Here is a palette cleanser to indulge in between literary fiction and thrillers, for tennis fans looking for a summer/beach read. The Singles Game, by the author of The Devil Wears Prada, is an insider’s behind the scenes ticket to the professional tennis world. The Singles Game features Charlotte “Charlie” Silver, an up and coming player injured at Wimbledon. She switches
» Read moreVera Bellington has it all, privilege, a penthouse in 1920s New York and the life to go with it, complete with husband and glamorous social life, a Vassar education in art history…and if she was happy with all of that, there would be no novel. Vera’s life takes a turn for the exciting when her husband decides (at the suggestion
» Read moreThe story: Tina Fontana is the executive assistant to Robert Barlow, a multi media tycoon in New York. One day, Tina has to arrange first class air fare for Robert, and be sure no one is sitting near him. The tab for this feat is $19k+, charged to Tina’s personal credit card, and immediately submitted for reimbursement. The person she
» Read moreSuzanne Rindell is a doctoral student in American modernist literature at Rice University. Her first novel, THE OTHER TYPIST, published in 2013, has been optioned for film by Fox Searchlight Pictures (produced by and starring Keira Knightly). THE OTHER TYPIST is a delicious story of Rose Baker, a 1920s police stenographer who records confessions, and Odelie, a new typist in the pool
» Read moreA note: I am the literary fiction, inspiring memoir, occasional gentle mystery book barista. Dark and twisty, full of suspense and a reasonable amount of gore, police procedural…that is the other book barista. We both, however, like a good story… “We tell stories to strangers to ingratiate ourselves, stories to lovers to better adhere us skin to skin, stories
» Read moreHeather Lende was recently asked to write a short essay on one piece of wisdom to live by. For some of her friends, she thought, it would be an easy answer. For example, her friend from the public defender’s office had a very straight forward “Be nice to the dog and don’t do meth.” Not so cut and dry for
» Read moreHow do you come to terms with being the only survivor in a tragedy that took the lives of your entire family when you were only fourteen? Esme Grace huddled in her top floor bedroom as the sounds of a gun’s blast echoes throughout her family’s old , isolated house house. When it’s quiet again, her mother and siblings are
» Read moreBe Frank With Me‘s BB “Mimi” Manning is an author reminiscent of JD Salinger or Harper Lee. She published one great book years ago that was read by everyone and continues to be read in schools. After years of living a very private and reclusive life off those royalties, she falls victim to a Bernie Madoff style Ponzi scheme and loses
» Read moreThis was the last book that I read as I returned from my winter vacation with my family, so perhaps it is fitting that it is the first of the many books that I write about for Book Baristas. I found this book to be beautifully written and very thoughtful. Paul Kalanithi was, from a very young age, trying to
» Read moreI love to walk into a historic building or a really old house, and think of who lived there. What were they like? Who did they love? What is their story? The Forgotten Room is the novel form of one of those curious visits, bringing to life the stories of three women: Olive, a housemaid in 1892, her daughter Lucy,
» Read more