Book picks similar to
Olive Kitteridge / Olive Again by Elizabeth Strout


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recommendations-from-friends

Train Man


Andrew Mulligan - 2019
    profoundly affecting. A beautiful story.' Ruth Jones, author of Never GreenerMichael is a broken man. He’s waiting for the 09.46 to Gloucester, so as to reach Crewe for 11.22: the platforms are long at Crewe, and he can walk easily into the path of a high-speed train to London. He’s planned it all: a net of tangerines (for when the refreshments trolley is cancelled), and a juice carton, full of neat whisky. To make identification swift, he has taped his last credit card to the inside of his shoe.What Michael hasn’t factored in is a twelve-minute delay, which risks him missing his connection, and making new ones. He longs to silence the voices in his own head: ex-girlfriends, colleagues, and the memories from his schooldays, decades old. They all torment him. What Michael needs is somebody to listen.A last, lonely journey becomes a lesson in the power of human connection, proving that no matter how bad things seem, it's never too late to get back on track.Journeys intersect. People find hope when and where they least expect it. A missed connection needn’t be a disaster: it could just save your life.

Age of Monsters


John Lee Schneider - 2019
     But the Mesozoic era – the Age of Reptiles – came to its cataclysmic end sixty-five million years ago. The Age of Monsters begins tonight. And the world of humankind will crumble. Some will call it Judgment. Some will attempt to fight. Others will simply run. Most will just try and survive. But no one will escape. In the mountains. In the oceans. In the cities and towns. Even up in space. Where were YOU when the world ended?

Reena Spaulings


Bernadette Corporation - 2005
    Like most contemporary fiction, Reena Spaulings is about a female twenty-something. Reena is discovered while working as a museum guard and becomes a rich international supermodel. Meanwhile, a bout of terrible weather seizes New York, leaving in its wake a strange form of civil disobedience that stirs its citizens to mount a musical song-and-dance riot called "Battle on Broadway." Fashioned in the old Hollywood manner by a legion of professional and amateur writers striving to achieve the ultimate blockbuster, the musical ends up being about a nobody who could be anybody becoming a somebody for everybody. The result is generic and perfect -- not unlike Reena Spaulings itself, whose many authors create a story in which New York itself strives to become the ultimate collective experiment in which the only thing shared is the lack of uniqueness.

Acid Tests


Ken Kesey - 1965
    Seventy-four minutes of reading, poetry, music and mayhem from the archives of Ken Kesey and Ken Babbs. Acid Test Vol 1 document their attempt to enact an acid test within the recording studio environment. After its release as a 1000-copy limited-edition LP, it was repeatedly boot-legged. This CD also features 'Vietnam Day 1966' a previously unreleased musical reconstruction (recorded in 1967) of the Pranksters' famous meeting with the Hell's Angels which subsequently launched the career of visiting Prankster, Hunter S. Thompson.

Fat Girl Slim


Marina Johnson - 2018
    She feels powerless to help herself until one day she encounters the person she would like to be and determines to transform herself. Admiration soon turns to obsession and as Alison loses weight she discovers she’s capable of things she never imagined. Will she get the life she desires or the life she deserves?

Wicked Beauty


Susan Lewis - 2002
    Tim is already in the Cabinet, and as they celebrate yet another election victory, they have no idea that they are on the eve of a nightmare that is going to totally devastate their lives.After a high-profile murder, Katherine Sumner has disappeared. Is she the killer? Or will the information she has on top government officials make hers the next body to turn up on the coroner's table?Certain that Katherine is alive and in hiding, acclaimed reporter Laurie Forbes joins forces with Rachel Hendon to search out the truth behind one of the World's most secretive and dangerous organisations.Forbidden love, uncontrolled passion and the ultimate exploitation of power. Wicked Beauty proves there is a crime worse than murder...

Spy's Honour


Gavin Lyall - 1993
    It never got mentioned in the newspapers […] Only later did I realise that this was because we had no Secret Service at all.”The year is 1912, and as political animosity rises and wars in South Africa and Greece rage, the dominoes of Europe feel ready to topple. The British Secret Service is beginning to form, and Captain Ranklin, a former Major, is lured into the world of reconnaissance after a demotion. Averse to the concept of espionage, Ranklin reluctantly joins the new Secret Service Bureau; exclusive, elite, but bound to secrecy and subterfuge.Paired with the rugged and morally dubious Conall O’Gilroy, Ranklin soon finds himself in over his head. A routine mission to apprehend a gold smuggler turns sour and the two are set on the trail of a notorious Irish anarchist. In pursuit, they uncover a plot that threatens to shatter the precarious state of peace in Europe, taking them to Germany, via France, and finally to Hungary in the summer of 1914. ‘A splendidly entertaining mix of early Ambler with a dash of Bulldog Drummond escapism, and are clearly the work of a writer enjoying himself.’ – The Guardian

The Crossroads Brotherhood Trilogy


Robert Fabbri - 2014
    In each of these exclusive e-novellas, Marcus Salvius Magnus, leader of the Crossroads Brotherhood, must overcome his own problems whilst battling his way through Rome's savage and corrupt political arena.

