Killer Librarian by Mary Lou Kirwin (2012)

A pretty adorable mystery novel despite the cheesy tagline on the cover: "When she checks in, someone always checks out."

Karen Nash is a librarian at a small-town Minnesota library who has dreamed of travelling to London her whole life. She planned a trip with her boyfriend and is all set to go when he breaks up with her. She decides to go anyway (spying him at the airport with a new, younger woman) and stays in a charming bed and breakfast. All goes well apart from a few murders here and there.

Great characters, charming setting, and a fascinating profession (librarian!) make this a lovely cozy mystery that hits all my favorite points: libraries, bookstores, London, pubs. Fun!

Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Murder Mystery by Robert Kolker (2013)

Perfectly marvelous true crime book about the unsolved murder of at least five women whose bodies were dumped on Long Island. Kolker does a beautiful job of giving us the full story on these women and their troubled lives that led to their becoming sex workers.

This book explores the semi-underground world of sex workers, the danger that they are so often in, and the heartrending stories of the family members who worked to keep their girls in the minds of the police officers who were investigating the crime (not always with much enthusiasm.)

Chilling and absorbing.

I See You Made an Effort by Annabelle Gurwitch (2014)

Subtitled: Compliments, Indignities and Survival Stories from the Edge of 50, this is a hilarious and poignant collection of essays about aging.

Gurwitch is not just funny, but a great comic craftsperson.  She doesn't go for the easy joke--she stays true to her story. I loved the mental affair she had with her Apple Genius, all the way down to the best position to have the most flattering sex (rock climbing wall for best gravity defiance, wrap dress for flattering and easy access). 

Struggling with cancer, being part of the sandwich generation, living in Los Angeles, and many more topics of interest to those of us who are feeling the effects of age are all covered in this collection.  If you like her sense of humor (and you should), check out this, check out her excellent Fired! Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized, and Dismissed (2006).

Anything Goes by Ethan Mordden (2013)

Subtitled "A History of American Musical Theatre", this is a comprehensive and dense history of musical theater. It starts in 1728 and goes all the way up to fairly recent musicals. Mordden spends the majority of his time on the alleged (and Mordden scoffs at the term) "Golden Age" of musicals.

As someone who loves opera and operetta, it's fascinating to read the progression of musical theater over the years, from an offshoot of opera to its own entity.  I love Mordden's pointing out of the tropes of musical theater (the merry villagers intro, first and second couples), and the R&H Rules.

I also love that, above all, he is interested in what truly makes a musical integrated. Here's a quote that explains what, for me, makes a great musical (besides a great score, lyrics, etc.):

"This is what the American musical had been working up to for some one hundred years, and all its artistry dwells in the historian's key buzz term "integrated"; the union of story and score. Once a mere collection of songs and now a pride of fully developed numbers supported by incidental music, intros and development sections, and musical scenes mixed of speech and song, the score not only tells but probes the story, above all unveiling its characters."

YES.

Five, Six, Seven, Nate! by Tim Federle (2014)

In Tim Federle’s sequel to Better Nate Than Ever, theater geek Nate Foster begins rehearsals for E.T. the Musical…on Broadway! Nate struggles with finding his place in this new world (as Alien #7) with his usual quirky charm. 

The inside story of getting a show up and running is vividly depicted and includes tons of the same humor that made Federle’s first book such a treat.  Such as:

About Roscoe, the old stage manager: "(The other day, I overheard him saying he misses the old days, when the only children who appeared in musicals 'were in the background or dead by the second scene.')"  

And:

"'I need my sopranos down front and my altos just to the side of them.' Everything is 'my my my' on Broadway. There's a lot of territory disputes, like a junior high school cafeteria but with more glitter." 

Love, Nina: A Nanny Writes Home by Nina Stibbe (2014)

In the early 1980s, Nina Stibbe moved to London to work as a nanny to Mary-Kay (MK) Wilmers, deputy editor of the London Review of Books, and her two children with Stephen Frears, Sam and Will. 

