Spring 2020 Favorites at Twice Told Tales

“I read this book non-stop for a week, underlining, reading passages to my friends & recommending it to anyone with a pulse. There are many great stories inside, but their charm & power, really, is all Glennon. She is a spiritual seeker & leader who loves reality tv, a formidable activist on the global scale who gets anxiety sweats when the doorbell rings. Equal parts poetic & conversational, memoir & manifesto. Her love story will make you swoon. Her shamelessness & relentless self-interrogation will make you feel deeply exposed. This is not a "you can do it, girl!" book. It's more like a spiritual marathon that invites you to jump the guardrail & take off.”

“I adore our former president and I miss him. Yet I cannot help but be ecstatic that Michelle is coming out with a book about her own life so that I can learn more about this powerful, intelligent, and singularly awesome woman. Barack would be the first to say that his wife is a superstar, and I can’t wait to get my hands on Becoming to read about her in her own words.”

“Set in Victorian England, Things in Jars feels like a Sherlock Holmes story, if Holmes had been a woman. You can’t help but love Bridie Devine, a strong-willed, chain-smoking woman who has clawed her way from life as an orphaned thief to a highly sought-after detective often consulted by Scotland Yard. Bridie’s newest case, though, is proving difficult and incredibly strange. Not only will it force her to confront someone from her past who she thought was dead, she’ll also team up with an actual ghost as she solves a fantastical crime. Highly imaginative, Things in Jars is a fun and immersive read.”

“Oh man, what a ride! I guess I’m the right demographic for this book: I love rock and I grew up in the ’70s, so I wanted to like it...instead, I loved it! Yes, it’s sex, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll, but it’s also got wonderfully complex characters that I cared about even if I didn’t like how they acted. It’s a peek into the formation of a band, how the music is made, the struggles of addiction and clashing personalities, and, ultimately, love. The story is compiled of pieces of interviews with the band and those connected to them—a very effective technique that made the novel’s pages turn even faster. Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Daisy Jones & the Six is one of my favorite books of 2019 so far!”

“This book was meant to be heard! Wilson creates a narrative in a world so sarcastic and colorful that I would taste cherry cool-aid long after I stopped reading. Flash to me doubled over in my car laughing or sobbing or both at the same time. I actually started to look forward to my hour-long commute every morning just so I could spend time with these characters... I also might have adopted a sassy southern accent for a good twenty minutes post-listening. I adore this book with all my heart.”

“Oona Out of Order is a work of fiction that genuinely encouraged me to reflect upon my own mortality and the trajectory of my life. Oona wakes up on her birthday every year in a different part of her life. The difficulty this imposes is fascinating. Pop culture and music is ever-present, as Oona is a musician and chapter titles are taken from song titles or lyrics. What would it be to live your life out of order? To instinctively want to second guess and redo what you saw as failures? At the heart, Oona Out of Order is about mastering the art of living in the moment and it is a terribly fun romp.”

“Scintillating, ethereal, and utterly captivating. And with narration by Jim Dale, who could say no? Morgenstern writes in sparkling prose, slowly weaving tapestries that come together in beautiful, unexpected ways, though when you look back, the stage had been set from the beginning. The Night Circus is a beautiful tale of being open to the magic in the world and choosing your own path through it all. Now if only I knew where the Cirque was making its next stop. Perhaps I'll email the proprietor... ”

“A timely, incredibly important account of the difficulties Farrow faced at NBC while working on the Weinstein expose, which he took to the New Yorker and subsequently won a Pulitzer for. The audiobook is grippingly read by Farrow (though the accents he attempts are... let's go with 'confusing'). It's upsetting, sure, but heartening to see the exhaustive research and the very clearly laid-out account of how Farrow had to work against the very powerful high-profile members of the media establishment--including his own bosses--not only because of Weinstein's well-oiled intimidation machine but also as part of those figures attempting to cover up their own histories of being harassers. Highly recommend this important piece of current events journalism, which reads like a thriller novel.”

“Talking To Strangers is perfect on audio. It reads (listens) like a podcast including audio clips from interviews, etc.”

“I love N.K. Jemisin’s books, I love New York City, and I love this book about the soul and personification of New York. The City We Became might just be my favorite book to be published in 2020. This story is filled with tension, humor, and great characters, with a guest appearance near and dear to me. While this book is the beginning of a trilogy, it is completely satisfying as a stand-alone novel. Read it and be happy.”

“Yup... They did it again. The dynamic duo of Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkhan have another fabulous hit thriller on their hands. I hope these two fabulous writers never stop writing. Poor Shay - her life is not what she wants it to be. She would be so much happier is she had a challenging, fun job to go to every morning. She also is secretly/subconsciously in love with her roomie. One problem though - roomie is in love with someone else and she is always at their pad. Shay is tired of being the third wheel. Shay witnesses a woman who jumps to her death in the Subway. She begins an exhaustive search to find out as much as she can about the dead woman. She meets the woman's friends at the memorial service and all of a sudden, Shay's life changes in the blink of an eye. In a matter of days, Shay falls in with the popular girls. Before she knows it, she is living in a gorgeous apartment. How did that happen, you ask? You will have to buy the book. That's as far as I can go with this review without releasing some juicy spoilers. I will tell you, however, that there are plenty of twists and turns and I never saw the ending coming. Hats off to the fabulous narrator.”

“When I attempted to write a review for Such a Fun Age, I was at a loss for words. How could I encapsulate how Kiley Reid’s startling debut perfectly captured what it means to be a woman? The societal pressure, the self-doubt, the perseverance, the constant comparison — all of it was perfectly represented through Reid’s two wonderfully flawed and captivating leads. Follow Emira and Alix, two women on seemingly incongruous paths who find themselves searching for purpose and an authentic sense of self. Such a Fun Age tackles complex issues — race, gender, economic status, and the intersection of them all — yet remains accessible. You will not want to put this book down; when you do, you’ll be itching to pick it back up again.”