I’ve not had the chance to read books this past month so I’m sharing this basket instead. I’m sure I’ve mentioned before my parish is multicultural, and our big fundraiser for the year is our International Festival with booths of tantalizing foods from around the world, cooked by the people who came from those countries or have deep family roots–so you know it’s authentic! Part of the event held a couple weeks before is a more formal dinner which also includes a live auction–hence the basket.

Each year I donate a basket of books with a different theme, this year’s was women’s fiction–non-romance (though I think men would enjoy some of these, too). I’ve not read any of these books–yet–but some come highly recommended by friends I trust. Here’s a quick synopsis of each book and why I chose it.

Postscript by Cecelia Ahern: In Ahern’s debut novel, P.S. I Love You, Holly Kennedy is a young widow navigating a new life through a series of letters (one letter each month) written by her husband, Gerry, while he was dying of a brain tumor.

“It’s been seven years since Holly Kennedy’s husband died – six since she read his final letter, urging Holly to find the courage to forge a new life. She’s proud of all the ways in which she’s grown and evolved. But when a group inspired by Gerry’s letters, calling themselves the PS, I Love You Club, approaches Holly asking for help, she finds herself drawn back into a world that she worked so hard to leave behind.” (Goodreads)

P.S. I Love You debuted in 2004, and Postscript came out in 2020, so not a new release, but with so many years between the two books, had readers read the first one and not realized a second came out? Friends and family talk all the time of how our children don’t want our ‘stuff’ when we die, maybe a letter or series of letters to loved ones would be a better legacy.

The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride: “In 1972, when workers in Pottstown, PA were digging the foundations for a new housing development, the last thing they expected to discover was a human skeleton. Who the skeleton was and how it got buried were just two of the long-held secrets that had been kept for decades by the residents of Chicken Hill, the dilapidated neighborhood where immigrant Jews and African Americans lived side by side, sharing ambitions and sorrows.” (Goodreads)

I’m on a couple book club/reading sites and when The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store came out in 2023 it seemed everyone was talking about this book. When I read the blurb not only did it sound good in its own right, but the sense of community and the struggles against injustice seemed timely as well.

Waiting for the Long Night Moon by Amanda Peters: “In her debut collection of short fiction, Amanda Peters describes the Indigenous experience from an astonishingly wide spectrum in time and place – from contact with the first European settlers, to the present-day fight for the right to clean water.” (Goodreads)

A friend had recently read another of Peters’ books, The Berry Pickers, and raved about it. Unfortunately, the store I was in didn’t have a copy (and I was running short on time to order one) so I picked this one. Waiting for the Long Night Moon was released just this past February. Because our parish is multicultural, I want to include books by different authors writing about different experiences. And I always like to throw in a short story collection because I love them, they can be read when you don’t have hours to fall into a novel, and many people don’t think of them as an option.

Things Past Telling by Shelia Williams: “Born in West Africa in the mid-18th century, Maryam Prescilla Grace – aka Momma Grace – will live a long wondrous life marked by hardship, oppression, opportunity and love…Over the course of 100 years she survives capture, enslavement by several property owners, the Atlantic crossing when she is only eleven years old, and a brief stint as a pirate’s ward, acting as both a spy and a translator. It’s inspired by a 112-year-old woman the author discovered in an 1870 U.S. Federal census report for Ohio.” (Goodreads)

Though Things Past Telling is fiction, it’s a history we can’t ignore or forget. This book was released in 2022.

The Griffin Sisters Greatest Hits by Jennifer Weiner: “Sisters Cassie and Zoe were born just a year apart but could not be more different. Zoe, blessed with charm and beauty, yearned for fame from the moment she could sing into a hairbrush. Cassie was a musical prodigy who never felt at home in her own skin and preferred the safety of the shadows. …” (Goodreads) A popular pop duo in the early 2000s they abruptly break up. Two decades later Zoe’s daughter, Cherry, decides to uncover the secret to their estrangement.

The blurb on the book jacket sounded like this would be one of those family drama stories told with heart and humor, and I thought the basket needed a bit of levity!

Distant Shores by Kristen Hannah: “Elizabeth and Jackson Shore married young, raised two daughters, and weathered storms as they built their family. … After the girls leave home, Jack and Elizabeth quietly drift apart. When Jack accepts a wonderful new job, Elizabeth puts her own needs aside to follow him across country. Then tragedy turns Elizabeth’s world upside down.” (Goodreads)

Kristen Hannah is one of the most popular women’s fiction writers today so I had to include one of hers, though this one is an earlier book, published in 2002.

Where the Rivers Merge by Mary Alice Monroe: “A dramatic and sweeping multigenerational family story of unyielding love, lessons learned, profound sacrifices, and the indomitable spirit of a woman.” (Mary Alice Monroe’s website) The story takes place in the Lowcountry.

Mary Alice Monroe is one of the most beloved Southern women writers today, so like Kristen Hannah above, I had to include one of Mary Alice’s. This is the newest release in the basket having been published in May of this year.

And always there’s the bottle of wine, some chocolate, some nuts, and in this basket a comfy throw. These books definitely aren’t the cozy beach reads I’ve gathered before, these are the sit by the fire as the days get darker sooner and snuggle in for a good quiet night of reading. I hope the winner enjoys them.

I already have my book picked out for the next Book Review Monday!, one recommended by a high school classmate. It sounds like a good one, and a bit lighter than these. I’ll let you know! I hope you have a great week. See you next Monday by my window.