Stibbe kept in touch with her sister Victoria back in Leicestershire through letters outlining the events of the household, reproducing hilarious (and eminently quotable) conversations with Sam, Will and MK as well as frequent household visitor Alan Bennett. 

 Along the way, Stibbe is persuaded to attend university and studies English (her observations on literature are a stitch). With an introduction by Nick Hornby, this charming epistolary novel is a treat for anyone who loves dry, British humor and gets a bit starstruck by London literary elite.

What I'd Say to the Martians: And Other Veiled Threats by Jack Handey (2008)

Oh man, I LOVE Jack Handey.

He is the perfect, miniaturist, humorist with perfect petite humorous essays. And I love the call-forwards to The Stench of Honolulu with Doctor Ponzari and his friend Don. 

I love Handey's crazy, crazy world. And his humor is like perfectly crafted little jewel boxes. And there's a gem on every danged page.

That's all there is to say.  

Pride and Pleasure by Sylvia Day (2011)

I recently read about a huge advance that Sylvia Day got for a recent book and decided I'd better check out her work.  Day is one of the authors who got very popular after the Fifty Shades of Grey phenomenon and her books were published with covers suspiciously similar in appearance.  (By the way, you should really read Brigid *Flying Kick-a-pow!*'s GIF-laden GoodReads review of Fifty Shades.  It's stinking hilarious.)

Back to the book.  And I have to tell you:

OOH, Sylvia Day writes a good romance. Pride and Pleasure is a Regency-set romance with a great plot, about a heiress who's been through six seasons and has no desire to marry.  However, (there's always a however) she's in danger by someone, so she hires Jasper Bond, thief-taker, to pose as her suitor and track down whoever is trying to scare her. Fabulous simmering of chemistry and tension, strong, likable characters, and of course, great dishy love scenes. Quite well done!

[I don't love that cover, though.  It makes the characters look inert and vapid--neither of which they (or the plot) are.]

Better Nate Than Ever by Tim Federle (2013)

"Imagine: pretzels sold on the street!  It's as if anything is possible.  Do they also sell hopes on the street?  Do they sell hugs and dreams and height-boosting vitamins?  Or hot dogs?  I bet you they do."

Straight from the children's section, this is a hilarious novel about 13-year-old Nate who runs away to New York City to audition for E.T. the Musical, with the help of his devoted friend and fellow musical theater lover Libby.  

Utterly endearing characters, fascinating backstage look at the world of auditioning for musical theater, surprisingly complex relationships and characters, and OH, so much love for musical theater and for New York City.  Followed up by Five, Six, Seven, Nate!, just as endearing and hilarious.  A few more words from Nate:

"And by the way, this isn't one of those things where I tell you that, in life, we're each both a little good and a little bad, all just trying our hardest.  That's kid's an a-hole, and I'm not.  Sometimes people are just a-holes, and you have to decide, every day, which kind of kid you are.  (Not to get all preachy on you.)"

Who Asked You? by Terry McMillan (2013)

I listened to the audiobook of McMillan's latest novel, and much like reading Stephen King, I was so pleased to be back in Terry McMillan's world again. I forgot how much I loved Waiting to Exhale and her other books.  I was disappointed by her sequel to Waiting to Exhale (so dark!), but this renewed my love for McMillan all over again.

Betty Jean has her hands full.  She has an ill husband, two opinionated sisters, a hard job, and challenging grown children.  Things just got even more complicated as her daughter has just flaked off and left her children in Betty Jean's care.  

The audiobook is read by Phylicia Rashad, Michael Boatman, Carole DeSantis, and the author and it's one of the best audiobooks I've ever listened to.  The novel is structured so that a variety of characters are narrating the action, and the narrators so perfectly embody the characters, I can hear them in my head right now. Rashad narrates all three sisters and she creates three separate characters so wonderfully that you never wonder who's telling the story, and you can practically see the characters.

I loved this book and I've never listened to an audiobook where I actually said (out loud in my car) things like: "WHAT?" or "Oh, Luther!" The whole book surprised, touched and delighted me. I often half listen to audiobooks but this had me fully engaged and invested. LOVED.