Relax & Escape the World for a Little… Books You’ll Want to Read

 

“Take a good book to bed with you — books do not snore.” — Thea Dorn

There is nothing better than winding down at the end of a long day and getting cozy with a really great book. We have picked out a few favourites for your to add to your reading list or to bring to your next book club!

 

1. THE SANATORIUM

 

An imposing, isolated getaway spot high up in the Swiss Alps is the last place Elin Warner wants to be. But Elin’s taken time off from her job as a detective, so when her estranged brother, Isaac, and his fiancée, Laure, invite her to celebrate their engagement at the hotel, Elin really has no reason not to accept.

Arriving in the midst of a threatening storm, Elin immediately feels on edge–there’s something about the hotel that makes her nervous. And when they wake the following morning to discover Laure is missing, Elin must trust her instincts if they hope to find her. With the storm closing off all access to the hotel, the longer Laure stays missing, the more the remaining guests start to panic.



“An eerie, atmospheric novel that had me completely on the edge of my seat.”  — Reese Witherspoon

AUTHOR: Sarah Pearse

Get The Sanatorium here.

 

 

2. BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME

 

It’s 1938 and women seeking a quick, no-questions split from their husbands head to the “divorce capital of the world,” Reno, Nevada. There’s one catch: they have to wait six-weeks to become “residents.” Many of these wealthy, soon-to-be divorcees flock to the Flying Leap, a dude ranch that caters to their every need. Twenty-four-year-old Ward spent one year at Yale before his family lost everything in the Great Depression; now he’s earning an honest living as a ranch hand at the Flying Leap. Admired for his dashing good looks—“Cary Grant in cowboy boots”—Ward thinks he’s got the Flying Leap’s clients all figured out. But two new guests are about to upend everything he thinks he knows: Nina, a St Louis heiress and amateur pilot back for her third divorce, and Emily, whose bravest moment in life was leaving her cheating husband back in San Francisco and driving herself to Reno.

“Johnson’s rollicking comedy sizzles, thanks to the immensely appealing voice of its aging narrator…brims with the clever banter and farcical situations of a classic Capra film.” — Publishers Weekly

AUTHOR: Julia Claiborne Johnson

Get Better Luck Next Time here.

 

 

3. LIBERTIE: A NOVEL

 

Coming of age in a free Black community in Reconstruction-era Brooklyn, Libertie Sampson  is all too aware that her purposeful mother, a  practicing physician, has a vision for their future  together: Libertie is to go to medical school and  practice alongside her. But Libertie, drawn more  to music than science, feels stifled by her mother’s  choices and is hungry for something else—is  there really only one way to have an autonomous  life? And she is constantly reminded that, unlike  her light-skinned mother, Libertie will not be able to pass for white. When a young man from Haiti proposes  to Libertie and promises she will be his equal on  the island, she accepts, only to discover that she is  still subordinate to him and all men. As she tries  to parse what freedom actually means for a Black  woman, Libertie struggles with where she might  find it—for herself and for generations to come.

“An elegantly layered, beautifully rendered tour de force that is not to be missed.”  — Roxane Gay, author of  Hunger

AUTHOR: Kaitlyn Greenidge

Get Libertie: A Novel here.

 

 

4. I LOVE YOU BUT I’VE CHOSEN DARKNESS

 

Leaving behind her husband and their baby daughter, a writer gets on a flight for a speaking engagement in Reno, not carrying much besides a breast pump and a spiraling case of postpartum depression. Her temporary escape from domestic duties and an opportunity to reconnect with old friends mutates into an extended romp away from the confines of marriage and motherhood, and a seemingly bottomless descent into the past. 

Deep in the Mojave Desert where she grew up, she meets her ghosts at every turn: the first love whose self-destruction still haunts her; her father, a member of the most famous cult in American history; her mother, whose native spark gutters with every passing year. She can’t go back in time to make any of it right, but what exactly is her way forward? Alone in the wilderness, at last she begins to make herself at home in the world.

“Reckless and defiantly intelligent, Watkins detonates the ties that bind. … Incandescent writing illuminates one woman’s life in flames.”  — Kirkus Reviews

AUTHOR: Claire Vaye Watkins

Get I Love You But I’ve Chosen Darkness here.

 

 

5. AN ORDINARY AGE

 

Perhaps we’re losing sight of the things that fulfill us: strong relationships, real roots in a community, and the ability to question how we want our lives to look and feel, even when that’s different from what we see on the ‘Gram. Stauffer makes the case that many of our most formative young adult moments are the ordinary ones: finding our people and sticking with them, learning to care for ourselves on our own terms, and figuring out who we are when the other stuff—the GPAs, job titles, the filters — fall away.

“Rainesford Stauffer is a brave writer who takes us to places that we haven’t been yet, and gives us companionship when we’re there. I’d love to hand out thousands of copies of this book. You will find comfort and empowerment in every chapter.  An Ordinary Age  is a gentle but urgent call to embrace the fullness of life, and that’s a reminder we can use at any stage of life.” — Mari Andrew, author of  Am I There Yet?

AUTHOR: Rainesford Stauffer

Get An Ordinary Age here.

 

 

6. THE LAST THING HE TOLD ME

 

Before Owen Michaels disappears, he smuggles a note to his beloved wife of one year:  Protect her. Despite her confusion and fear, Hannah Hall knows exactly to whom the note refers—Owen’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Bailey. Bailey, who lost her mother tragically as a child. Bailey, who wants absolutely nothing to do with her new stepmother.

 As Hannah’s increasingly desperate calls to Owen go unanswered, as the FBI arrests Owen’s boss, as a US marshal and federal agents arrive at her Sausalito home unannounced, Hannah quickly realizes her husband isn’t who he said he was. And that Bailey just may hold the key to figuring out Owen’s true identity—and why he really disappeared.

“What starts as an intimate meditation on found families deftly turns into a heart-pounding mystery reminiscent of the best true crime stories. But both work so beautifully in this gripping, perfectly-paced novel. I dare you to stop reading.” —  Susie Yang,  New York Times  bestselling author of  White Ivy

AUTHOR: Laura Dave

Get The Last Thing He Told Me here.