Life is short. Read fast.

My new favorites: Eat and Get Gas, J.A. Wright, Wine People, Michelle Wildgeon

On my beside table: Miss Grief, Constance Fenimore Woolson, The Book of Water, Steven Forrest

On my Audible app: The Littlest Library, Poppy Alexander, The Wedding People, Alison Espach

Non-Fiction: Breath, James Nestor, Constance Fenimore Woolson: Portrait of a Lady Novelist, Anne Boyd Rioux

Recently finished and loved: Shelby Va Pelt's Remarkable Bright Creatures, Ann Patchett's Truth and Beauty, Sue Monk Kidd's The Book of Longings, Miranda Cowley Heller's The Paper Palace, Allen Eskens' The Life We Bury / Bonnie Garmus' Lessons in Chemistry

My latest favorite inspirational quote: “There is no greater threat to the critics, cynics, and fear-mongers than a woman who is willing to fall because she has learned how to rise.” Brene Brown

Some of my favorite writers of contemporary fiction:

Liane Moriarty, Ann Patchett, Lauren Groff, Maria Semple, Jojo Moyes, Alice Hoffman, Barbara Kingsolver.

My all-time Favorites:

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (One of my mother’s favorites and it will always remind me of her.)

Nancy Drew (I think I read them all as a girl.)

Princess Daisy, Judith Krantz (I was 18 when this was published.)

Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Truman Capote (I remember reading Capote's In Cold Blood as a senior in high school and getting complimented by my hot English Lit teacher on some insightful comment I made. Ha!)

Tortilla Flat, Steinbeck (My oldest son loved this one, too. You'll want to visit Cannery Row after reading.)

Bonfire of the Vanities, Tom Wolfe (Back to the life in 80s!)

A Land Remembered, Patrick D. Smith (If you love Florida history.)

Killing Mister Watson, Peter Matthiessen (Also, if you love Florida history.)

What Alice Forgot, Liane Moriarty (My favorite of Liane's many books.)

The Prince of Tides, Pat Conroy (Also my favorite Nick Nolte movie. An aside...we bought the house that Nolte and his family lived in while filming Cape Fear.)

Just Kids, Patti Smith (Fabulous. Manhattan. Mapplethorpe. Rock-n-roll. How I wish I had been there!)

The Storied Life of AJ Fikry, Gabrielle Zevin (Simply wonderful.)

Virgil Wander, Leif Enger (It's described as "enchanting" and it is.)

Where’d You Go, Bernadette? Maria Semple (The movie is good but the book...a joy!)

A Gentleman in Moscow, Amor Towles (See van life post for more.)

The Dutchhouse, Ann Patchett (I read the book, but I loved listening to Tom Hanks read in on Audible. SO good.)

Cutting for Stone, Abraham Verghese

The Paper Palace, Miranda Cowley Heller (My newest favorite.)

A few non-ficion favorites:

Esther and Jerry Hicks

Wayne Dyer

David Sedaris

Malcolm Gladwell

Michael Lewis

The Orchid Thief, Susan Orlean

Alice Early’s THE MOON ALWAYS RISING has risen like a beautiful full moon to the top of my list of all-time favorite books. I am left with that familiar melancholy of leaving newfound friends behind, no longer a part of their adventures. In this case, my new friends are an unlikely camaraderie of islanders and transplants, the island of Nevis itself, and one particular house set on a lonely, lovely perch with a view of the sea.

From the opening paragraph, we know that Els Gordon is a force on the verge of a meltdown. Her island vacation is a “penance” handed down by her boss, and she is one hell of a resentful traveler. Els is determined to serve out her term behind gritted teeth, then high-tail it back to London to continue her partner-making quest at her M&A firm.

She’s still in the cab from the airport when she spots the abandoned stone house on the hill, still elegant and charming behind the boarded windows and overgrown garden. Like Els’ heart, the house has been abandoned, left to decay, and closed off from the beautiful world that beckons just outside its gates. Only the ghost of its cannon-firing, domino-playing, rum-guzzling owner, Horseshoe Jack, is there to enjoy the magnificent Nevis sunsets from the gallery steps.

I loved every minute I spent with the unshakable, determined Els—from her grand childhood home, Cairnoch House, in the Scottish Highlands, to three days of self-imposed captivity in Jack’s filthy, monkey-infested house riding out a hurricane…alone…in the dark…with a ghost.

Early’s writing is as strong and uncompromising as her heroine. She has captured the musicality of the island dialect with grace and respect, setting the reader squarely amongst the natives and ex-pats of Els’ adopted island home. When Els travels back to Scotland, the authentic vernacular of that place carries the narrative beautifully, from the village High Street to the vistas of the Crag. Early has captured the essence of these two distinct and equally magnificent settings and tackled subject matter that is both serious and mystical with an expertise not often found in debut novels.

Filled with love and longing, Els’ journey is truly heart-wrenching, yet Early manages to delight—weaving in the whimsical and the magical—mixing up a concoction as intoxicating as a rum punch. Each memorable character is adrift on his own island of grief and tragedy, yet each is determined to thrive. Els struggles to break free of the ghosts that haunt her, not just in her house, but in her heart, and I rooted for her every sandy step of the way. Early has created a world I hated to leave, and that is the true test of a great story.