all your Reads in Here

Lou Berney acknowledges his mother's love of a good story in his introduction to November Road.  He discusses the many ways she influenced this novel, from her claim he was conceived the night John F. Kennedy was assassinated to her stories of a road trip and an epileptic dog. That introduction is enough to suck readers into this surprising story. It's just too bad the introduction was only in the ARC, not the actual book. I read the ARC, but agreed to participate in the blog tour for November Road because I think this is the book you need to read this fall. Frank Guidry loves his life in New Orleans. He has gorgeous women, great food, power and influence, thanks to his role as a lieutenant to the powerful mob boss Carlos Marcello. But, Frank isn't stupid. It doesn't take him long to realize Marcello had something to do with President Kennedy's assassination. And, Guidry himself delivered a car to a spot close to Dealey Plaza just two weeks earlier. As some of Guid...

Don't be deceived by the cover of David Myles Robinson's novel, Son of Saigon . It does have its dark moments, but the humor more than makes up for it. It's a witty, delightful story, and I was happy to hand it off to a friend. I hope he enjoyed it as much as I did. Hank Reagan is a seventy-year-old, a wealthy man who spends his days playing golf or gin with another retiree, Norm Rothstein. Since Hank's wife died, he's just waiting at the retirement community he calls "the death farm" for his own death. Norm doesn't mind looking for his sixth wife, but Hank isn't interested in all the women who are circling. Then, Tran Xuan Mai showed up to see Hank. Hank, a CIA operative was in Vietnam forty years earlier, and he and Mai were in love. When the Americans evacuated Saigon, he was forced to leave her behind, not knowing she was pregnant. Now, Mai wants Hank to find their son, a man who disappeared after his high school graduation. He'd be in his ...