Book Recommendations from Ellen Key
I’ve read several books lately that have been hard to put down.
Just finished Manhattan Beach: A Novel by Jennifer Egan. The story takes place during World War II but it’s more about the characters than the war. One of the characters, a young woman with a mind of her own, becomes a diver in New York. I mean, she puts on a diving suite that weighs about 200 pounds and goes down into the deep to work on ships that need repair. She’s the only woman to take this on, and of course, she’s better than all the men. Her father had abandoned her family several years before, so part of the story deals with what happened to him. I won’t go into all the details, but I really enjoyed it.
I drive back and forth to Dallas (a lot!), so I decided to try Audible. The first book I ordered was Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingatel, and I’m really enjoying it. The story takes place in the south and cuts back and forth between several generations. I’m just getting into it, so I don’t know where it’s going to take me (other than to and from Dallas), but I’m totally absorbed. The voices are perfect for the characters. It has an air of mystery to it.
Now I’ve just started Adrenaline by Jeff Abbott, the same author who will be the speaker at our Books in Bloom luncheon on April 13. If you haven’t already bought a table or a seat, hurry, because tables are going fast, and early birds get the best tables. One of my guilty pleasures is spy novels, and Adrenaline is definitely that. It’s the first in a series that Abbot has written about Sam Capra. Now I’m conflicted about whether to listen or read. They’re both so good! Abbott’s newest book is Blame, a mystery but not a spy novel. It takes place in Austin, where he lives. Credible characters, good story that really moves. Adrenaline is a real page-turner. Gotta go now, to see what will happen next.
