MONDAY SPARKS: BOOKS AND MORE BOOKS!

Welcome to another Monday of Musing, hosted by Jenn, at A Daily Rhythm.  Check out the prompts:

 

• I’m currently reading…
• Up next I think I’ll read…
• I bought the following book(s) in the past week…
• I’m super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…
• I’m really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…
• I can’t wait to get a copy of…
• I wish I could read ___, but…
• I blogged about ____ this past week…

 

THIS WEEK’S RANDOM QUESTION: How do you choose which books you read?

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I am very excited that tomorrow, my pre-order of Under the Influence, by Joyce Maynard, will come to live on Pippa, my Kindle.  I have been a fan of this author since I read her first book, published when she was a teenager:  Looking Back:  A Chronicle of Growing Up Old in the Sixties.

Another favorite from her, which I still have on my bookshelves, is a somewhat controversial memoir:  At Home in the World, the story of her teenage relationship with J. D. Salinger.  Maynard does not steer away from difficult topics, and she reveals much of herself in the characters she creates in her fiction.

 

 

 

 

Blurb:  The New York Times bestselling author of Labor Day and After Her returns with a poignant story about the true meaning—and the true price—of friendship.

Drinking cost Helen her marriage and custody of her seven-year-old son, Ollie. Once an aspiring art photographer, she now makes ends meet taking portraits of school children and working for a caterer. Recovering from her addiction, she spends lonely evenings checking out profiles on an online dating site. Weekend visits with her son are awkward. He’s drifting away from her, fast.

When she meets Ava and Swift Havilland, the vulnerable Helen is instantly enchanted. Wealthy, connected philanthropists, they have their own charity devoted to rescuing dogs. Their home is filled with fabulous friends, edgy art, and dazzling parties.

Then Helen meets Elliott, a kind, quiet accountant who offers loyalty and love with none of her newfound friends’ fireworks. To Swift and Ava, he’s boring. But even worse than that, he’s unimpressed by them.

As Helen increasingly falls under the Havillands’ influence—running errands, doing random chores, questioning her relationship with Elliott—Ava and Swift hold out the most seductive gift: their influence and help to regain custody of her son. But the debt Helen owes them is about to come due.

Ollie witnesses an accident involving Swift, his grown son, and the daughter of the Havillands’ housekeeper. With her young son’s future in the balance, Helen must choose between the truth and the friends who have given her everything.

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I know that I won’t be able to relegate this book to the bottom of the pile.  Some books just call out to be read immediately.

What are you musing about today?  As for how I pick my books, I choose from my list of favorite authors, as well as various books that I see on the blogs.  Books that are thrillers or those that reveal secrets in the relationships between the books’ characters.  Books about people that intrigue me.

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