Feel good with books this month ~ By Bonnie McCune & Kathleen Duhamel ~ In Lessons in Chemistry, a bestselling novel, author Bonnie Garmus brings us insights about women’s lives, careers, and struggle for equality in the late 50s-60s. Elizabeth, a scrappy nonconformist, also a brilliant chemist, is forced to become a television chef when […]

By Bonnie McCune and Kathleen Duhamel ~ The Paris Apartment, by Kelly Bowen, has the misfortune of sharing a title with at least three other books. The Bowen version is the one I prefer because it contains several compelling and related stories with characters and plotlines embedded in WW II and post-war. Aurelia inherits an […]

By Bonnie McCune & Kathleen Duhamel ~ Walk With Giraffes.  Lynda Rutledge’s engaging tale, based on true events, follows the improbable journey of Woodrow Wilson (“Woody”) Nickel, a Dust Bowl orphan on the brink of manhood. After Woody makes his way to New York, he is swept up in a news story involving two giraffes […]

By Bonnie McCune and Kathleen Duhamel ~ Demon Copperhead. From the first page, the title character in Barbara Kingsolver’s latest novel speaks in a clear, bold voice that compels the reader to go along on his remarkable journey. Inspired by Dickens’ classic story David Copperfield, this version follows Damon (i.e. Demon), an orphan living in […]

Book Signing at Barnes & Noble, 960 South Colorado Boulevard, Denver, Saturday, March 25, 1:00-3:00 p.m. ~ Meet esteemed authors from Denver’s National League of American Pen Women: Andrea Antico, author of children’s fiction books, Buster the Bully and The Sugarplum Tree. Eleanor Addy Binnings, MFA, author of  literary novel, Solotramp, set in mid- century Denver. Diane Lane Chambers, known for her books, Words […]

By Bonnie McCune and Kathleen Duhamel ~ Harlem Shuffle. Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Colson Whitehead spins an engaging tale of 1960s Harlem during the height of the civil rights movement. Mostly honest Ray Carney, a likeable family man, strives to create a better future for his wife and children by opening a high-end furniture store. […]

By Bonnie McCune & Kathleen Duhamel ~ Ghost Tour (Claryn Vaile) features hotel historian Rebecca Bridger. As part of her duties she conducts ghost tours of the Griffins Keep, of the oldest and best-loved building in downtown Denver. Ever the skeptic, Rebecca doesn’t believe the tales of paranormal encounters until she begins to experience them […]

By Bonnie McCune & Kathleen Duhamel ~ Jeannette Walls’ remarkable journey from the impoverished daughter of deeply dysfunctional parents to successful journalist and author is chronicled in The Glass Castle, her best-selling memoir. Her charismatic father was an alcoholic and her selfish mother, an artist and “free spirit,” ignored Walls’ and her three siblings’ most […]

By Bonnie McCune & Kathleen Duhamel ~ In Breaking Night: from Homeless to Harvard, Liz Murray relates her fascinating memoir about life with substance-abusing parents, through an extended stretch of scraping up an existence on the streets, then finally to her successful transformation to Harvard student. When Liz’s mother dies of AIDS, she decides to […]

By Bonnie McCune & Kathleen Duhamel ~ The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August, by Claire North, takes us along on the mind-blowing trip of protagonist, Harry, as we trace some of his never-ending lives. He’s a Kalachakra, a term developed from Vajrayana Buddhism that means “wheel of time.” A small group of people have the ability to relive their lives, […]

Labor Day, work or working–an interesting job, a terrible job, an awful boss ~ By Bonnie McCune & Kathleen Duhamel ~ Convenience Store Woman, by Sayaka Murata, translated by Ginny Tapley Takemori, tells the familiar scenario of a middle-aged woman forced by background, necessity, and ultimately choice to earn a living in a Japanese convenience store. […]

The Colorado Authors League (CAL) – the community of published writers that has been supporting its members and adding value to the reading world for 90 years – announced the 2022 winners of its prestigious annual CAL Awards at Washington Park in Denver on June 19th.

By Bonnie McCune & Kathleen Duhamel ~ A funeral becomes the destination and the power base for change and friendship in Annie Freeman’s Fabulous Traveling Funeral, by Kris Radish. After the death of her friend Annie at age 56, a package arrives for Katherine Givens with the ashes of her free-spirited, altruistic childhood pal, and […]

By Bonnie McCune & Kathleen Duhamel ~ July 15 is National Give Something Away Day. Why not give away a favorite book to spread the joy around? One that’s chock full of history, questions of culture and heritage, and religion, as well as fascinating characters poised in a controversial time and place, is The Poisonwood […]

By Bonnie McCune & Kathleen Duhamel ~ Do you believe in magic? Magical realism has a realistic setting but includes fantastic elements. This example, The Ocean at the End of the Lane (Neil Gaiman) boasts terrific characters and enigmas. Related in a straightforward style, the story centers on a middle-aged man who returns to England, […]