If you dream about visiting France, this is the next best thing to being there – reading about it. Nina George writes of a bored German housewife, Marianne, who is bullied by her boorish husband, Lothar. The name aptly fits the man, he has cheated on Marianne many times, and treats her horribly. So one day Marianne decides that she can no longer take her life, and attempts suicide from the Pont Neuf while in Paris. But she is rescued by a homeless man, and that day becomes the first day of her new life. Marianne boards a train and travels to a little seaside town, Kendruc, and proceeds to re-invent herself. This was a wonderful story that illustrates the point that it is never too late to start your life over if you don’t like the way it is going…
Author Archive
The Little French Bistro
June 27, 2017Additional reading lists for children & teens
June 24, 2017
If you are looking for more titles to suggest to children and tweens, ALSC (Association for Library Service to Children) offers reading lists for various ages: birth to Preschool, Kindergarten to 2nd, 3rd to 5th and 6th to 8th grades. You also can find them all here.
Subway library
June 19, 2017
According to a June 8th article in the NY Times, a train that alternates between the E and F lines in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens, has 10 cars whose seats look like bookshelves. It is decorated with the words “Subway Library,” and riders can access free downloadable books from the city’s public libraries. In fact, the books can be accessed from any underground station, from the Transit Wireless Wi-Fi Network, during a time period of six weeks for the free books. It is a joint project created by the NY Public, Brooklyn and Queens libraries along with the MTA and Transit Wireless. Sounds like a neat idea…
Loss of a pet & parent titles for youth
June 17, 2017
The NY Times Book Review this weekend has profiled five new books for youth that deal with loss: four picture book titles that tackle the loss of a pet, and one teen novel that deals with the loss of a mother. Splotch by Gianna Marino & Goldfish Ghost by Lemony Snicket both look at the loss of a pet goldfish; Hey, Boy by Benjamin Strouse deals with a boy and a dog, and Colette’s Lost Pet by Isabelle Arsenault takes a glimpse at a young girl’s attempt to fit into a new neighborhood by inventing the loss of a pet bird.
The teen novel is Speed of Life, by Carol Weston, which I have read and enjoyed. A young teen loses her mother suddenly and must deal with her father dating again. To make matters worse, her dad’s girlfriend has a daughter, Alexa, who is about the same age as Sofia, the protagonist, and is less than thrilled about her mom dating Sofia’s dad. Plus Alexa is not very friendly to Sofia, who turns to an advice columnist, “Dear Kate” for help in dealing with her loss. Recommended for teens in grades 7 and up.
City of Friends
June 13, 2017
In this latest novel by Joanna Trollope, four female friends in London find that their lives intersect much more closely than just their mutual friendships. When Stacey loses her job by asking for more flexible hours, she doesn’t know that Melissa has recommended her husband Steve for a promotion at his company. Likewise, when Melissa recommends Stacey for a job with Gaby, neither of them are aware that the girlfriend of Beth, the fourth friend, works for Gaby and that there is no room on the team for Stacey. Sound confusing? Trollope weaves these threads effortlessly throughout the novel, and I found this to be quite an enjoyable read. Great for fans of fiction that enjoy reading about the lives of women and their relationships.
