"Waiting On" Wednesday: The Brightest Star in the Sky

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted here, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

The Brightest Star in the Sky

By Marian Keyes

Publication Date: January 21

From Publishers Weekly:

"Keyes delivers a dizzying vertical view of the mismatched, mixed-up tenants of Dublin's 66 Star Street, friends and lovers who grow up, grow old and give way to their “heart currents” with help from a puckish sprite. This multitiered saga of Dubliners searching for “the brightest star in the sky... the planet of love” straddles slapstick and sophistication in an engaging balancing act both giddy and grand. Here's Katie, publicist, freshly 40, and her workaholic, commitment-phobic fella, Conall; newlyweds Maeve and Matt, who hide a violent and crippling secret that binds them and drives them apart; madcap, sassy Lydia, a taxi driver who juggles worries about her aging mom and an over-the-top passion (mixed with equal parts lust and disdain) for her sexy flatmate; plucked from nowhere hunk Fionn, who hopes to begin a TV career, and his psychic foster mom and her mean-as-a-snake dog who improbably helps bring all the sweet mayhem to a satisfying close."

What's your "waiting on" pick this week?

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"Waiting On" Wednesday: Too Much Money

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted here, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

Too Much Money

By Dominick Dunne

Publication Date: December 1

From Amazon:

"The last two years have been monstrously unpleasant for high-society journalist Gus Bailey. His propensity for gossip has finally gotten him into trouble--$11 million dollars worth. His problems begin when he falls hook, line, and sinker for a fake story from an unreliable source and repeats it on a radio program. As a result of his flip comments, Gus becomes embroiled in a nasty slander suit brought by Kyle Cramden, the powerful congressman he accuses of murder, and he fears it could mean the end of him.

The stress of the lawsuit makes it difficult for Gus to focus on the novel he has been contracted to write, which is based on the suspicious death of billionaire Konstantin Zacharias. It is a story that has dominated the party conversations of Manhattan’s chattering classes for more than two years. The accused murderer is behind bars, but Gus is not convinced that justice was served. There are too many unanswered questions, such as why a paranoid man who did not go anywhere without bodyguards was suddenly left without protection the very night he perished in a tragic fire. Gus believes the answers lie with Konstantin’s hot-tempered and vengeful wife, Perla. He intends to uncover the truth, even though doing so will gain him another dangerous enemy."

What's your "waiting on" pick this week?

Want to participate? Grab the logo, post your own WoW entry on your blog, and leave a link in the comments section!

"Waiting On" Wednesday: Americans in Space

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted here, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

Americans in Space

By Mary E. Mitchell

Publication Date: October 13

From Amazon:

"Life is a challenge for 36-year-old Kate Cavanaugh, high school guidance counselor to a motley group of at-risk students. Two years after finding her young husband dead in bed beside her, Kate’s storybook life has vanished, and she and her two children are still reeling. Her daughter Charlotte, once a sweet girl, has morphed into an angry, tattooed, tongue-studded teen; and Hunter, Kate’s four-year-old, keeps his feelings sealed tight inside and an empty ketchup bottle clasped to his heart. When a tragedy occurs at the Alan B. Shepard High School, it’s Kate who finds herself in need of counsel and guidance. What she does next catapults her and her family down an unfamiliar road, on a trajectory into space—toward understanding, forgiveness and healing."

What's your "waiting on" pick this week?

Want to participate? Grab the logo, post your own WoW entry on your blog, and leave a link in the comments section!

"Waiting On" Wednesday: New York

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted here, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

New York: The Novel

By Edward Rutherfurd

Publication Date: November 10

From Amazon:

"Rutherfurd celebrates America's greatest city in a rich, engrossing saga that showcases his extraordinary ability to combine impeccable historical research and storytelling flair.

As he recounts the intertwining fates of characters rich and poor, black and white, native born and immigrant, Rutherfurd brings to life the momentous events that shaped New York and America: the Revolutionary War, the emergence of the city as a great trading and financial center, the excesses of the Gilded Age, the explosion of immigration in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the trials of World War II, the near-demise of New York in the 1970s and its roaring rebirth in the '90s, and the attacks on the World Trade Center.

A brilliant mix of romance, war, family drama, and personal triumphs, it gloriously captures the search for freedom and prosperity at the heart of our nation's history."

What's your "waiting on" pick this week?

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Library Loot: 8-20

Library Loot is a weekly event hosted by A Striped Armchair that encourages bloggers to share the books they’ve checked out from the library.

Seven books from my request list all hit at the same time...where to start??

