Staff Choices

Andrew Yang is an American entrepreneur who has worked with tech startups and is a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate.  His book The War on Normal People: The Truth about America’s Disappearing Jobs and Why Universal Basic Income is Our Future presents a bleak economic outlook for “normal people” – people who tend to work in administration, retail, food service, transportation, and manufacturing.

Yang’s thesis is not entirely new, but it is compelling.  He focuses on six cities where he sees a high concentration of what he identifies as “highly knowledge-intensive” individuals pursuing career paths in finance, consulting, law, technology, medicine, and academia.  This, he believes, has led to increasing stratification with American society as those who qualify, leave their hometowns for college and universities, and then stay in these cities to follow careers in these sectors.

What sets Yang apart from others who have studied this stratification is his argument that elites within these fields, especially tech, are consciously working to put the rest of society out of work through automation so that they can keep up with their competition.  Yang’s evidence shows the consequences of this shift are severe.  59,000 Americans died of a drug overdose in 2016 surpassing car accidents as the leading cause of accidental death in the United States.  The suicide rate is rising, marriage rates have decreased dramatically for working-class individuals, and single parenthood rates have risen. 

Yang notes that automation may not be a problem for just blue-collar workers.  The disappearance of local white-collar jobs to automation in fields like insurance, banking, journalism, and other sectors will further drain money from local economies.

Whether one agrees with Yang that Universal Basic Income (UBI) will be necessary moving forward, his ability to trace the effects of automation on American workers is compelling.   

Michelle McNamara’s I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman’s Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer remains one of my favorite books from 2018.

McNamara died tragically in 2016 prior to completion of the book, and the arrest of the GSK -- a result of a DNA link from a relative’s genetic genealogical test.  The book is dark and terrifying, but skillfully written by McNamara who mindfully humanizes the killer’s victims. 

The book itself will appeal to fans of true crime and mystery, but in McNamara’s hands she elevates the story beyond strict genre study.  I’ll Be Gone in the Dark is more than a detective story – McNamara traces changing forensic techniques through multi-decades investigations, but never loses focus of the killer, victims, investigators, and witnesses.  Readers with an interest in human nature, crime, and investigative dramas will enjoy this work.

Nico Walker’s debut novel Cherry is a raw and devastating account of war, addiction, and love.  His writing is bleak, insightful, explicit, and unsettling. 

The novel follows an unnamed narrator who goes to college, falls in love, drops out of college, and joins the army.  As a medic in Iraq, he sees the effects of the war on both the civilian and soldier populations where he witnesses many of his friends die.  When he returns home, his PTSD is so profound he turns to heroin to escape his pain.  Eventually, he begins robbing banks to feed his and his wife’s addiction.    

Walker is currently in prison for bank robbery related to his own heroin addiction.  He wrote Cherry while serving his time and has used money made from the publication of the book to pay back the money he stole.   Cherry is a challenging novel in terms of language and subject matter.  Nevertheless, it is a timely book as war-related PTSD and the opioid crisis continue to haunt headlines. 

Every winter I engross myself in the joys of the Hallmark channel Christmas movie lineup.  Reading Karen Schaler's Finding Christmas was a little like falling into a Hallmark movie. It follows the adventures of Emmie, as she attempts to bring some festive cheer to her overworked boyfriend’s life and show him how wonderful the season really is — however, things don’t go according to plan. Her holiday-themed scavenger hunt accidentally ends up in the hands of Sam, an author struggling to write his next book after the death of his sister, and that is where the fun begins.

Like every Hallmark Christmas movie, you can count on a lasting feeling of hope and happiness at the end of the story.  If you are looking to get into the holiday mood and want a quick, feel good read, this is the book for you. Finding Christmas is a perfect holiday read -- just settle in with a cup of cocoa and prepare to for some yuletide merriment! 

In the latest thriller from Chris Pavone, all hell breaks loose in Paris, but as Kate Moore is about to find out, not everything is as it seems.

Mahmoud Khalid is standing in front of the Louvre with a suicide vest strapped to him ready to die, but why, he has waited and made no demands. Kate a deep cover CIA op is working in Paris, when she gets word that similar bomb threats have broken out in other cities.

