Nantucket’s beloved bookworm Tim Ehrenberg gives us his top recommendations for Fall.
THE SUMMER WIVES by Beatriz Williams
If you missed this one earlier this season, make sure to pick up a copy of The Summer Wives. It’s historical fiction with memorable characters and a layered plot of class, love, power and redemption set among the inhabitants of an exclusive island off the New England coast. Sound familiar? While the fictional Winthrop Island in this story is actually inspired by Fishers Island, you can’t help but see parallels to our own island of Nantucket.
THERE THERE by Tommy Orange
Every once in a while you read a story that hasn’t been told before. There There is a groundbreaking portrait of an America few of us have ever seen. It captures twelve distinctive Native American voices and tells the history of a nation and its people through its pages. Many book critics are calling this a contender for book of the year. Sherman Alexie writes, “Native American literature will never be the same!” Hear, hear for There There!
CLOCK DANCE by Anne Tyler
Sometimes the simplest language can produce the most powerful story. This statement has never been more accurate than with Anne Tyler’s newest book, Clock Dance. Within these pages, we meet Willa Drake who describes herself as “the type who goes on vacation and spends the whole time wondering if I remembered to turn the oven off.” What follows is a novel of hope, self-discovery and second chances. From 1967 to 2017, we take a transformative journey with this leading lady on the winding road we call life.
OHIO by Stephen Markley
Ohio puts a spotlight on what happened after 9/11 to a generation who has only known war, recession, political gridlock, racial hostility and the fear of environ- mental calamity. Four former classmates converge on the rust belt town where they grew up, each of them with a mission and each haunted by regrets and secrets. I know this town and these people. Having been born and raised in the Midwest, I can say Stephen Markley perfectly captured it. I loved this book for its story and characters, but even more for its insight on a particular time, people and place.
SICK: A MEMOIR by Porochista Khakpour
This book has been appearing on many “most anticipated” lists since the beginning of the year. For as long as Porochista Khakpour can remember, she has been sick. Here is a memoir of chronic illness, misdiagnosis, addiction and the myth of full recovery. After years of struggle, pain, uncertainty and transformation, Khakpour had a diagnosis: late stage Lyme disease. A very real disease, especially relevant to us on Nantucket, this is such an honest work of nonfiction with beautiful prose that I was absolutely captivated.
THE MYSTERY OF THREE QUARTERS by Sophie Hannah
It is no mystery that I loved Agatha Christie novels from a very young age. I would write all the suspects out on my bookmark and try to decipher the who, what and why of the crime along with legendary detective Hercule Poirot. Best-selling author Sophie Hannah has brought back the Agatha Christie novel. Set in 1930 London, The Mystery of Three Quarters gives us a puzzle involving a tangled web of relationships, scandalous secrets and past misdeeds.
All books available at Mitchell’s Book Corner or Nantucket Bookworks.
