All This Could Be Yours
Jami Attenberg, 2019
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH Books)
304 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780544824256
Summary
A novel of family secrets: think the drama of Big Little Lies set in the heat of a New Orleans summer.
“If I know why they are the way they are, then maybe I can learn why I am the way I am,” says Alex Tuchman of her parents.
Now that her father is on his deathbed, Alex—a strong-headed lawyer, devoted mother, and loving sister—feels she can finally unearth the secrets of who Victor is and what he did over the course of his life and career. (A power-hungry real estate developer, he is, by all accounts, a bad man.)
She travels to New Orleans to be with her family, but mostly to interrogate her tightlipped mother, Barbra.
As Barbra fends off Alex’s unrelenting questions, she reflects on her tumultuous life with Victor. Meanwhile Gary, Alex’s brother, is incommunicado, trying to get his movie career off the ground in Los Angeles. And Gary’s wife, Twyla, is having a nervous breakdown, buying up all the lipstick in drug stores around New Orleans and bursting into crying fits.
Dysfunction is at its peak. As each family member grapples with Victor’s history, they must figure out a way to move forward—with one another, for themselves, and for the sake of their children.
All This Could Be Yours is a timely, piercing exploration of what it means to be caught in the web of a toxic man who abused his power; it shows how those webs can tangle a family for generations and what it takes to—maybe, hopefully—break free.
With her signature "sparkling prose" (Marie Claire) and incisive wit, Jami Attenberg deftly explores one of the most important subjects of our age. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1971
• Raised—Buffalo Grove, Illinois, USA
• Education—B.A., John Hopkins University
• Currently—lives in New Orleans, Louisiana
Jami Attenberg is an American writer of fiction and essays. She grew up in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, and is a graduate of Johns Hopkins University with a degree in Writing.
Her early works were published in numerous zines and in a 2003 chapbook called Deli Life. Her first book, Instant Love, a collection of interconnected short stories, was published in 2006. That work has been followed by a series of novels:
2008 - The Kept Man
2010 - The Melting Season
2012 - The Middlesteins
2015 - Saint Mazie
2017 - All Grown Up
2019 - All This Could Be Yours
Attenberg's work has appeared in a number of anthologies and magazines, including Nerve and The New York Times. She lives in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Adapted from Wikipedia. First retrieved 10/28/2012.)
Book Reviews
Attenberg gets so deep into the psyches of her characters that the story ends up seeming electric with ruin, and with possible resurrection…. This is how you write a very good novel about a very bad man…. All This Could Be Yours is full of hope… [but] most powerful when it’s honest… [about how difficult hope is] in the first place.
New York Times
With her sixth novel, Jami Attenberg… ecures her place as an oddly sparkling master of warped family sagas…. All This Could Be Yours is orchestrated with the precision of an opera on a revolving stage.
NPR
Attenberg is a master at excavating the good, the bad and the ugly truths about families, and in this short but potent novel, her richly human characters populate a witty narrative studded with surprises.
People
Told from multiple perspectives, All This Could Be Yours illustrates the heartbreak, isolation and chaos that comes from really getting to know your family.
Time
Attenberg… doesn’t flinch from digging into life’s messiness…. [Her] medium… is familial dysfunction. And the Tuchman family is a matryoshka stacking doll of dysfunction. [This is] an emotionally messy novel, but precise in craft. The narrative voice is complex and profound.
USA Today
Attenberg is on a roll…. Like a little chili pepper in the chocolate, that particular kind of dark laughter is Attenberg’s secret ingredient.
Newsday
(Starred review) A patriarch’s death strains a family’s already fraught relationships in this dazzling novel…. Attenberg excels at revealing rich interior lives—in her main cast and cameo characters—in direct, lucid prose. This is a delectable family saga.
Publishers Weekly
[A] whirling dervish of a novel.… Attenberg is a master of subtlety as she divulges everyone's thoughts…. The unusual twist here is that readers learn all their stories while the characters do not. Contemporary family sagas don't get much better. —Stacy Alesi, Eugene M. & Christine E. Lynn Lib., Lynn Univ., Boca Raton,
Library Journal
(Starred review) Weaving together a riotous assortment of threads, Attenberg tenderly mines [the Tuchmans’] family history and massive dysfunction…. Her characters… inner lives coalesce beautifully into a funny and heart-stirring tribute to the nutty inscrutability of belonging to a family.
Booklist
(Starred review) Prickly and unsentimental, but never quite hopeless, Attenberg, poet laureate of difficult families, captures the relentlessly lonely beauty of being alive. Not a gentle novel but a deeply tender one.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for ALL THIS COULD BE YOURS … then take off on your own:
1. Talk about the damage Victor Tuchman has inflicted on his family. The details are parceled out, piece by piece, character by character: why might Jami Attenberg have used this particular narrative technique rather than reveal the damage outright?
