50 MUST-READ BOOKS RECOMMENDED BY ROXANE GAY

Is it just me, or are we all just biding our time until the next piece of work by Roxane Gay is released? Whether she’s writing fiction, nonfiction, short stories, comics, or screenplays, her writing makes an unforgettable impact.

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Anonymous Reviewer: "Wild Ride" by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer

If you've never read a Crusie book, you are missing out! And when Jennifer and Bob team up, it is a truly wonderful read! That being said, if you HAVE read Crusie before, "Wild Ride" is NOTHING like any of her others. Most Crusie or Crusie/Mayer books are fun contemporary romance...but not boring! There's plenty of twists and the dialogue is laugh-out-loud fantastic, so even though you know it's gonna end happily you can't guess exactly how they're gonna get to the end. The cover insert on "Wild Ride" tells you that Dreamland is an amusement park that doubles as a prison for the five most powerful demons in world history and they want to be let out. Even after reading the insert and first few chapters, this AR stayed under the delusion that there wouldn't really be actual demons; Crusie'll Scooby-Do it and it'll simply be pranksters trying to ruin the park. (This AR can be quite talented at ignoring the obvious.) A supernatural battle wasn't what this AR particularly wanted to read, but the heart of what I look for when reading Crusie was still there and it turned out to be a fabulous read. I especially recommend picking it up in October.

Anonymous Reviewer: Gwendy’s Button Box By Richard Chizmar and Stephen King

Reading, after the fact, that Stephen King had a hard time ending the book, thus brought in Richard Chizmar seems a little lazy on King’s part, at least to this AR. This story was pretty tight, and I can’t imagine the master needing the help. Maybe that’s why it hit, but not with the usual dull hammer claw King’s books typically swing with.

NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLERS THROUGH JULY 21ST

https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers

Anonymous Reviewer: The Girl From Summer Hill by Jude Deveraux

Dust off your brain with this #AnonymousReviewer 

The Girl From Summer Hill by Jude Deveraux

The very first line will grab the attention of any lady who reads it! There have been many retellings of "Pride and Prejudice" over the years, and most of them fall short because it's hard to keep a tale interesting when the reader knows the plot already. This one is successful! Jude gives the story a fresh, modern air while still keeping with the spirit of Jane Austen. As a bonus it's set in Virginia, which always makes a story appeal just a bit more to this AR. It's your usual romance plot, but it's not JUST another first class/lower class, famous actor/regular person love story. This AR thinks it qualifies more as a rom-com or even rom-adventure. Deveraux knows how to give her characters depth so that they're not just a batch of young women simply looking for marriage. They have lives of their own and the men are an addition to it rather than the center of it. At the end, I was helped to believe the story by something a child told me a few weeks ago: "Well EVERYBODY can be a good actor because it's just like pretending!"

Anonymous Reviewer: The Deep Blue Good-By By John D. MacDonald

I like my noir like I like my orange juice...spiked with vodka. Well..only on the weekend. The rest of the week, I love it pulpy. John D. MacDonald has his place on the pulp Mt. Rushmore with Leonard Elmore, James Patterson, and let’s throw Joe Ida in there a kick of spice and modernity. Before I sunk into the the Deep Blue Good-By, I had only heard about Travis McGee in the Jimmy Buffett song who provides a ringing endorsement. McGee is a pretty solid dude, and very much the type that you could leave your wife with and not have second thoughts. Your unmarried daughter, might be another story. Perhaps the thing I liked best about characters is their ability to take a beating. It says as much about the character as it does the author. Besides McGee, no one gets beat up better than Walt Longmire..put Craig Johnson on Mt. Rushmore too if you want, and maybe James Bond...not Sean Connery or Roger Moore, James Bond. I’m talking Ian Flemming’s James Bond and recently Daniel Craig. Walt and James both take a thumping and like McGee keep coming back. Deep Blue Good-by is just the first of a series which I would highly recommend with a pulpy orange juice. Additives cost extra and are at your own discretion

