Will you be traveling this holiday season or staying close to home? Be sure you have a good book or audiobook ready for those down times at the airport or in the car. Staying home? After the family football games, the feast and the pumpkin pie… after the dishes are done and the family collapses in front of the TV snoring, grab a good book and relax – you’ve earned it. In addition to the books by the talented authors featured on our Author Page, we have some suggestions for you.

Fiction:

Middle-Aged Crazy: Short Stories of Midlife and Beyond by Lynne M. Spreen – Twelve stories about men and women (mostly women) in the middle of their lives trying to find their second act. Sometimes they succeed, but Spreen is also not afraid to let her characters fail. It’s about recognizing the need to make some changes and the courage to let things get a little messy instead of stale.

November 9 by Colleen Hoover – When Ben and Fallon meet, he is an aspiring novelist and she is about to move cross country to start a new chapter of her life. After spending her last day in Los Angeles together, they keep in touch and Fallon becomes Ben’s muse. He writes about her wonderful adventures in his novel and despite their changing lives and loves, they meet every year on November 9th to relive that first magical day together. Will he and Fallon be able to break this pattern or will Ben’s novel never find its happy ending?

The Price of Time by Tim Tigner – What if you had access to the Fountain of Youth? How would your life change? Would you make the world a better place or would immortality rob you of humanity? These are the questions Tigner poses in this action packed thriller about eight Silicon Valley CEO’s who are keeping a medical breakthrough which gives people immortality a secret. Former secret service agent, Zachary Chase uncovers their secret and becomes a liability while investigating the disappearance of his friend and former college roommate, Lars. How far will they go to keep their secret? How far will Chase go to find his friend?

The Testaments by Margaret Atwood – This is the long awaited sequel to The Handmaid's Tale. The theocratic regime of the Republic of Gilead is still in power, but troubled by infighting. Atwood focuses on the lives of three different women as their lives converge. Two young women are products of the new order. A third powerful woman maintains her place in the order by accumulating and controlling secrets. The women are ultimately pitted against each other and themselves as they must decide how far to go to protect what she believes.

 Non-Fiction:

Five Days in November by Clint Hill – For those of you who like non-fiction, this book chronicles the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the four days of shock and disbelief when the world seemed to shut down. The story is told by the secret service agent, Clint Hill who was shown in photographs jumping on the back of the limousine desperately trying to protect President Kennedy and the First Lady after the first shot rang out on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas. The book written fifty years later contains over 150 photos which Hill explains in detail – everything from images of a tearful three year old (John Jr.) begging his parents to let him come along on the trip to to Dallas, crowds of cheering Blacks and Whites greeting the first couple along the motorcade route, the solemn expression of Lyndon Johnson as he is sworn in as president on Air Force One with Mrs. Kennedy holding the Bible and her insistence on walking in her husband’s funeral procession. Hill tells the story of these difficult days as someone who was present for all the highs and lows of this tumultuous period of American history.

Lost on Purpose: Adventures of a 21st Century Mountain Man by Patrick Taylor – Taylor walked away from civilization and a successful career as a technology executive to become a 21st century mountain man. Starting in late October, he crossed the Rocky Mountains alone on foot and decided to retrace the route of Lewis & Clark in the winter. He speaks candidly about the ramifications of his decision – the professional, financial and emotional sacrifices and his sense of accomplishment and personal growth.

The Ascendance of Harley Quinn: Essays on DC's Enigmatic Villain by Shelley E. Barba and  Joy M. Perrin (co-authors and co-editors) – Spice her appearance in 1992 as the joker’s sidekick, Harley Quinn has captured the interest of comic book fans and crossed over into television, theater, video games, and film. Barba and Perrin explore her origins, her abusive relationship with the Joker and her mass appeal. This book piqued my curiosity and it will be an interesting read before the 2020 release of the film, Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) starring Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn.

Poetry:

The Rose That Grew From Concrete by Tupac Shakur – this is a collection of poems written by Tupac from the age of 19 until his death at 25. These were taken from his personal journals. A poem in the Preface written by his mother, Afeni Skakur about his loss is one of the most eloquent expressions of grief I have ever read. The 72 poems in this collection are written in his own and and transcribed on the following page. They reflect the hopes, dreams and challenges of a young black man growing up in an often hostile world. His messages are powerful and overwhelmingly hopeful. Tupac recorded twelve albums - nine of which went either platinum or gold. He also appeared in six major motion pictures before he was murdered at the age of twenty-five.

Book of Longing: Poems by Leonard Cohen – Many critics consider this collection to be Leonard Cohen’s best poems.  Cohen’s writing is like a fine wine. It improves with age courtesy of the wisdom and humor he has accumulated through the bittersweet lessons of a life well lived.

Great Poems by American Women: An Anthology edited by Susan L. Rattiner – an exceptional collection of poems by some of America’s best known women poets such as Phillis Wheatley, Anne Bradstreet, Emily Dickinson,  Gwendolyn Brooks, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Amy Lowell, Emma Lazarus and many lesser known, but talented women.