It’s Monday, What Are You Reading? 3-20-23

Currently Reading

Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls

Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2023 by Oprah Daily, Elle, and LitHub /
A LibraryReads Pick for March 2023 From Jeannette Walls, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Glass Castle, comes a riveting new novel about an indomitable young woman in Virginia during Prohibition.

Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls is from my NetGalley shelf of advanced reading copies (ARCs) and will be published at the end of the month. Narrated by the feisty but powerless Sally Kincaid, daughter of the most powerful man in the county – known as “the Duke” – Hang the Moon is a first-person story of a dysfunctional family in Virginia in the 1920s.

Recently Read

Light from a Distant Star by Mary McGarry Morris

Massachusetts Book Awards 2012 Must-Read Fiction
Light from a Distant Star is a gripping coming-of-age story with a brutal murder at its heart and a heroine as unforgettable as Harper Lee’s “Scout.”

For the MassBook Reading Challenge this month, I’m reading Light from a Distant Star by Mary McGarry Morris – a MassBook Awards Must-Read Fiction honoree the year it was published (2012). It’s also on my 2023 TBR Pile Challenge list.

Massachusetts author Mary McGarry Morris may be best known for her novels Songs in Ordinary Time, Vanished, and A Dangerous Woman. Light from a Distant Star is a first-person coming-of-age story in the voice of thirteen-year-old Nellie, an inquisitive, talkative people-pleasing middle child who feels responsible for the well-being of her family and for their reputation in their gossipy small town, but is also confused by adults’ behavior and the murky rules others seem to live by.

Unnoticed herself as she closely listens and observes, often without understanding, Nellie worries about keeping her older sister Ruth’s secrets; protecting her quiet younger brother Henry from bullies; her parents’ troubled marriage; and her family’s financial difficulties, and is unsure how to act when her family comes under even closer scrutiny after a scandalous murder.

Recently Listened To

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers

An instant New York Times, Washington Post and USA Today Bestseller • AN OPRAH BOOK CLUB SELECTION • ONE OF BARACK OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2021 • WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR FICTION
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: New York Times • Time • Washington Post • Oprah Daily • People • Boston Globe • BookPage • Booklist • Kirkus • Atlanta Journal-Constitution • Chicago Public Library
Finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel • Longlisted for the National Book Award for Fiction

The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois by Honorée Fanonne Jeffers is a marvelous family saga, spanning generations and tracing the history of a Black family in Georgia, through stories, going back through the years of slavery and before, including ties to Scottish and Creek ancestors. Often sad, but shot through with humor and sharp observations. Highly recommended!

Currently Listening To

Irish Coffee Murder by Leslie Meier, Barbara Ross, and Lee Hollis

This post is linked to “It’s Monday! What Are You Reading?” hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. Check out the link-up party there for more book lists!

P.S. I wrote my first Sunday Salon post this weekend, but with spotty Internet while traveling, I didn’t get to share it much. If you’re interested in learning how to advocate with legislators for funding for your local library or for library services in your state, please check it out. Now is the time!