Book picks similar to
The Beauty of Ordinary Things by Harriet Scott Chessman


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Mr. Bedford and the Muses


Gail Godwin - 1983
    Her novels and short stories speak to women and men about their most intense relationships and heartfelt feelings.In this collection of five short stories and a novella, Ms. Godwin is at her best. In the title novella, "Mr. Bedford," a young would-be writer spends time in England under the strange and watchful eye of a rather unusual elderly couple; in "Amanuensis," a charming college student cares for a famous but blocked novelist, with unpredictable results; and in "The Angry Year," a rebellious student is drawn to two different kinds of men until she discovers what she has been running to and from.

The Foot Soldier


Mark Rubinstein - 2013
    The Foot Soldier brings you to the hell of jungle combat. Close your eyes and this novella takes you there. It conveys the terror and brutality of jungle warfare and their effect on the American riflemen--those who bore the greatest burden. It's every bit as compelling as The Things They Carried.

Sunsets Never Wait


Jonathan Cullen - 2020
    The isolation is all but unbearable until a mysterious tenant moves into the house at the bottom of the hill. James Dunford has come from America but he won’t say why. He spends his days fixing up the old cottage and walking the beach with a stray dog that showed up on his doorstep.As the weeks pass, Tara tries to get to know James, but he resists her at every turn. And it's not until a local villager recognizes him from the news that she realizes his visit might be about more than just a vacation. On the night of a big storm, Tara finally confronts James about why he is there. But how can she expect him to be honest when she, too, is hiding her own dark secret?Set against the backdrop of the Hunger Strikes in Northern Ireland, Sunsets Never Wait is a story about love, loss, and the risks of hanging on to the past. No matter how much the world has let you down, there’s always a possibility for second chances.

Eaglesworth


T.R. Pearson - 2018
    The house sits on a hilltop, neglected and weathered, until an outlander rolls in to bring it back to life. The lively story of the sordid secrets the renovation reveals is told by a pack of local barflies, a ragged bunch of half-cocked civic boosters and gossips who give us history as seen through the bottom of a shot glass. Funny, bittersweet, and glancingly philosophical, Eaglesworth is a fanciful biography of a place, a latter-day slice of the Old Dominion that the Sage of Monticello would hardly recognize.

Baby Cat-Face


Barry Gifford - 1995
    From the author of Wild at Heart, a “wild, wacky, funny, well-written, and surreal” novel (Kansas City Star) about a woman struggling to make her way in “a New Orleans so feverishly peculiar that Anne Rice would feel at ease there” (Washington Post).

The J. B. Collins Collection: The Third Target / The First Hostage / Without Warning


Joel C. Rosenberg - 2017
    B. Collins together into one e-book for a great value!The Third TargetWhen New York Times foreign correspondent J. B. Collins hears rumors that an al-Qaeda splinter cell—ISIS—has captured a cache of chemical weapons inside Syria, he knows this is a story he must pursue at all costs. With terrorist forces trying to bring down two Arab governments and the U.S. president about to make a trip to the region, can Collins uncover the terrorists’ plot before it’s too late?The First Hostage“The president of the United States . . . is missing.” With these words, New York Times journalist J. B. Collins puts the entire world on high alert. The leaders of Israel and Palestine are critically injured, Jordan’s king is fighting for his life, and the U.S. president is missing and presumed captured. Working with the Secret Service, Collins must locate and rescue the leader of the free world before ISIS’s threats become a catastrophic reality.Without Warning (2017 Christy Award finalist, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller category)As he prepares to deliver the State of the Union address, the president of the United States is convinced ISIS is on the run. But with the Middle East on fire, the Israeli prime minister dead, and Amman in ruins, journalist J. B. Collins fears a catastrophic attack inside the American homeland is imminent. He argues that only an all-out manhunt to capture or kill the leader of ISIS can stop the attack and save America before it’s too late.

The War Before The War


David Lee Corley - 2020
    After several victories, the French Army is dealt its first major defeat by Ho Chi Minh and his Viet Minh rebels. China and Russia wait in the wings, watching America’s resolve.With the French desperately short on troops, weapons, and aircraft, America must wrestle with the decision on how deeply to become involved in the growing conflict in Indochina. Newly elected congressman and war hero, John F. Kennedy, is joined by his siblings, Robert and Patricia, on a fact-finding mission throughout Southeast Asia. His goal – find the truth to prevent America from making a terrible mistake that could have irreparable consequences.Will the Kennedys find the truth and save America from a terrible fate?Rene Granier, former OSS Deer Team member and now CIA officer, is asked to accompany the Kennedys as their advisor and bodyguard. He is the only man alive that fought alongside the Viet Minh and the French. Now both want his head on a platter as he goes back into the lion’s den – Vietnam.Will Granier protect the Kennedys? Will he even survive?Will America make the right decision or become entangled in a faraway war with no end in sight?Read The War Before The War to find out.

