A typical Gabriel Allon book which actually had two parts to it which Made it longer than usual. It was good and enjoyable.

A friend recommended this book saying it was very funny. I did smile a few times, but I didn’t find it very funny. A woman moves from Kansas into a small oyster shack on the east coast. She becomes very involved with the town government primarily by writing email complaints to the town manager.

Entertaining book about an American woman working on her postgrad lit degree in London. Struggling to pay her bills, and tutoring wealthy kids as a side job, she is swept into the world of the ultra-wealthy. It's a pretty nice place, at least materially, and she begins to do more and more things to stay there--until there's a reckoning. More than just fluff, there's depth to the characters and plenty of Austen references.

Fences is a beautifully written yet heart wrenching story of a black man and father being so affected by the past that he can’t move forward, causing him to lose control of those he loved over time. Troy, the main character of the play, is in many ways scarred from his past. He works with his hands because his father did and he knows that a skill if the only thing the harsh world can’t take away from you. Growing up in the post-civil war time period and seeing the ways in which his father and black people struggled, he refuses to believe society will ever treat black people justly and allow them a chance to pursue what they love most. This is reflected in his refusal to sign a paper and let Cory, his son, play football and gain an opportunity for college. Troy can not fathom a world which allows black people to play mainstream sports and tries to prevent the pain before it starts by stopping Cory from playing. Resentment grows in Cory and with added issues of society’s treatment of his disabled veteran brother, Gabe, Troy begins to feel stuck and out of control with his life’s path. In doing so, he cheats on his wife, Rose, with a woman named Alberta and becomes the father to a girl who he asks Rose to take in. Miserable, and pushing away all who cared about him in his life, he becomes a stranger in his own home and begins his “fight” with death until he passes 8 years later. His impact on those around him (both good and bad) lingers on. I liked the story, even with us heartfelt sad ending. It is an overall great book!

The author harkens back to the time where actors and actresses were king and queen and movies were all the rage right before the horrors of World War II. This book, which I hope is the first in a cozy series, takes place during the filming of Hitchcock's famous movie Rebecca. The plot revolves around a young Hollywood script supervisor, Evelyn Galloway, who finds herself embroiled in a mystery surrounding the murder of an actor from the studio she is working at. With the help of her room mate and others actors, she finds herself in an adventure that evokes the time and place of the early 1940's. I had seen Rebecca a few times previously and now after reading this "behind the scenes" (albeit fictional portrayal of Hitchcock and the main actors), I want to see it again. The mystery has a great ending and Evelyn then accept a job working on another Hitchcock movie, The Foreign Correspondent, so I hope that means there will be a followup. Likeable characters and very interesting plot. I found myself googling various people and events in the story to gain more insight. A fun read overall!

This was the best book! I wanted to keep reading it and was sad it was over. My favorite part was probably when Daisys friend wished to be a grown up, at the wishing well, and she turned into a grown up but she learned she didn’t like being a grown up and she turned small again at the end of the book. She wanted to be a kid. Matilda - age 7

Once again a book about Gabriel Allon who is a daredevil Israeli spy and assassin. He is married now for a second time. An enjoyable book.

Jeanne Birdsall is a very talented writer in my opinion I just can’t stop reading. She made this book so interesting I think everyone should read it girls boys and even grown ups and it is an absolute masterpiece of awesomeness

A staff pick and a beautifully written short book by poet Aimee N. While not poems, the short stories written about flora and fauna are poetic in nature. The author picks specific subjects that have meaning in her life and intertwines scientific facts with stories about her family as well as about world issues. The stories about the Potoo and the Octopus were favorites.

This book’s plot started out seeming like a well-known rom-com plot of “fake dating leads to real love”. That is the basic theme, but the book is entertaining along the way with a lot of pieces to the plot. I really enjoyed the book.