Marilyn Recommends...

I will read a wide range of books from just about all genres. I am particularly drawn to light mysteries, books with subjects of art, New York, France, Japan, and spiritual development. I love books where the characters go to a foreign country and part of the story is their discovery of the culture and language.

The Uninvited Guests (Hardcover)

By Sadie Jones
$24.99
ISBN-13: 9780062116505
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Published: Harper, 5/2012
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For fans of the Downton Abbey time period and "of the manor born" style, this is a quirky, fun read. We are invited to a birthday party that has many twists and delightful turns. Some of us are invited - but what to do with the uninvited guests?

Grace (Paperback)

By T. Greenwood
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780758250926
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Published: Kensington, 4/2012
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We return to Two Rivers Vermont as a young boy discovers his artistry and his parents mature and discover their son and themselves through the mutual love of Grace. It reads like a mystery as chapters alternate between 4 characters and the language is as emotionally and beautifully written as the characters are emotionally detached from each other.

The Cove (Hardcover)

By Ron Rash
Please email or call for availability and price
ISBN-13: 9780061804199
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Published: Ecco Press, 4/2012
Whose body did the government man find in the well?  We find out in this beautifully written story told by Laurel, a young woman living in a dark cove in South Carolina with her brother, their family scorned by the town because of superstitions during WWI.  The author's poetic language appeals so much to me as in "dewdrops on a spider's web held whole rainbows inside them."

The Hare with Amber Eyes: A Hidden Inheritance (Paperback)

By Edmund de Waal
$16.00
ISBN-13: 9780312569372
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Published: Picador, 8/2011
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A man's search for his family's history from Russia to Japan, from wealth to loss, from the mid-1800's to the 1940's. Wis writing is absorbing and fascinating, particularly because of his artistic eye for detail.

Life, on the Line: A Chef's Story of Chasing Greatness, Facing Death, and Redefining the Way We Eat (Hardcover)

By Grant Achatz, Nick Kokonas
$27.50
ISBN-13: 9781592406012
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Published: Gotham, 3/2011
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Told with great energy, passion and clarity. He's accomplished so much in such a short period of time in spite of his youth, personal difficulties and not just illness, but devastating illness. He has talent, vision, drive, and a great partnership with Nick.

The descriptions of his dishes are so well done that as much as I'd like to eat at Alinea some day, in some ways I feel satisfied having read it, as though I have already eaten there.

I realize I'd read about the meal at Alinea in another favorite food memoir, It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time by Moira Hodgson. Rereading the description after reading the Chef's story was an additional delight.

The Hand That First Held Mine (Paperback)

By Maggie O'Farrell
$14.95
ISBN-13: 9780547423180
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Published: Mariner Books, 1/2011
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An intriguing novel of two women connected across fifty years by art, love, betrayals, secrets, and motherhood. Lexie is a young, bohemian Irish woman living in London in the 1950's who is involved with a writer working for a magazine. Elina is an artist living in present-day London who recently had a baby and is trying to navigate her new life as a mother. One unconventional life is just as interesting as the other. Written by the same author who wrote The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox.

In the Kitchen with a Good Appetite: 150 Recipes and Stories about the Food You Love (Hardcover)

By Melissa Clark
$27.50
ISBN-13: 9781401323769
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Published: Hyperion, 9/2010
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I usually only like a cookbook if it has pictures of each recipe but not only are these recipes great, the stories about the recipes are entertaining and just plain good reading.

Design Revolution: 100 Products That Empower People (Paperback)

By Emily Pilloton, Allan Chochinov
$34.95
ISBN-13: 9781933045955
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Published: Metropolis Books, 10/2009
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Fascinating look at what's new in inventions with a slant towards green design. A good gift book choice for the "arty" and inventive people in your life.

Prayers for Sale (Paperback)

By Sandra Dallas
$13.99
ISBN-13: 9780312385194
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Published: St. Martin's Griffin, 2/2010
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The wisdom of an older woman is imparted to a young newcomer through stories of life in the gold mines of Colorado. A must read for quilters - thoroughly enjoyable.

Baking Cakes in Kigali (Paperback)

By Gaile Parkin
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780385343442
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Bantam, 8/2010
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Difficult stories of life and death in Rowanda and Africa are told gently and poignantly by the narrator, a woman who makes special occasion cakes and her own difficult story to face.

A Shadow Falls (Hardcover)

By Peter Singer, Nick Brandt, Vicki Goldberg
$50.00
ISBN-13: 9780810954151
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Harry N. Abrams, 9/2009

The pictures are magnificent. I gave it to a friend who has a Safari trip planned and she was thrilled. I'll be happy with armchair traveling!

Somewhere Towards the End: A Memoir (Paperback)

By Diana Athill
$13.95
ISBN-13: 9780393338003
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Published: W. W. Norton & Company, 12/2009
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Here's a favorite line that gives a wonderful taste of this memoir - "How then does the written word work? What part of a reader absorbs it - or should that be a double question?" Intelligent and absorbing!

Through the Heart (Paperback)

By Kate Morgenroth
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780452295896
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Published: Plume, 12/2009
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I enjoy books that have two voices as this one does with the man's and woman's version of their relationship. It develops very suspensefully, keeping you guessing until the very end. It was good, compelling and different than any mystery I have ever read.

Among the Mad: A Maisie Dobbs Novel (Paperback)

By Jacqueline Winspear
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780312429256
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Published: Picador, 11/2009
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I am always excited to read the next in the Maisie Dobb's series. This one felt a bit darker than the previous books as she explores the world of mental illness and the institutions that existed in the 1920's for that care. It reminded me a bit of the bestseller The Professor and the Madman.

Tokyo Fiancee (Paperback)

By Amelie Nothomb, Alison Anderson
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9781933372648
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Europa Editions, 12/2008
If you enjoyed my recommended book The Concise Chinese English Dictionary for Lovers by X Guo, this is the book for you. But now, a woman from Belgium is in Japan tutoring a Japanese man in French. It is a wonderful exploration of language and love of all things Japanese. Ooh, la, la!

Serena (Paperback)

By Ron Rash
$14.99
ISBN-13: 9780061470844
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Ecco, 10/2009
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I love this book so much, I would like the entire town of Wellesley to read it and talk about it with me. An epic tale about logging as the National Park Developers vs. North Carolina after the stock market crash of 1929. We follow Serena, the new wife of the logging owner -- and what an adventure it is!

Shutter Island (Mass Market Paperback)

By Dennis Lehane
$7.99
ISBN-13: 9780380731862
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Published: HarperTorch, 5/2004
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If you are in the mood for a psychological thriller, a real page-turner, this is it!

Digging to America (Paperback)

By Anne Tyler
$15.00
ISBN-13: 9780345492340
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Published: Ballantine Books, 8/2007
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Two families meet at the airport on the arrival day of their adopted babies. We follow these entwined lives with very different ideas about raising their children. Very thoughtful, at times funny and at times moving - rather light and straightforward for Anne Tyler. More like Back When We Were Grownups than Accidental Tourist.

Breakfast with Buddha (Paperback)

By Roland Merullo
$13.95
ISBN-13: 9781565126169
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Published: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 8/2008
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Driving cross-country with a man and a monk was a great trip! Armchair traveling at it's best with laughs and thoughtfulness in a delightful mix.

Hector and the Search for Happiness (Paperback)

By Francois Lelord
$14.00
ISBN-13: 9780143118398
Availability: Usually Ships in 1-5 days
Published: Penguin (Non-Classics), 8/2010
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Very simply told, but many a-ha moments as a psychiatrist travels the world to find what makes people happy.

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