My book reviews are getting shorter and shorter.
Why is that? you ask. One reason could be this—-I review every book I read.
I think ir’s a good idea to condense my reviews. I hope it’s good for you too, dear reader.
Here are a few book covers and reviews of some of the novels and non-fiction I’ve read so far in 2026.
In a separate section, I’ve also included author friends’ recent books published.
Prue Leith, author and chef
Prue Leith is vivacious, colorful, and immensely talented.
On the British food scene for nearly sixty years, Prue is a caterer, restaurateur, TV cook, food journalist, author of dozens of cookbooks and a novelist. Americans are perhaps most familiar with her as a judge on the Great British Bake Off from which she has recently retired.
What surprised me most in her story Being Old and Loving it (part advice/part memoir) is her devotion to writing, especially novels; she has written eight novels and sixteen cookbooks. She declares, “The great thing about writing is that you can do it in old age. You have to resign from most committees and business boards in your seventies. And after three or four hours of cooking, I’m whacked, ready for my siesta. But one of the joys of writing, especially since the laptop was invented, is that you can do it anywhere. These days, as the pleasure of a comfy bed grows with old age, I often write in bed. I’m doing that now, lying with pillows behind my head and my knees up with the computer propped against them.” (90)
While she has let go of many of her obligations, she still enjoys producing Prue Leith: A Cotswold Kitchen on our local PBS station, where I view her cooking, baking, gardening, and hilarious shenanigans, sometimes with her slightly younger husband, John Playfair. This book contains a glossary of photos, including her wall of necklaces, shaped like four trees, and, like her culinary arts, a feast for the eyes. And her melamine plates, streaked with brilliant dashes of color, are available at The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
Find my Goodreads review HERE
Elif Shafak, novelist and activist
Novelist Elif Shafak takes a single drop of water and traces its effect over time and place in There are Rivers in the Sky. Epic in scope, the author explores Victorian London in the 1840s through the eyes of curious Arthur of the Slums and Sewers, a child prodigy who dreams of exploring Ninevah and its remains.
She also includes Narin, a Yazidi girl living by the River Tigris in 2014 Turkey, who journeys with her grandmother across war-torn lands in Iraq, hoping to reach the sacred valley of their people (Book blurb) Finally, in 2018 London, the author introduces us to the conflicted Zaleekah (Dr. Clarke, a hydrologist), disenchanted with life, who moves to a houseboat on the Thames, where an unexpected connection enables her to move beyond disillusionment.
I predict readers will root for all the characters, especially the indefatigable Arthur as he tries to locate and unearth the missing portion of the Flood Tablet, a priceless artifact in cuneiform with the goal of taking it back to The British Museum. The author admits to engaging in the debate on museums and who owns cultural heritage, a conundrum of sorts. She also includes a two-page chart of the journey of a drop of water over time in her end notes (432-433)
Shafak’s copious notes to the readers are as intriguing as the narrative itself. The novel is replete with historical detail, garnered from extensive research also recorded in Shafak’s Notes. At times, I felt as though I was reading an actual narrative —not a novel. I admire the artistry of Elif Shafak, award-winning British-Turkish author of more than a dozen novels. As she declares on the last page of her Acknowledgements: “This novel is a love song to rivers—those still living and those that are long gone.”
Find my review HERE
Kathryn Stockett, Novelist
Novelist Kathryn Stockett delivers a tour de force, framing down-on-their-luck white women in gilded homes along with childless wives and a motherless child in the 1930s South. In 638 pages, she weaves the narration of the fiercely intelligent child Meg and the observational and resourceful Birdie in alternate units to illustrate economic hardship and injustice, despair and hope. At the heart of the story is the eponymous Calamity Club, a band of misfits that registers the rollicking mood of much of the novel. The book succeeds despite a rather repetitive “muddy middle.”
The novel too abounds in vivid language: “Already I was building levees to beat the flood of disappointment.” Also, “It was like trying to swim without getting wet.” Along the way, I learned the meanings of words like croquignole and merkin and enjoyed the references to dance melodies of the early 1900s: “Night and Day,” “Temptation,” and “Dreamy Melody.” Throughout, the novelist plays with the themes of love and money, commodities often in short supply among the novel’s characters, and usually the impetus for its plot development. Author of The Help with numerous black heroines. This time, Stockett has delivered another best-seller in The Calamity Club. Even as the book is released (2026), I suspect a movie is in the works.