2. What kind of person is Victor? How would you describe him? Even more important, what kind of people has his cruelty created?
3. Consider each of the family members: Barbara, Victor's wife; Gary, the son, who remains in Los Angeles; and Alex, the daughter. What are your thoughts about each of the characters: do they elicit your sympathy, pity, admiration, dislike, impatience?
4. Alex, on the treadmill in her hotel (unpack that symbol!) "loathed herself, forgave herself. She loathed them, she did not forgive them. She ran." But then the scene ends with Alex raising her arms in supposed "victory." Why "victory"?
5. Barbara accepted a devil's bargain: She'd keep [Victor's] secrets and ask for nothing but objects." Why had she remained with Victor over the years? To what extent is she culpable, or not, in Victor's behavior?
6. Gary, in L.A., is receiving a massage for his troublesome neck pain, which he labels Twyla, in his wife's honor. He thinks, "I'm garbage." Why?
7. Speaking of Twyla, how would you describe her … and the couple's marriage? Why is Twyla so unnerved? Why has her in-laws' move to New Orleans disrupted her contented life with Gary and their daughter Avery?
8. Do you have hope for Alex, Barbara, Gary, and Twyla? Are they capable of change—can they become different people once he dies? All of which brings up a question posed by the novel: if you can't forget, can you forgive? (What's the difference… is there a difference?)
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)
The House in the Cerulean Sea
TJ Klune, 2019
Tom Doherty Books
400 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781250217288
Summary
Linus Baker is a by-the-book case worker in the Department in Charge of Magical Youth. He's tasked with determining whether six dangerous magical children are likely to bring about the end of the world.
Arthur Parnassus is the master of the orphanage. He would do anything to keep the children safe, even if it means the world will burn. And his secrets will come to light.
The House in the Cerulean Sea is an enchanting love story, masterfully told, about the profound experience of discovering an unlikely family in an unexpected place—and realizing that family is yours. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
TJ Klune is a Lambda Literary Award-winning author and an ex-claims examiner for an insurance company. His novels include The House on the Cerulean Sea and The Extraordinaries, both published in 2020. Being queer himself, TJ believes it's important—now more than ever—to have accurate, positive, queer representation in stories. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
(Starred reviewed) Quirk and charm give way to a serious exploration of the dangers of complacency in this delightful, thought-provoking Orwellian fantasy…. By turns zany and heartfelt, this tale of found family is hopeful to its core. Readers will revel in Klune’s wit and ingenuity.
Publishers Weekly
As Linus gets to know the six children and their caretakers, he witnesses the strong bonds between them and the unique community they've created.… A delightful tale about chosen families, and how to celebrate differences. —Laurel Bliss, San Diego State Univ. Lib.
Library Journal
This is a sweet narrative about the value of asking questions and the benefits of giving people (especially children) a chance to be safe, protected, and themselves, regardless of what assumptions one might glean from, say, reading their case file.
Booklist
Klune has a knack for creating endearing characters, and readers will grow to love Arthur and the orphans alongside Linus. Linus himself is a lovable protagonist despite his prickliness…. [F]ans of quirky fantasy will eat it up. A breezy and fun contemporary fantasy.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers Book Club Resources. They can help with discussions for any book:
• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)
(Resources by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)
Things You Save in a Fire
Katherine Center, 2019
St. Martin's Press
320 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781250047328
Summary
From the author of How to Walk Away comes a stunning new novel about courage, hope, and learning to love against all odds.
Cassie Hanwell was born for emergencies. As one of the only female firefighters in her Texas firehouse, she's seen her fair share of them, and she's a total pro at other people's tragedies. But when her estranged and ailing mother asks her to give up her whole life and move to Boston, Cassie suddenly has an emergency of her own.
The tough, old-school Boston firehouse is as different from Cassie's old job as it could possibly be. Hazing, a lack of funding, and poor facilities mean that the firemen aren't exactly thrilled to have a "lady" on the crew—even one as competent and smart as Cassie. Except for the infatuation-inspiring rookie, who doesn't seem to mind having Cassie around. But she can't think about that. Because love is girly, and it’s not her thing. And don’t forget the advice her old captain gave her: Never date firefighters. Cassie can feel her resolve slipping...and it means risking it all—the only job she’s ever loved, and the hero she’s worked like hell to become.
Katherine Center's Things You Save in a Fire is a heartfelt and healing tour-de-force about the strength of vulnerability, the nourishing magic of forgiveness, and the life-changing power of defining courage, at last, for yourself. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—March 4, 1972
• Raised—Houston, Texas, USA
• Education—B.A., Vassar College; M.F.A., University of Houston
• Currently—lives in Houston, Texas
Katherine Center is the author of several contemporary novels about love and family. She graduated from St. John's School in Houston, Texas, and later earned her B.A. from Vassar College, where she won the Vassar College Fiction Prize.
