Carole Barrowman is back with some binge worthy books. She reveals how she decides what to read on vacation. Here are her recommendations:
In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune (Tor Books)
This book is full of joy and hope and wonder. It’s a riff on Pinocchio and set in the future. But in this story, the dad is a sentient robot, caring and intelligent, but the son is a real boy. Both of them are inventors, creating things from broken bits and pieces they find in a junkyard. There’s a robot nurse who’s always trying to operate on something and a talking rumba vacuum. The banter between these two is hilarious. This book is an adventure story, a love story, and an enchanting tale about what is means to be a family and how everyone “deserves to live a life without strings attached.” I laughed, ugly cried a lot, and cheered. I did not want this book to end.
Under The Tamarind Tree by Nigar Alam
You know the pleasure you experience as you binge watch a historical series that transports you far from your own time and place, one that immerses you in the details of its world and the complicated lives of its characters? That’s how I felt reading this absorbing debut. The novel is set in the coastal city of Karachi, Pakistan in the 1960s and 2019. It’s about the friendship of four young people who are bound together by the events of a “single night that ended everything.” I savored this book. It would be a good fall book club choice.
The Last One by Will Dean (Emily Bestler Books)
This is what’s known in the book biz as a “high-concept thriller,” which means it has an unusual & intriguing premise that grabs your attention right away and doesn’t let go. And it does not! Caz and her boyfriend are on a cruise together. When Caz wakes up on the first morning, not only is Pete gone, but so is absolutely everyone else on the ship. This is a perfect vacation read… but maybe not if you’re on a cruise.
Carole is an English Professor at Alverno, contributor to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and author of her own trove of books.