My Hard Bargain


Walter Kirn - 1990
    The exalted, memorable characters in Kirn's acclaimed debut short story col lection confront the real hard bargains in life that spring up from the business of simply living, and Kirn transforms these hard-luck stories into strapping moral lessons which evoke the bonds that unite us all.

The Gunny: A Vietnam Story


Raymond Hunter Pyle - 2001
    Then, if he makes it, life doesn’t get easier—he gets tougher. He may get to do the toughest job around: combat infantry. And in 1966, he will almost certainly end up in Vietnam. Frank Evans is a Navy sailor willing to do whatever is necessary to become a Marine. He’s tough enough—and he has a General interested in his success. But success is measured in many ways. Frank finds out combat and the Marine Corps’ definition of success change a man. Some of the changes are a matter of pride. Others—well, you learn to live with them.

City Boy


Jean Thompson - 2004
    The city is theirs to enjoy as Jack struggles to pursue a writing career and Chloe works downtown, applying herself to the world of high finance. While Jack aspires to be the perfect husband, his own self-doubts and Chloe's office flirtations cast shadows. Jealousy and misbehavior undermine their notions of themselves and of each other, and their lives take on uncomfortable parallels with the volatile, chaotic existence of their raffish, menacing neighbors. In the intense heat of one Chicago summer, Jack and Chloe's marriage roils into a queasy chemistry of vanity, lust, and greed. Thompson writes with piercing insight and emotional truth, setting off literary fireworks.

The Right Man for the Job: A Novel


Mike Magnuson - 1997
    Dewy, a foul-mouthed realist, happily takes Gunnar under his wing and tries to teach him how to maneuver safely through the dangers of the Columbus, Ohio, streets. Together they devise increasingly ingenious ways to reclaim properly from their most recalicitrant customers. They become fixated in particular on a woman who will not respond to any of their attempts to repossess her furniture. Both Dewy and the customer refuse to give in. And thus the stage is set for a series of events that send Gunnar's life spiraling out of control.

The Letter Promised


Kevin Wignall - 2013
    Returning to the Paris hotel where he spent his honeymoon six years earlier, he decides to take what seems like the only way out - suicide. But a chance encounter with a Russian in a similar predicament leaves Nick with an unlikely obligation to fulfil, one that will take him to Italy, and offer him a chance at something like redemption. www.kevinwignall.com

Teeth


Hugh Gallagher - 1998
    Neil is a dentally challenged, reluctantly hip downtown scribe whose life's work is "Dusted, " the 'zine that once earned him the title of New Jack Poet Warrior. But when the mag folds, Neil is left with an aching mouth and the realization that the icons of his time are either dying young, cashing in or dropping out. It's a time of reckoning— the perfect moment to cancel dental appointments and take off on a drift through the global ghetto. From the gritty grind of New York to the dark glitter of Hollywood, through the tropical wilds of Indonesia and the crumbling squats of East London, Neil embarks on a soulful search for a woman to love and a place to call home. But answers will remain elusive until the roaming writer tests both his friends and his beliefs, and commits to a plan to make peace with his teeth.With deft insight, sly humor, and dazzling prose, Hugh Gallagher captures the conflict of finding one's way in a culture that mocks ambition while craving celebrity. At once a saddening chronicle of childhood's end and an epic dental saga through a world of possible futures, "Teeth" is a touching resonant anthem for all those truly hungry for a solid bite out of life.

Fatal Light


Richard Currey - 1988
    Later the medic returns home to confront his shattered personal history and the mysterious human capacity for renewal. "Of all the many books written about the war . . . this one will be among the handful destined to endure," said Philip Caputo about this beautifully written and powerful first novel.

On the Night Plain


J. Robert Lennon - 2001
    His father has mysteriously disappeared, and Grant’s brother, Max, a lifelong rival, takes off on the day Grant returns, leaving him with a sickly flock and a pile of debt. When Max returns a year later with a young woman named Sophia, a contest of will begins between the brothers, reviving ghosts that Grant had hoped were banished from the homestead.