Editor’s note: The opinions of the smart, well-read women in my Denver book club mean a lot, and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables. So we asked them, and all Denver Post readers, to share their mini-reviews with you. Have any to offer? Email [email protected].
“Dream State,” by Eric Puchner (Doubleday, 2025)
Set in contemporary Montana, this is a multi-generational tale of friendship, betrayal, commitment, taking a leap of faith and living with no regrets. Although some of the characters prefer to assign blame, there are no heroes or villains here, just folks trying to do their best, as they define it. (An Oprah’s Book Club pick.) — 2 1/2 stars (out of 4); Kathleen Lance, Denver
“Horse,” by Geraldine Brooks (Viking, 2022)
Geraldine Brooks’ name on a book cover would entice me to read a plumbing manual, so I feel fortunate this superlative novel is about horses, my earliest love. Lexington, a thoroughbred stallion of the 1850s, was the greatest racer ever. Brooks uses the horse’s history to illuminate the Black grooms and trainers who laid the track for thoroughbred racing in America. Into this racing story, Brooks adds that of a painted masterpiece, and a modern romance that melds the stories into cohesion. This gem from the Pulitzer Prize winner won numerous literary prizes in 2023. –– 4 stars (out of 4); Neva Gronert, Parker
“Elegy, Southwest,” by Madeleine Watts (Simon & Schuster, 2024)
On the surface, this is a road trip novel — one in support of the narrator’s wife’s research on the impact of climate change in the southwestern U.S. — but it’s really about the unraveling of a marriage. The weakening bond cannot be separated from the spiraling behaviors of the husband, even though the narrator’s wife does everything she can to hold on to the threads of that marriage. Parts read like a narrative, other parts sound like a letter to the husband, sometimes explanatory, sometimes apologetic, sometimes pining. This “elegy” is for both the marriage and the Southwest, both victims of the unstoppable forces of change. — 3 stars (out of 4); Kathleen Lance, Denver
“Time of the Child,” by Niall Williams (Bloomsbury, 2024)
This novel — the best book I read in 2024 — returns us to Faha, Ireland, the setting for Williams’ previous book, “This is Happiness” in December 1962. Jack Troy is the much-respected town physician. He and his adult daughter, Ronnie, are somewhat outside the currents of the village, yet as events unfold, they become central to an event their neighbors will never forget. This is a Christmas story to be cherished whenever it is read. Williams’ characters are vivid, human, and portrayed with humor and empathy. He is such a master of using detail to propel a story that, under his pen, a lock of hair on a young boy’s forehead becomes a character of its own. Williams writes books for the soul. — 4 stars (out of 4); Neva Gronert, Parker
“Scholars of Mayhem,” by Daniel Guiet and Timothy Smith (Penguin Press, 2019)
Will we ever get tired of tales about World War II? Probably not, if they’re as riveting as this one. Author Daniel Guiet is the son of Jean Claude Guiet, a French native living in the U.S. when the war unfolded. Jean Claude became an embedded agent, dropped in occupied France, living with three non-Americans as a secret British operations executive. He spent most of the war as a radio operator in the ground war with the Nazis. One compatriot, Violette, didn’t survive. Indeed, few undercover agents did, a lasting reminder of the reality of armed combat. Daniel discovered papers relating to the assignment in an old bread box where his father had secreted them, including proof of the army of French Resistance fighters that his father and his fellows had led. This is a book to make us proud. (Winner of a Colorado Book Award in History.) — 3½ stars (out of 4); Bonnie McCune, Denver (bonniemccune.com)
“School for Love,” by Olivia Manning (New York Review of Books, 2009)
Originally published in 1951, this little gem takes place in Jerusalem in 1945 and follows Felix, a teenager whose development was arrested by the war and the deaths of both parents. Nearly penniless and far behind in his studies, he has arrived in Jerusalem to live at a boarding house run by Miss Bohun. The author’s pitch-perfect use of detail and dialogue animates these characters. Miss Bohun pinches pennies by turning the heat down in the winter and feeding her lodgers bean mash. The house’s inhabitants include a servant who is even more bitter and contemptuous than Miss Bohun; an old man who lives in the attic and only comes down for dinner; and a young widow who moves in a few weeks after Felix. He must navigate these different personalities and decide who might be able to guide him and widen his understanding of life.
Toward the end, I was glued to the page as Felix’s perceptions change, and found myself praying he would do the right thing (even though I wasn’t exactly sure what the right thing would be). — 4 stars (out of 4); Michelle Nelson, Littleton