Find my review HERE
Helen Fremont, Novelist and Memoir Writer
Helen Fremont, author of After the Silence, (2000) was raised Roman Catholic, but she learns as an adult that her parents are actually Jewish, Holocaust survivors, in fact. A public defender, practicing law in Boston, Massachusetts, Fremont, along with her older sister Lara, untangles the web of lies about her origins. She learns that secrets, which have kept her family in a bond of silence for more than forty years, include the story of her father’s six years captivity in a Siberian Gulag and her mother’s early life, disguised as an Italian soldier—each, managing to survive. In her memoir, the author divulges the stories behind those secrets, and like a detective, explores her fascinating and traumatizing family history. Shifting personas, scarred lives, some living in disguise.
“What happens next?” readers ask as they turn pages of Fremont’s book to learn how pieces of her puzzling heritage fit together. Her story is vividly told, magical in writing style and language, which memoirist writers like me admire. Her riveting narrative includes such lines as these which remind me of Chagall’s art: “The Germans had a plan, but my mother’s story has no plan. Images tumble from windows of memory without introduction, the face of a friend, a heel of bread, a hand on one’s forehead. Now it is summer, and now it is winter, a jumble of images folding over and over each other like a woman washing her hands.” (161)
Fremont dramatically demonstrates how parents, living invented lives, can exact an emotional and mental toll on their children, causing them to question their own identity. Helen Fremont, whose name would technically be Helen Buchman, lives up to the praise her books inspire. And with her powerful writing style, Fremont’s memoir becomes glittering, literary non-fiction. This book, and the one that follows it, The Escape Artist, deserve the 5-star rating most reviewers bestow.
Find my review HERE
Author Friends with Prize-Winning Books
Laurie Buchanan
I have followed Laurie Buchanan as author and mentor for years and years. I first met the prize-winning Laurie as a therapist as she was publishing self-help books.
Now she has again reinvented herself as a fiction writer, with a Sean McPherson series, “heart pounding crime thrillers with heart-stopping twists. Her blurb goes on to exclaim: Her heroes “Plunge into the depths of malice, the unwavering quest for justice, and high-stakes consequences.” I can recommend all of her books, which I’ve read, including suspense-filled thrillers, reminiscent of David Baldacci’s style.
Find her books here: https://lauriebuchanan.com
Merril D. Smith
Many years ago Merril Smith commented on my blog and has supported all my posts since then. Along the way, I got to know her as scholar, researcher, and editor. Merril now has focused on poetry. A collection I’ve enjoyed is River Ghosts, a sensitive exploration of grief and remembrance.
A Pushcart-nominated poet with a doctorate in American history, her work has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. I am now reading the book she is holding, Held Inside the Folds of TIme, which contains a line from which she drew her book’s title. A marvelous collection, the book is amply illustrated with her own photos of nature. You can discover more about Merril’s most recent book here: https://www.amazon.com/Held-Inside-Folds-Merril-Smith/dp/1068432314
Liz Gauffreau
Liz Gauffreau refers to herself as a fiction writer in poet’s clothing. Her published work supports that claim. You can find both poetry and prose on her website, https://lizgauffreau.com/
Last year I read and reviewed The Weight of Snow and Regret, the story of a Vermont poor farm. Says the blurb, “For over 100 years, no one wanted to be sent to the Sheldon Poor Farm. By 1968, no one wanted to leave.” You can find a link to this historical novel here: https://lizgauffreau.com/the-weight-of-snow-and-regret/ Another book is in the works.
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Those are some long and serious books, Marian, with great themes. Thanks for the reviews! I wish I had (more) time to read. One day! 🙂
Liesbet, it’s nice to hear from Belare, Belgium, first thing this morning.
When I was “in the thick of things,” I didn’t have much time to read. As you say, “One day!” And it will surely come! 😀
I know one thing for sure: you certainly have great titles for whatever blog posts you make: I love “Riveting reads, maybe-maybe-not.”
I’ll respond here though saying I just began reading a book and my pet peeve with new books is figuring out who is who and why. I have to write down key characters’ names and their identity (dad, son, wife, grandson, nephew, etc.) in order to keep my reading straight, at first. Eventually if I keep going with the book, I remember these characters. Does anyone else have trouble remembering who is who??
Melodie, I appreciate the compliment about blog titles. Thank you!
Yes, I share your puzzlement over how some stories develop—names, settings, how the plot is moving. While I don’t usually write down character’s names, I sometimes have to re-read early portions of the book to get the drift of what’s going on. I usually don’t have to do that with Alexander McCall Smith’s book, usually light reading. 😀
Good morning, Marian! Great reviews and thank you very much for the shout-out!
I’m not actually certain what’s doing with River Ghosts, as Nightingale & Sparrow seems to be closed. I can’t reach the editor, but the book is still up on Amazon. There is no problem with Held Inside the Folds of Time though!