Kate and her enigmatic husband Dexter, who doesn't know Kate's real profession is up to some shady business deal along with wealthy businessman Hunter Forsyth, Kate finds a possible link to their activities. The two may signal something bigger is about to happen.

This book is well written and Pavone brings Paris to life, with great characters and a plot that will keep you guessing until the end. This is the third thriller by Pavone and you might want to read the Expats first to learn the couples back story, but still good as a stand alone.

After 13 years of marriage, Toby Fleishman, a newly divorced 41 year old upper East Side hepatologist, finds himself being pursued by fascinating, attractive and amorous women. This exciting new life hits a snag when his successful talent agent ex-wife disappears, leaving him to juggle full-time parenting of their 2 children.

 His feelings go from anger to concern when she uncharacteristically loses all contact with him and the kids. With the help of old friends, Toby finds himself contemplating his failed marriage as well as his current life. The plot, told in the third person by an outside narrator, is as much about marriage as it is about mid-life.

In Fleishman Is In Trouble,Taffy Brodesser-Akner delivers a humorous, smart, thought provoking, debut novel. I really enjoyed the characters as well as the story, one of my favorites this year.

Illustrator/author Charlie Mackesy has been a social media darling for the last year. His unexpected international online fans urged him to put this collection of his art into one place, a book, for us to enjoy. Kindness, love, acceptance and friendship are the themes shared within the pages. Each image has a message, sometimes conveyed without words.

For me, the illustrations and the messages create a calmness and quiet reflection, some with such simplicity they are inexplicably beautiful. Although classified as a graphic novel, I view the book more as a series of vignettes not defined for a certain age group. This is a book for everyone.

Sit down with a copy of The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse if you find yourself caught up in the harried bustle of busy days.

Mad Men meets The Devil Wears Prada

Park Avenue Summer by Renée Rosen is a highly entertaining, enlightening, and fascinating historical fiction novel that immediately captured my attention and held my interest right to the very end.

The story follows a young, single woman named Alice Weiss as she relocates to New York City in 1965, to experience the life her late mother always encouraged her to live. With the assistance of her mother’s best friend Elaine Sloan, Alice is hired as the personal secretary to Cosmopolitan’s new editor-in-chief, Helen Gurley Brown, who along with Betty Friedan and Gloria Steinem changed the world. As Helen fights to keep Cosmo afloat, Alice juggles the never-ending office gossip, lies, betrayal and manipulation, and her own heart breaking relationships.

Helen Gurley Brown was a visionary who fought to eliminate barriers in a male dominated workforce. Throughout the story, it gives us a glimpse of a generation of women taking New York City by storm and inspiring those who came after them. Grab a copy of this book, a martini and settle in for an amazing read!

The story of two broken souls trying to become whole is at the core of Linda Holmes' novel, Evvie Drake Starts Over.

Evvie is reeling from the sudden death of her husband and grappling with what it means to be a young widow. On the day he died, she had packed her car and planned to leave her husband. As she has not shared this secret with anyone close to her, Evvie struggles with guilt and lack of closure.

Dean Tenney is a former Major League pitcher who has troubles of his own. He suffers from the “yips” and just wants a quiet place to move on from his unplanned ending to his career.  He rents the apartment at the back of Evvie’s house. These two lost characters form an unexpected friendship that slowly turns into something more.

Evvie Drake Starts Over is a heartwarming story that is relatable and uplifting. If you are someone who enjoys baseball and a light romantic story in a small town setting, this one is for you. Holmes is also a correspondent for NPR and host of the "Pop Culture Happy Hour" podcast.

Gravity is the Thing is a self-help book, sort of, in fiction. Abi Sorensen is the owner of the Happiness Café and mother of four-year-old Oscar. She and several others have been invited to an all-expenses paid retreat to learn the truth about The Guidebook, something that all the participants have all been receiving in mysterious, out-of-sequence and puzzling chapters since they were teenagers. Abi has always associated this book with a tragic event from her youth and hungers for answers.

At first, the story may seem illogical or absurd but I found it to be a uniquely told novel about hope, trust, coping with grief and with motherhood. It is optimistic, sad, self-deceiving, bittersweet and romantic. Abi is taken on a long journey of introspection about past decisions and her belief that she was solely responsible for the emotional health in many of her relationships.

Author Jaclyn Moriarty has written several novels for young adults and children. This is her first novel for adults.