Apache Snow


William L. Casselman - 2015
     While the characters are fictional, the battle was very real and when it was over 70 Americans were killed in action, 420 were wounded and 633 North Vietnamese were confirmed dead. Matthew Kendal, a pastor’s youngest son from a white middle-class California background, enlists in the army and volunteers for service in Vietnam to avenge his brother’s death; a Green Beret sergeant killed in 1968. During training Matthew becomes close friends with John Adams, a tough-skinned Afro-American youth from the poorer neighborhoods right outside our nation’s capital, and Jose Martinez, a street wise Chicano from East Los Angeles. Together they experience the rigors of Airborne training and journey to Vietnam to become Screaming Eagles, of the 101st Airborne. Placed in 2nd Squad, the story follows the actual events surrounding D Company during the intense battle for Hill # 937, which would later be known as the “Battle for Hamburger Hill”.

The Quilting Bee


De-ann Black - 2019
    She plans to bake cakes and sew quilts.Romance isn’t on her agenda, especially as she’s been unlucky in love in the past. But when she joins the ladies quilting bee, they encourage her to believe that romance is brewing when a couple of the local men take an interest in her.While setting up her quilting and baking business in the cottage, Abby becomes a busy bee, but will she make time to take a chance on love?

The Alliance Trilogy


Michael Wallace - 2019
    The aliens are Adjudicators, an ancient race whose ethos is to judge other species and reduce their survivors to a stone age existence.Tolvern sends a desperate message back to headquarters and retreats with her damaged ship to friendly systems. By the time she returns, the aliens have already invaded Alliance territory with a powerful fleet of star fortresses and accompanying dragoon ships, trapping and laying siege to the allied fleet.While repairing her ship, Tolvern cobbles together a squadron of damaged allied warships, former raiders, and the local survivors of an Adjudicator attack to drive off the alien fleet.The following books are included in this set:Alliance StarsAlliance ArmadaAlliance Insurgent

Keep Swinging (Kindle Single)


Rick Marin - 2012
    Until his 6-year-old son utters the four most powerful words in the English language: “Dad, will you coach?”Keep Swinging chronicles the rookie season of an indoorsy TV writer raising two alpha boys whose life turns around when he gets off the sidelines, puts on a jersey that’s three sizes too big and and throws himself into the world of kids sports. An inspiring, funny, at times gut-wrenching tale for every father and son who’ve ever picked up a bat, ball or hockey puck, it’s also a story about marriage, career, surviving life’s slumps and how you’re supposed to make men out of your boys, but they end up making a man out of you. The author of the bestselling memoir Cad: Confessions of a Toxic Bachelor writes his next chapter.

The Noble Widow: A Lodero Western Adventure


Robert R. Peecher Jr. - 2018
     A widow trying to save the ranch she inherited. Lodero is no ordinary drifter. He is fast and deadly accurate with his Colt Peacemakers. And now he is on the trail to discover why his father left for the gold fields and all that returned home was an empty trunk. Maria Noble is no ordinary rancher. The widow of a wealthy man, Maria’s future is threatened by her dead husband’s son who believes he should have rightful claim to his father’s ranch. When their paths cross, Maria Noble can give Lodero a glimpse of his future, but he’ll never live that future if he cannot first resolve the past. And if she is going to protect her ranch, Maria must look to the Peacemakers on the gun belt of her new cowpuncher. Joined by his Tejano friend who served with the Texas Rangers, Lodero is on a quest to discover the truth of what happened to his father. But he is bound by honor to do what he can for The Noble Widow. If you enjoy high-action Westerns set on the high plains, rich characters who are haunted by their pasts but with great aspirations for their futures, and a mystery unfolding against the backdrop of the American Southwest, then you will love the Lodero Western series. So check that your Peacemakers are loaded, cinch up your saddle, and join the ride with Lodero and Juan Carlos Baca in The Noble Widow, Book 1 of the Lodero Western Series. Click "Buy Now" and start this epic Western with Lodero and Juan Carlos Baca today.

From Condos to Castles: A Medieval Time Travel Romance (The Time Orb Series Book 5)


Callie Berkham - 2021
    

Up Sticks: Spain: Book two follows the happy go lucky couple as they discover the Costa Brava


Tim Thomas - 2015
    The plan now was to gradually work their way down the Mediterranean coast over the rest of the summer before finding somewhere nice and warm in the South of the country to spend the winter months. More rib tickling escapades unfold on their road trip as they find themselves in often hilarious, sometimes scary and sometimes toe curling predicaments. So why not travel along with them now as they realize their dreams of a life in the sun, exploring the beautiful Spanish countryside. 'Having met this couple in person, I know they are the real deal ! I have had the privilege of hearing their true life stories, warts and all, for real, and yet reading them all over again still brings laughter! If you are thinking of travelling, or not, read THIS, if it does not bring a smile to you face...nothing will.' by Squidly. 'These two and their dogs!!!! I don't know how or why they're still alive??? Absolutely hilarious exploits by this crazy couple. Love it !!!' by Mr. J. Radcliffe.