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, […]

Denver physician and internationally recognized teacher Jeannette Guerrasio, MD, wrote an essential book entitled, Embrace Aging: Conquer your fears and enjoy added years.  This book serves as a guide for people 50 and older to take control of how they age.

By Bonnie McCune & Kathleen Duhamel ~ Short stories offer the opportunity to sample a writer’s work without obligating you to devote lots of time. You can read a collection of one author’s stories or dip into a number of authors together in one volume. Nine Stories, by JD Salinger, is a book first treasured […]

By Bonnie McCune & Kathleen Duhamel ~ In Never Retreat, (Bonnie McCune), a feisty single mom gets a second chance at love when she clashes with an ex-military corporate star at a retreat in the wild Colorado mountains. Years ago, a roving con man knocked up Ramona Soto, and she’s avoided men since. At thirty-something, […]

By Bonnie McCune & Kathleen Duhamel ~ Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature 2017, English author Kazuo Ishiguro introduces Kathy, a young girl at a boarding school, in Never Let Me Go. She and her classmates have no family or contacts outside school. Over the years she and two friends prepare themselves for their […]