As you know, I’ve read River Ghosts and I also have reviewed it: https://www.amazon.com/review/RMF14TSEHJ3RV/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv
I think writers have more control over the content of our books, more so than over what happens after the publication. If you books are still on Amazon, that’s a wonderful thing, but if you want to make changes, there may be a problem.
You continue to amaze me with your output, Merril, and I’m sure there’s more to come. 😀
Thank you, Marian. Yes, I remember you reviewed River Ghosts and appreciate it.
Marian, your reviews indeed are ”riveting reads.’ Enjoyed the short snippets of each book and will add a couple to my ‘to read’ list. The stack of unread books continue to climb.
Curious people, like you, are always reaching for the next good read. That’s why your stack of unread books continue to climb. Ha!
Books reviewed are from the library, so they won’t be hard to find. The Calamity Club is very southern, and if you can endure the cussing, you’ll enjoy it! 😀
I appreciate your mini reviews, Marian. It’s been a long time since a book really grabbed and held me, alas. I just finished John of John and thought I would like it because it is set in western Scotland, and we just visited Scotland. But alas, none of the characters came alive for me. I read There Are Rivers in the Sky and liked it enough to finish it, but it does not linger, and I would have a hard time reviewing it months later. I think this may have something to do with aging. Either I am less patient or my brain is just less able to meet the challenge of character, plot, and theme. I think shorter works, maybe poetry, are what I need now. Would love to have a carried away experience with a novel again, however. I’ll keep trying.
You sound a wee bit hard on yourself, Shirley. I know you spend hours active in local politics and writing editorials, which take a lot of courage and brain power.
Since childhood, I’ve let books carry me away–I thought to get away from the sternness of my father. But now I think, getting immersed in a book is how I roll. Right now, I’m working on collecting a short–very short–book of haikus. The 5-7-5 syllabic pattern may appeal to you at this age and stage.
I’m ever grateful for your showing up here, after all these years! 😀
I’m out of the league with you ladies and sometimes men when it comes to reading. In school I think my reading was very slow and a chore. However, when I came home from grade school I couldn’t wait to hear the latest episodes of the Lone Ranger, Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, the Green Hornet and others. As I listened I could see words and imagine the scene as if watching it on our old Arvin TV, usually snacking on a vegetable or fruit.
If it was an orange for instance, it became a slow one hour autopsy. Slowly peeling away the thick outer covering, dissecting each section, removing the thin membrane that lastly revealed the little juicy tubes! Oh, a carrot also reveals a little tree if you slowly gnaw it.
Nowadays, listening on audio books I can see the words go by faster and I now see the story in color. Still, my 50-75 audio Libby books a year can’t catch up to Marian’s library-high books she reads, sometimes inches thick! 🙂
So I guess I’ll just be happy and go into the corner of our great room with a cup of coffee within easy reach.
Huge thanks for expressing your point of view here, my dear. Your reply is a nice counterpoint to my style and many of the readers who comment here. Being a visual / auditory learner is just as much a virtue as that of the verbal and vocal variety–I mean it!
You’ve read some awesome books. I don’t write long reviews either for two reasons, one I don’t have time and two I don’t enjoy long reviews myself. Especially if all they do is summarize the book. Thanks for highlighting our author friends.
My thoughts exactly, Darlene: I write the type of reviews I enjoy reading: short and with just enough detail to appraise the book with without including a long, drawn-out summary. (Tantalize–not exhaust potential readers, I say.)
By the way, you are in the queue for being showcased as “an author friend with prize-winning books” on a future post. So, stay tuned. 😀
Thank you for including me in such good company, Marian! I really appreciate it. Merril’s new book is waiting for me on my Kindle. I know I will enjoy it. I loved River Ghosts. After Small Silence sounds like a riveting read I would enjoy.
You are most welcome, Liz. Yes, After Long Silence is a book you’d enjoy. I heard the author being interviewed, and her book could probably be classified as a memoir because so much of it is true to her real life experience. However, I believe she tagged as a novel to protect the privacy of some characters and give herself more flexibility in the story telling.
Sounds like we should split the difference and call it creative nonfiction?
Actually, I just checked and all of her stories are classified as memoir. 😀
Well, creative nonfiction tends to be a slippery little devil of a literary term. 😉
😀
Marian, I’m a reader and a writer, although I haven’t published. I’m in the process of moving into something smaller and know I have to get rid of my library downstairs , except for a few treasured volumes. That will be difficult for me!
Elfrieda, I think you are a published writer. Even though your memoir may not appear on Amazon, I have a copy of Ellie’s World (2021) on my shelf right now.
