For a booklover like me, one of the joys of my job at the local public library is an endless supply of brand-new, just-published books. I love seeing what's hot off the press, and—after helping my patrons check out what they're interested in—borrowing some new items myself.
Looking for some book recommendations, friends? If so, here are seven books I've read lately (including what I'm currently reading)...
"Someone Else's Shoes" (Jojo Moyes, 2023)—Wow...I loved "Someone Else's Shoes." This was my first time reading Jojo Moyes, a British author, and it won't be my last. "Someone Else's Shoes" tells the story of two seemingly different women whose paths cross due to a gym bag mix-up. This is also the story of a third woman, too, the kind of "best friend character" novelists love (and we all need in real life!).
Here's one of my favorite moments from this book, on page 302, said after the character Nisha laments that she has "absolutely nothing to my name right now": "'You have self-respect. You have friends. You have satisfaction every day, of a job well done. You have agency over your own life. These are not small things.'"
"Someone Else's Shoes" made me laugh and cry, and cheer all the women on along the way.
"Three Can Keep a Secret: A Greer Hogan Mystery" (M. E. Hilliard, 2023)—This book takes place in a library in upstate New York, so of course I had to check it out! I just started "Three Can Keep a Secret," and I've been smiling the whole time. This story is pitch-perfect regarding the "behind the scenes" of a local public library. (And may I just say, I love the author's dedication: "For library staff everywhere.")
"Three Can Keep a Secret" is a cozy mystery type of read, à la "The Thursday Murder Club" books. If that's your jam, friends, then you'll probably enjoy it too.
"A Dangerous Business" (Jane Smiley, 2022)—I haven't read Jane Smiley in a while, and I'm excited to dig into "A Dangerous Business" the first chance I get.
"Spare" (Prince Harry, 2023)—Yes, I let the British royal's hotly anticipated memoir take center stage in my amateur-hour photo here! 
A lot of folks seem to have opinions about this book, and about Prince Harry and his family, without having actually read it... I did read "Spare" (most of it, anyway...I'm almost done!).
As a book, "Spare" is a really good read. It's also an emotional read; from the beginning, I had tears in my eyes. "I missed my mother every day," Harry writes on page 3. A bit later, on page 27, he writes of himself and his brother "Willy, possibly the only two men who ever truly loved her. Certainly the two who loved her most."
In reading "Spare," I could almost feel the pain Harry has felt from age 12 on, of losing his mom in such a uniquely traumatic way. That was my main takeaway from this book: This maternal loss traumatized Harry, and became the lens through which he viewed everything that followed—the rest of his life.
Now, as a writer myself who's shared creative nonfiction on this very website...I never would publicize/immortalize the kind of deeply personal family moments that Harry did in "Spare." I consider conversations with my family a sacred space, and if I'd like to share any of these moments, then I ask; I check. Harry and his royal world, though, are so other, so beyond in terms of most people's "normal"...so I don't even know if this point about "sacred space" (which I know many other memoirists would agree with me on) applies to "Spare."
Bottom line: "Spare" is unique, emotional and (despite its journey toward hope and healing) sad.
"Bully Market: My Story of Money and Misogyny at Goldman Sachs" (Jamie Fiore Higgins, 2022)—For as long as I can remember, I've preferred nonfiction to fiction, and "Bully Market" was a brisk, exposé-type memoir about being a woman on Wall Street: what it took the author to get there, and how much she yearned to walk away for her sake as well as her family's.
"Bully Market" tells a good story (although it possibly could use a bit more poetry, and a little less business jargon!). This line did strike me, though, in all its disheartening bluntness: "Of all the competition at Goldman, the harshest was often amongst the women" (page 228).
"Meat Eater: Adventures From the Life of an American Hunter" (Steven Rinella, 2013)—Another memoir...and yes, I realize my collection of memoirs here ("Spare," "Bully Market" and now "Meat Eater"!) are quite the motley trifecta. I love "inside scoop" type of stories, and after reading about British royalty and Goldman Sachs...why not check out hunting?
"Meat Eater" reminds me somewhat of "A River Runs Through It," Norman Maclean's beautiful 1976 story about fly fishing in Montana. Like that classic man-and-nature memoir, "Meat Eater" has a matter-of-fact though musical tone. If you're choosing among "Spare," "Bully Market" and "Meat Eater," then "Meat Eater" is your best bet, by far (and I'm not a hunter...I'm being completely objective here!).
Here are two of my favorite moments from "Meat Eater": "...hunting stories are the oldest and most widespread form of story on earth" (page 3), and "[t]oday it's difficult for me to explain all of this in a way that makes sense, perhaps because there's no good explanation. All I can really say is what I did" (page 100).
"American Table: The Foods, People, and Innovations That Feed Us" (Lisa Kinglsey, 2023)—According to the back cover, "find out how everything from fondue to Jell-O salads to pumpkin spice (even in hummus) became natural obsessions." Excited to get started on this food-meets-culture history!
What about you, friends? What good books have you read lately?
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Like what you just read? Then check out Melissa Leddy's e-books on Amazon.com. Short fiction and creative nonfiction writing that's engaging, witty and from the heart.
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