I’m still working through the reading list I put together last year but I can’t resist starting a new pile of must-reads to be tackled in the fall of 2017. Check out the first three titles on my list, see what you think, and watch for my reviews which will be posted on my website and my Facebook Page in the fall…
Hillbilly Elegy; A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J. D. Vance
This title seemed to be mentioned everywhere in 2016. According to the literary chatter it speaks directly to the political upsets that struck us in 2016. I’m late getting to it but can’t wait.
Commonwealth by Ann Patchett
Ann Patchett is a prolific writer I’ve somehow never read. This latest novel of hers got great reviews so I thought it might be time for me to check her out.
Idaho by Emily Ruskovich
I always love dipping into a writer’s first published novel. This one is especially enticing to me because Ruskovich is being compared to Marilynne Robinson, one of my favorite writers of all time.
Bellevue by David Oshinsky
According to the jacket flap, this book (by the Pulitzer Prize winning author of Polio: An American Story) chronicles Bellevue’s rise “from a wretched almshouse…to a revered public hospital and a premier trauma center for visiting world leaders.” I suspect there will be a lot of history, horror, and triumphs here.
The Mothers by Brit Bennett
This is Bennett’s first novel, she was only twenty-five when she wrote it, and it got great reviews across the board. The theme is “living up to expectation in contemporary black America.”
They May Not Mean To, But They Do by Cathleen Schine
Described as both “hilarious” and “sad,” I was intrigued by the plot: a family matriarch NOT growing old gracefully.
The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu and Their Race to Save the World’s Most Precious Manuscripts by Joshua Hammer
Librarians (already highly-esteemed in my eyes) look to be the unlikely heroes here. That and the promise of visiting a place about which I know nothing sold me on this one.
Christine Falls by Benjamin Black
I stumbled on a review of Benjamin Black’s recently-published Even the Dead, discovered that it’s the seventh of the “Quirke” mysteries and decided to start with the first in the series – Christine Falls published back in 2006. If I like it, I know there are six more titles waiting for me.
Winter by Christopher Nicholson
A novel spun around the famous writer Thomas Hardy when he was in his eighties and, to the consternation of his wife, became attracted to a young actress. The New York Review of Books called it an “absolutely first rate novel.”
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Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge, Author
Biography | View
- Just Fine They Way They Are (Calkins Creek, March 1, 2011)
- The Brave Escape of Edith Wharton (Clarion Books, 2010)
- Thank You Very Much, Captain Ericsson! (Holiday House, 2005; Berndtsdotter Books, 2012)
- When Esther Morris Headed West (Holiday House, 2001)
- The Legend of Strap Buckner (Holiday House, 2001)
- Wicked Jack (Holiday House, 1995)
Speaker / Presenter
Connie is an experienced speaker and presenter who enjoys sharing her passion for writing and her experience as a writer with readers and writers of all ages. She has presented to students, community, civic and professional organizations, writing groups, library audiences, and seniors – wherever book lovers gather!
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