Click Bait 4-10

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By Deepan Dutta

Anonymous Reviewer: No Traveler Returns By Louis L’Amour and Beau L’Amour

Louis L’Amour is a classic. If you want to go back in time to the wild west, but don’t want to deal with the dust, typhoid, and relaxed definitions of personal hygiene, L’Amour is a good place to start. Just never squat with your spurs on or drink downstream from the herd.
What tons of people do not know is that L’Amour wrote almost as much about matters not of the old west. NO TRAVELER RETURNS is one of those and according to all the sources this AR read, his first. Apparently L’Amour had been being told his stories lacked plot, so he beefed this one up for publication. Maybe a little too much. As always, the characters and their actions are real, but there is just so much going on that it’s hard to follow at time. As a first effort, this is a great book. L’Amour had been to sea, so he writes with experience. Still it can get too sticky at time. I would recommend this for the adventurer in you, and is a good little read.

New York Times Best Sellers

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Anonymous Reviewer: 12 Strong: The Declassified True Story of the Horse Soldiers By Doug Stanton

Books about Special Forces rarely get a bad review from this AR. 12 Strong is exceptional! As a military buff, I remember the romantic story of U.S Army troops on horseback in Afghanistan shortly after 9-11. What I didn’t know was that those guys weren’t there because they knew anything about horses, or Afghanistan for that matter. My naivete lead me to believe the U.S. Army had somehow been training guys to ride horses, or they’d found someone in the SF community that could. Boy was I wrong! These guys were buying cold weather gear from REI in the days after 9-11. Cavalry training would be icing on the cake for soldiers trained to live on spit and adrenaline. Stanton does a great job telling the story of these guys who flew into the unknown, adapted, attacked and achieved what few in the U.S. Army, the world, or even history thought was possible. No matter what field you operate in, you can take something from this book and apply it to your daily life. Read it and be awe stuck.

Beverly Lewis Book List

New York Times Bestsellers Thru 3-31

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Anonymous Reviewer: A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership By James Comey

If you cannot put partisan politics aside, don’t waste your time reading this book. It’s just not your kind of read. Furthermore, if you are going to be reading the whole time waiting for him to stick it to “the other side,” go read some Glenn Beck or Rachel Maddow. There are no smoking guns, or killer truths about anything. It’s just not that kind of book...

I’ll repeat that. THIS IS NOT A POLITICAL ESSAY LEANING TO EITHER SIDE. 

Now that that is out of the way. 

This AR recommends finding this one on audio book, or at the very least find some in person interviews of Director Comey. He really does have a good reading voice. Better still, this is a great book written by someone who has tried to remain as loyal to his job as he can be, and is not at all afraid to tick off either or both sides of an issue. 

My biggest take away was how Comey brought the FBI and in part the Justice Department into the 21st Century as an organization no longer centered on ego, manipulation, and hierarchy. If you truly pay attention, you’ll find the keys to successfully working with a group of people. Listen to what everyone has to say, never marry yourself to an idea, and always try your best. 

Strip off your politics for a change and give this book a read, or listen. Anyone in leadership of any kind would do well by their organization to do so.

New York Times Best Sellers Thru 3-24

https://nyti.ms/1oYsB9h

Anonymous Reviewer: This Much I Know By Wally Lamb

Not always a fan of Oprah’s Picks, I finally got around to Wally Lamb’s “This Much I Know is True,” a story primarily about a set of identical twins, one schizophrenic, told from the POV of the other twin, Dominick. I will admit that the author seemed to cover the same ground over and over in the first third of the book, however, I love figuring out what makes people think the way they do so I stuck with it. I’m so glad I did. This book will move to the top part of my favorites list. It delves into Dominick’s grandfather’s life as well as his mother’s. Layer by layer he discovers his past, which helps to confront his present. It’s a story of discovery and forgiveness. Even if you’ve read it before, you might want to revisit it since Mark Ruffalo is the Executive Producer as well as actor portraying both Dominick and his twin in an upcoming HBO series.

New York Times Best Sellers Thru 3-17

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New York Time Best Seller Thru 3-10

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New York Time Best Seller Thru 3-3-19

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New York Times Bestsellers Thru 2-17

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New York Times Best Sellers Thru 2-3

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