The Last Bridge by Teri Coyne

Labor Day by Joyce Maynard

Sometimes Mine by Martha Moody

While I'm Falling by Laura Moriarty

Finger Lickin' Fifteen by Janet Evanovich

Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner

Bird in Hand by Christina Baker Kline

"Waiting On" Wednesday: Whistlin' Dixie in a Nor'easter

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted here, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

Whistlin' Dixie in a Nor'easter

By Lisa Patton

Publication Date: September 29

From Books-a-Million:

"Leelee Satterfield seemed to have it all: a gorgeous husband, two adorable daughters, and roots in the sunny city of Memphis, Tennessee. So when her husband gets the idea to uproot the family to run a quaint Vermont inn, Leelee is devastated...and her three best friends are outraged.

But when an unexpected hardship takes Leelee by surprise, she finds herself left alone with an inn to run, a mortgage to pay, and two daughters to raise. But this Southern belle won't be run out of town so easily. Drawing on the Southern grit and inner strength she didn't know she had, Leelee decides to turn around the Inn, her attitude and her life. In doing so, she makes friends with her neighbors, finds a little romance, and realizes there's a lot more in common with Vermont than she first thought."

What's your "waiting on" pick this week?

Want to participate? Grab the logo, post your own WoW entry on your blog, and leave a link in the comments section!

"Waiting On" Wednesday: The Pursuit of Other Interests

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted here, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

The Pursuit of Other Interests

By Jim Kokoris

Publication Date: October 27

From Amazon:

"Charlie Baker is a neurotic but charming 50-year-old workaholic CEO of a major Chicago ad agency who seems to have it all: an impressive house in an upscale suburb, an equally impressive salary, the requisite pretty wife, and accomplished son. All of this comes crashing down when Charlie is unceremoniously fired. In an instant, his life is transformed from corporate titan to just another out-of-work American. As Charlie reluctantly embarks on a journey of self-discovery, he finds out what happens when his work life is lost and his real life begins."

What's your "waiting on" pick this week?

Want to participate? Grab the logo, post your own WoW entry on your blog, and leave a link in the comments section!

Sunday Salon: Weekend Wrap-Up

I saw the highly anticipated Julie and Julia movie this weekend, and it exceeded my expectations. While I really enjoyed the book, I had read several reviews that lauded the "Julia" portions of the movie (What do you expect? It's the great Meryl Streep!) and expressed disappointment in the "Julie" parts of the movie.

I, thankfully, found this not to be the case. I was equally enthralled by both elements, watching these characters develop as cooks and the impact of food on their lives. It makes me want to work my way through an entire cookbook...just not a Julia Child one! :)

Needless to say, it's a "must see."

Also, I finished The Embers by Hyatt Bass, an intriguing story of a family so fractured that the notion of putting themselves back together seemed nearly impossible...but their path toward reconciliation was thoroughly engaging.

Finally, I read in one sitting today That Old Cape Magic by Richard Russo, who consistently writes books that make you put aside everything else to keep reading...and his latest doesn't fail to deliver.

"Waiting On" Wednesday: Family Album

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted here, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:

Family Album

By Penelope Lively

Publication Date: October 29

From Amazon:

"All Alison ever wanted was a blissful childhood for her six children, with summers at the beach and birthday parties on the lawn at their family home. Together with Ingrid, the family au pair, she has worked hard to create a real old-fashioned family life. But beneath its postcard sheen, the picture is clouded by a distant father, Alison's inexplicable emotional outbursts, and long-repressed secrets that no one dares mention. For years, Alison's adult children have protected her illusion of domestic perfection—but as each child confronts the effects of past choices on their current adult lives, it becomes evident that each must face the truth."

What's your "waiting on" pick this week?

Want to participate? Grab the logo, post your own WoW entry on your blog, and leave a link in the comments section!

Summer Reading, Part I

I have had a crazy summer, with work and putting my house on the market...and while I have been steadily reading, I have NOT been steadily reviewing! That said, I didn't want to let more time go by without calling out six of my favorite summer reads so far:

So Happy Together by Maryann Mcfadden

The Castaways by Elin Hilderbrand

The Fixer Upper by Mary Kay Andrews

Dune Road by Jane Green

Summer House by Nancy Thayer

Beach Trip by Cathy Holton

On a disappointing note, I was really looking forward to Return to Sullivan's Island by Dorothea Benton Frank and Last Light Over Carolina by Mary Alice Monroe, but I just couldn't stick with either one of them enough to finish.