I understand downsizing one’s library. Ten years ago this summer, I got rid of 2/3 of my volume of books. The house we live in now has space for one big bookshelf, not three. However, I have little book displays on the piano and several other rooms. So, it goes. Fortunately. some of the books went to good homes and maybe even a few to the library. 😀
“Maybe, maybe not” you’re funny, Marian. ☺️ But in truth, you’re not wrong as tastes vary in genres and writing styles. I actually took note of what you were reading on your trip and I put myself on the library list for Theo of Golden. You didn’t review it, but it looked good online. It’s an 8-week wait, though!! I’m always drawn to memoir, so you know I’ll be looking into After the Silence. You have many highly accomplished authors on your list – wow. Thanks for sharing them.
Like you, Melanie, I had to wait a long time for Theo of Golden. It was worth the wait though it’s probably not my all-time favorite book. I did tuck a short review into my second “trip” blog, but here it is if you don’t want to hunt for it: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/8504138521
And, If you don’t want anything else revealed about the book, you can just skip the review for now. Ha! Ha! 😀
Thanks for the heads-up! No spoilers please and thanks for the link. 😄
I’m fascinated with your reviews, especially the review about Helen Fremont.
Currently I’m reading GRACE OVER GUNS by Ben Daniel. The urge to ‘pursue peace in a militarized world’ is strong, and the author provides places and ways people have gotten to peace without guns: northern Ireland and central America, for example. And, the author has traveled to these places he chronicles, so we get his firsthand experiences. There’s some ‘memoir’ involved.
This book is published by Mennonites, and the author is a Presbyterian. How cool is that?
My Presbyterian husband helped to call Ben to the Presbyterian church we attended in California, AND, in 2017, my husband and I went with a group led by Ben from that Presbyterian church on a trip to Geneva, Switzerland, studying history and connecting with the World Council of Churches. (After that my husband and I went to visit our (yours too) ancestral homes in the Emmental!)
Reading this book is like being on a learning tour in the world with Ben.
Dolores, what a joy to see you here. It’s so nice to have a back-and-forth conversation about books.
Yes, I would choose peace over a militarized world any day. I believe my preference for peace runs deep because, like you, I grew up Mennonite, folks who championed non-resistance. In my heart, I guess I’ll always be Mennonite. We are Presbyterians now also, and are members of a congregation that touts peace over war.
Like you and your husband, we toured the Emmental region and visited specifically Langnau where the Langeneggar’s had a dairy farm. Maybe still do. Thank you for all this and for suggesting GRACE OVER GUNS by Ben Daniel. 😀
Thank you Marian.
Thanks for the reviews, Marian. Like you, I pretty much review any book I read. I don’t care for the practice of only reviewing four and five star books the way many bloggers/writers do. Teachers don’t give good grades to students who don’t deserve them, and I feel the same way about books. At the same time, I’m very conscious to choose language that isn’t insulting, understanding a writer may have put their heart and soul into their novel. There is a way to get one’s opinion across in a tactful way without being a jerk.
“Without being a jerk” is a phrase I would apply to public discourse everywhere, which extends to book reviewing. I tend to read, and thus review, books I think are worth my time, so I can reflect what I think is the author’s intent in positive terms. (I wonder if you’ve encountered coarse language in book reviewing, or in some other venue, recently.) No matter, thanks for your thoughtful response here, Pete. And happy reading! 😀
It’s wonderful Marian, to know you have many fellow author friends. I found reading the comments riviting and revealing. And my reviews are always short.
Joy, I’m glad you have enjoyed the camaraderie here. Thanks for reading the post and also the comments.
I see we both enjoy short reviews, which tantalize readers (or not) and don’t spoil the story. 😀
I enjoyed learnig about these books and your reviews Marian. Interesting reading for sure. As I prefer to read a lot of books and review them, I generally tend to stay away from tomes and series. I like variety, maybe why I really enjoy reading books with various short stories. 😍
I think we’ve shown each other our reading lives on our blogs. Lol!
Like you I read lots of books, but I don’t know if I could sustain a book a week. One year, I did read 60–but that was the exception for sure. I too like short story collections: pick up and put down without losing track of plot and characters. 😀
Marian — Oh, wow! Thank you so much for including me in this illustrious lineup of authors. NOTE: Likewise, I have read every one of your books and love them all!
I hope this was a surprise , Laurie! Thanks for your support over the years. It has been amazing to see you pivot from self-help to murder mystery. At the moment, I’m working on a poetry collection–specifically haiku–pairing verse with images.
Enjoy your weekend! 😀
Hi Marian, thank you for this lovely post. I’ve not read any of these books and the third and last one quite captured my attention. I think I would really enjoy those two. It’s great to see Merril and Liz here with books I’ve also read.
You are most welcome. We are a lovely group of authors and artists spread across continents. How cool is that!
I suspect you will be featured soon, Robbie! 😀