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 […]

By Bonnie McCune & Kathleen Duhamel ~ The Nightingale (Kristen Hannah) thrusts French sisters into horrors of WW II. The elder, Vianne, loses her husband to armed conflict, then struggles to care for her son and the farm, while younger, adventurous Isabelle, in love with a freedom fighter, joins the Resistance. Each sister deals with […]

By Bonnie McCune & Kathleen Duhamel ~ THE ALICE NETWORK (Kate Quinn) offers an adventure in the ever-popular historical period of the first half of the 20th century in Europe. While fiction, it’s firmly based in the true stories that illustrate the bravery, intelligence and drive of women who unexpectedly (to us) plunged into active […]

By Bonnie McCune & Kathleen Duhamel ~ Britt Marie Was Here, another winner from Fredrik Backman, follows an unexpected turn in life. Aging housewife Britt-Marie decides to flee when she discovers her husband’s cheating. She hasn’t worked for years, but thanks to Sweden’s social welfare system, she’s assigned a job for which she’s uniquely unqualified—run […]

Be thankful for different kinds of love. Book lovers, try this. Susan Orlean, a magical purveyor of insights into esoteric topics, writes an ovation for libraries in The Library Book.  A massive fire heavily damaged Los Angeles’ public library in 1987, and in seven hours, consumed 400,000 books and damaged 700,000 more. The perpetrator has […]