October 2025
1. My Friends
Author: Frederik Backman
Length: 448 pages
Publication: May 2025
Genre: fiction
Audience: adult
SUMMARY
Most people don’t even notice them—three tiny figures sitting at the end of a long pier in the corner of one of the most famous paintings in the world. Most people think it’s just a depiction of the sea. But Louisa, an aspiring artist herself, knows otherwise, and she is determined to find out the story of these three enigmatic figures.
Twenty-five years earlier, in a distant seaside town, a group of teenagers find refuge from their bruising home lives by spending long summer days on an abandoned pier, telling silly jokes, sharing secrets, and committing small acts of rebellion. These lost souls find in each other a reason to get up each morning, a reason to dream, a reason to love.
Out of that summer emerges a transcendent work of art, a painting that will unexpectedly be placed into eighteen-year-old Louisa’s care. She embarks on a surprise-filled cross-country journey to learn how the painting came to be and to decide what to do with it. The closer she gets to the painting’s birthplace, the more nervous she becomes about what she’ll find. Louisa is proof that happy endings don’t always take the form we expect in this stunning testament to the transformative, timeless power of friendship and art.
MY REVIEW
I have always been a fan of Frederik Backman. He captured me first with A Man Called Ove and had never let me go. My friend Kim (yes, I’m actually referring to another person) gifted me with her hardcover copy to read and enjoy on my own time with no library due date. I
didn’t know it, but I would need all the time to slowly and carefully read this deep and moving story of four friends and a painting that would change all their lives. I have confessed before that I can be a skim reader, but this book required a detailed read of every chapter, every page, every sentence. I felt like every third or fourth sentence was profound enough to be a poster on someone’s wall. Backman’s writing is witty and heartfelt and deep…and then he makes some reference to a fart (endearing and funny a few times, mostly weird and redundant in my opinion).
This is a story about a painting. But it’s so much more. If you were given a checklist of thematic options, my guess is most readers would check almost all of them: love, pain, grief, sacrifice, friendship, death. So I guess that makes this novel the single most handbook on “how to live life.”
Readers, this one is worth it. Find your copy, whether it be at the library, the bookstore or your good friend Kim (side note: everyone should have a good friend Kim in their lives). Read it, enjoy it, savor it. Let it take up rent in your head long after you’ve finished it. And then pray to the gods in Hollywood they never try to mess it up by making it into a movie.
2. The Keeper of Lost Things
Author: Ruth Hogan
Length: 288 pages
Publication: November 2017
Genre: fiction
Audience: adult
SUMMARY
Anthony Peardew is the keeper of lost things. Forty years ago, he carelessly lost a keepsake from his beloved fiancée, Therese. That very same day, she died unexpectedly. Brokenhearted, Anthony sought consolation in rescuing lost objects—the things others have dropped, misplaced, or accidentally left behind—and writing stories about them. Now, in the twilight of his life, Anthony worries that he has not fully discharged his duty to reconcile all the lost things with their owners. As the end nears, he bequeaths his secret life’s mission to his unsuspecting assistant, Laura, leaving her his house and all its lost treasures, including an irritable ghost.
Recovering from a bad divorce, Laura, in some ways, is one of Anthony’s lost things. But when the lonely woman moves into his mansion, her life begins to change. She finds a new friend in the neighbor’s quirky daughter, Sunshine, and a welcome distraction in Freddy, the rugged gardener. As the dark cloud engulfing her lifts, Laura, accompanied by her new companions, sets out to realize Anthony’s last wish: reuniting his cherished lost objects with their owners.
Long ago, Eunice found a trinket on the London pavement and kept it through the years. Now, with her own end drawing near, she has lost something precious—a tragic twist of fate that forces her to break a promise she once made.
As the Keeper of Lost Objects, Laura holds the key to Anthony and Eunice’s redemption. But can she unlock the past and make the connections that will lay their spirits to rest?
MY REVIEW
I believe I saw a recommendation for this book on social media, and not by any person I knew. But their review said that reading this book was “like getting a hug,” and I thought I could use a bookhug right now.
I wanted to like this book more. Perhaps it’s Backman’s fault for exposing me to the highest level of literature for my previous read. I believe the plot is worthwhile; the synopsis reminded me a bit of The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper (Patrick) which I thoroughly enjoyed. And the running themes of lost love and found love and friendship and holding out hope when all seems bleak–these are all themes I appreciate in a good novel.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find myself caring about the characters, and as a result, I could not connect to the plot. This might have been a book I would have abandoned halfway through had it not been the feeling of responsibility to finish and report on it to you, my dear readers. Perhaps it moved too slow for my fast-paced brain; perhaps I’m not someone who can appreciate “charming” books the way others can.
Goodreads claims this is a book for readers who loved The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake (Bender). Now that is a book that I loved and would highly recommend to any reader.
3. How to Read a Book
Author: Monica Wood
Length: 288 pages
Publication: May 2024
Genre: fiction
Audience: adult
SUMMARY
Violet Powell, a twenty-two-year-old from rural Abbott Falls, Maine, is being released from prison after serving twenty-two months for a drunk-driving crash that killed a local kindergarten teacher. Harriet Larson, a retired English teacher who runs the prison book club, is facing the unsettling prospect of an empty nest. Frank Daigle, a retired machinist, hasn’t yet come to grips with the complications of his marriage to the woman Violet killed.
When the three encounter each other one morning in a bookstore in Portland—Violet to buy the novel she was reading in the prison book club before her release, Harriet to choose the next title for the women who remain, and Frank to dispatch his duties as the store handyman—their lives begin to intersect in transformative ways.
MY REVIEW
At this point, how this book got on my “to read” list is insignificant; the fact that it got into my hands and I got to devour it in a few short days is all that matters. The title gives nothing away, so I had no idea what to expect. Imagine my shock and surprise when the novel opens in a prison ward.
This book was an absolute delight to read in so many ways. It captured a small glimpse into prison life and what it means for those women to live on the Ins. It enforces the importance of literature and reading and education, and how that is the one universal freedom we all are given. Yes, it’s about friendship and romance, but I loved how it viewed those idyllic aspects of life through broken humans who repeatedly screw up.
I think I adored this book so much because above all, it is a story of forgiveness and offering grace. I believe those are what we need today, in this world, above all else.
Do yourself a favor and find a copy of this book. Even better if you buy it and share it around. This one deserves circulation.