She went on to receive her M.A. in fiction from the University of Houston. While in graduate school, she distinguised herself as a writer and editor: she co-edited Gulf Coast, a literary fiction magazine, and her graduate thesis earned her a spot as a finalist for the Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction.
Center is the author of 7 novels, starting in 2006 with: The Bright Side of Disaster. More recently she has published How to Walk Away (2018), which became a Book of the Month Club pick; Things to Save in a Fire (2019), and What You Wish For (2020). Center's work is often categorized as women's fiction, chick lit and mommy lit. She describes her books as "bittersweet comic novels."
Center currently lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband and two children.
Extras
- Along with Jeffrey Toobin and Douglas Brinkley, Center was one of the speakers at the 2007 Houston Chronicle Book and Author Dinner.
- Her first novel was optioned by Varsity Pictures.
- Center has published essays in Real Simple and the anthologies Because I Love Her, CRUSH: 26 Real-Life Tales of First Love, and My Parents Were Awesome.
- Center also makes video essays, one of which, a letter to her daughter about motherhood, became the very popular "Defining a Movement" video for the Mom 2.0 conference.
- As a speaker at the 2018 TEDx Bend, Center's talk was entitled, "We Need to Teach Boys to Read Stories About Girls."
(Author bio adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 5/15/2018.)
Book Reviews
A spirited, independent heroine meets a smoking-hot fireman in Center’s smart romance.
Washington Post
The novel is at its best in the fire station… [though it] can feel a little facile at times, its characters discussing feelings and forgiveness which an urgency that feels more convenient than realistic. But its window into firefighter culture is fascinating.
Long Island Newsday
Center crafts a heartfelt story of growth and the redemptive power of love perfect for fans of women’s fiction, especially works by Jodi Picoult and Elin Hilderbrand.
Library Journal
(Starred review) An appealing heroine, a compelling love story, a tearjerking twist, and a thoroughly absorbing story. Another winner from Center.
Booklist
(Starred review) Center gives readers a sharp and witty exploration of love and forgiveness that is at once insightful, entertaining, and thoroughly addictive.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points; to help start a discussion for THE THINGS YOU SAVE IN A FIRE … then take off on your own:
1. Katherine Center's novel offers fascinating insights into the world of firefighting. What surprised or intrigued you most? What about, for instance, the frequent pranks and jokes?
2. (Follow-up to Question 1) What does it take to be a firefighter, both physically and mentally? Is is something you could ever envision yourself doing?
3. Describe Cassie Hanwell's character, her background, and her flaws. What prompted her to forge a career in emergency rescue?
4. In what ways are the Austin, Tex., and the Boston, Mass., fire departments different—both in procedure and culture? Talk about the challenges Cassie faces as the Boston crew's first woman?
5. How would you describe Cassie's relationship with her mother? Do you blame her hesitancy to connect with Diana? What does Cassie begin to learn about herself that she has been suppressing for decades?
6. In a good novels, the main characters usually undergo change; Things You Save in a Fire is no different. How do both Cassie and Diana change? What do they learn about themselves and others?
7, What might the book's title mean? What are the things you save in a fire?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)
The Secrets We Keep
Kate Hewitt, 2018
Bookouture
356 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781786816306
Summary
My whole body aches. I trawl memories of her, now so precious… my darling child. I can’t lose her.
When Tessa arrives at the little house by the lake with her two children, it is an escape. The rental house may be a bit small—but it’s theirs for the summer. A place to hide…
However, their isolation is disrupted by the family from the big house next door. Three children and their glamorous mother Rebecca—who seems determined to invite Tessa into their lives.
Rebecca, however, is harbouring a dark secret. And when it becomes too much for her to bear, Tessa seems to be the only person she can turn to.
But as powerful bonds form between the two families, choices will be made that can never be undone. And as the summer comes to an end, nothing can keep everyone safe. And one family will pay the ultimate price (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Kate was born in Pennsylvania, went to college in Vermont, and has spent summers in the Canadian wilderness. After several years as a diehard New Yorker, she now lives in a small market town in Wales with her husband, five young children, and an overly affectionate Golden Retriever. (From the author's website.)
Book Reviews
It had me on the edge of my seat with tears in my eyes. It is a very heart wrenching book to read and incredibly moving.
Goodreads reviewer
Captivating, suspenseful, entertaining novel! This beautiful thriller kept me on the edge of my seat while I was reading it!
Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars
An intriguing tale of friendship, loyalty and family… I loved it.
Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars
Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for THE SECRETS WE KEEP … then take off on your own:
1. Given their two distinctly different lives, what draws Tessa and Rebecca to one another? How would you describe the dynamics of their relationship and its complications?
