After Dark by Haruki Murakami. One of my favorite authors, Murakami doesn't disappoint in this novel that takes place one night in Tokyo. One of his more accessible books.
The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney. This 2006 Costa Book of the Year Award-winning novel opens with a murder in a desolate Canadian post and gets more interesting from there. Well-written, with hints of Jack London's "To Build a Fire" and A Narrative of the Captivity, Sufferings and Removes of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson.
The Godmother by Carrie Adams. One woman and her many friends, all with their own very real and troubling problems, come together in this fast-paced novel. One of those books that prompts you to consider what you would do if you were in those situations, then to pray that you will never be, because they're the type of problems that have no easy solutions.
The sharper your knife, the less you cry by Kathleen Flynn. Flynn fulfills a life dream to attend Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. Although I'll never cook most of the things she described (most require doing appalling things to poultry and fish) it was a fun insight into the famous and influential school.
Also read:
In college I loved reading a bunch of books by the same author and then analyzing one aspect of them in a big old thesis. Although I haven't put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard), I've been enjoying rereading Judy Blume favorites (Here's to you, Rachel Robinson, Blubber, Are you there, God? It's me, Margaret) and noticing things I overlooked as a kid. For example: the parents in her novels are really interesting, both in the lives they lead, their relationships with each other, and how they interact with their kids.
Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine
Keeping Christmas: Yuletide Traditions in Norway and the New Land by Kathleen Stokker
D.I.Y: Design it Yourself by Ellen Lupton
The cabin... where I enjoyed reading many of the January books. On the table there is one of Husband's - Bill Bryson's Shakespeare: The World as Stage.
