novel about a woman balancing the demands of motherhood and marriage with her own needs. | |
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In Person Author Event
NICK PETRIE
Saturday, February 10th
2:00 p.m.
Books & Company
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Join us in welcoming back author Nick Petrie to Books & Company! Petrie will be discussing his new Peter Ash novel, the 8th in the series, The Price You Pay. Please register for this free event!
Peter Ash must follow his closest friend, Lewis, into the criminal underworld when secrets from the past threaten everything they hold dear in this propulsive new thriller from the bestselling and award-winning series.
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In Person Author Event
CLAIRE SWINARSKI
Tuesday March 12
6:00 p.m.
Books & Company
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Join us for a special author event with Claire Swinarski on the release day of her new novel for adults, The Funeral Ladies of Ellerie County. Please register for this free event.
Armed with a Crock-Pot and a pile of recipes, a grandmother, her granddaughter, and a mysterious young man work to bring a community together in this uplifting novel that includes recipes!
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We support over 50 private book groups with their monthly selection available on the Book Group shelf in store. If your book group is registered with us, we offer 15% off of the book group title each month. To register your book group, just let us know what your book group name is and what you're reading, as well as a contact name for the group. As long as we have an updated list of your books, we will have them on the book group shelf in the store and listed on our website. Books & Company hosts two Book Group celebrations a year, as well as book talks for your book group. To set up a book talk for your book group with a bookseller, please email info@booksco.com
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Books & Company
1039 Summit Ave Oconomowoc, WI
262-567-0106
HOURS
Mon-Fri 9:00-7:00
Sat-Sun 9:00-5:00
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