2. Talk about how outward appearances—in this book and especially in real life—can be deceiving. Do you know someone like Rebecca? If so, how do they evade detection? How do they sew together the frayed edges of their lives into a the appearance of a seamless whole? Or, ahem… yourself?
3. The novel is told from the points of view of both Tessa and Rebecca. Describe each of the women. Do you find one of them and/or her story, more sympathetic than the other? Did your feelings change during the course of the book?
4. The book's title is about the secrets we all tell. Tell to whom?
5. Talk about the way the book leads up to its climax. Did the plot hold your attention, is it suspenseful—edge-of-your-seat suspenseful? Were you kept guessing, or did you have an inkling of what was coming?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)
Duck the Halls (Meg Langslow Mystery, 16)
Donna Andrews, 2013
St. Martin's Press
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781250046710
Summary
A few nights before Christmas, Meg Langslow is awakened when volunteer fireman Michael is called to the Baptist church.
Someone had rigged a cage full of skunks in the choir loft.
Next morning, the congregation of the Catholic church arrives to find it filled with several hundred ducks. Some serious holiday pranksters are on the loose, and Meg is determined to find them.
Then a fire breaks out at Trinity Episcopal, and the elderly vestryman is found dead. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—October 25, 1952
• Where—Yorktown, Virginia, USA
• Education—B.A., University of Virginia
• Awards—3 Agatha Awards (more below)
• Currently—lives in Reston, Virginia
Donna Andrews is an American mystery fiction writer of two award-winning amateur sleuth series. Her first book, Murder with Peacocks (1999), introduced Meg Langslow, a blacksmith from Yorktown, Virginia. The debut won the St. Martin's Minotaur Best First Traditional Mystery contest, as well as awards for best first novel from the … Agatha, Anthony, Barry, and Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Awards. It also won the Lefty Award for funniest mystery of 1999.
In 2002, she published You've Got Murder, the first novel in the Turing Hopper series featuring an Artificial Intelligence (AI) personality who becomes sentient. That mystery also won the Agatha Award for best mystery of the year.
Donna Andrews was born in Yorktown, Virginia (the setting of her Meg Langslow series), studied English and drama at the University of Virginia, and now lives and works in Reston, Virginia.
Awards
1999 - Agatha Award: Best First Novel (Murder with Peacocks)
2000 - Anthony Award: Best First Novel (Peacocks)
2000 - Barry Award: Best First Novel (Peacocks)
2000 - Lefty Award (Peacocks)
1999 - Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice: Best First Mystery (Peacocks)
2002 - Agatha Award: Best Novel (You've Got Murder)
2003 - Toby Bromberg Award: Most Humorous Mystery (Crouching Buzzard, Leaping Loon)
2005 - Lefty Award (We'll Always Have Parrots)
2007 - Agatha Award: Best Short Story ("A Rat's Tour," Ellery Queen Mystery, October 2007)
2009 - Toby Bromberg Award: Most Humorous Mystery
2012 - Lefty Award (The Real Macaw)
(From Wikipedia. Retrieved 12/9/2017.)
Book Reviews
Duck the Halls offers a wealth of yuletide yuks amid the Christmas carnage, and Andrews' faithful fans will flock to greet the birth of her latest funfest.
Richmond Times-Dispatch
The stakes rise when another prank takes a life at Trinity. Andrews leavens the action with her trademark humor, including dueling Christmas dinners and an extravagant — and extravagantly funny — live nativity scene.
Publishers Weekly
A fun and uncomplicated cozy mystery that will make you long to visit small-town Virginia for the Christmas holidays.
Library Journal
Meg, as well as her quirky extended family, makes this humorous cozy a holiday treat.
Booklist
Given her vast experience as an amateur sleuth.… Not many felonies, clues or deductions, and rather too many pranks…. There's charm enough here to get by with Meg's many fans, but newcomers will want to open other gifts in this waggish series first.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
The below questions were graciously submitted to LitLovers by Shelley Holley, M.L.S of the Southington (Conn.) Library. Thank you, Shelley!
1. What did you think of the book? Like or Dislike?
2. What do you think of Meg’s relationship with her grandfather?
3. What did you think about the competition regarding the Christmas meals between the
mothers-in-law?
4. Did you find Meg’s mother a bit manipulative?
5. Did you find it funny that she knew almost everyone in the town?
6. Do you think Meg and Michael are a good team or is he too easy going with her helping
all the churches?
7. If you were making a movie of this book, who would you cast?
8. Would you read another book by this author?
9. Did this book remind you of other books?
10. Did you like the theme?
(Questions by Shelley Holley of the Southington, Conn., Library. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution to Shelley and LitLovers. Thanks.)