Barbara Claypole White

The Wild Trees by Richard Preston is a fascinating and compelling work of narrative nonfiction. It might read like a thriller, but it tells the true story of a quirky bunch of botanists and amateur naturalists who share an almost obsessive passion for the titans of the tree world: the West Coast redwoods. Richard Preston,…

I loved everything about ISLAND ENDGAME, Rebecca Hodge’s latest page-turner. The writing is beautiful and the suspense palpable from the moment Kenzie Adams steps off the boat onto a remote island for a low-stress job as a camp nurse. Her plan is simple—spend the summer trying to process the grief and guilt that derailed her…

I listened to the audiobook of THE EXAMINER on the strength of a bookseller recommendation, and it blew my mind. This was my first  Janice Hallett thriller and it won’t be my last. I love her unique approach to the epistolary novel. The story, told through emails, texts, essays, and a secured messaging app, comes…

IT’S A LOVE STORY is the perfect summer read—great characters, fabulous beach setting, lots of emotional layers. Jane Jackson, once a goofy child star in a hit T.V. sitcom, is desperate to leave her past behind and embrace her new career with a Hollywood production company. And she will do anything to persuade her boss…

I’ve just finished the fabulous Party Planning Can Be Murder by Kerry Schafer / Kerry Anne King and am eagerly awaiting book number two. If you love the Finlay Donovan or Eleanor Dash series, this is a must-read. It’s a fast-paced, compelling, darkly funny—and poignant—cozy mystery with plenty to say about small town life. There’s…

Broken Country is a beautiful novel that captivates from the first line: “The farmer is dead. He is dead, and all anyone wants to know is who killed him.” Part literary thriller, part historical fiction, part sweeping love story, Broken Country is about the destructive force of grief, the suffocating class structure of 1960s rural…

ADHD is Awesome: A Guide to (Mostly) Thriving with ADHD by Penn and Kim Holderness is, in fact, awesome. The audiobook is a riot! I downloaded it for research and had no idea it would be so entertaining. Yes, it’s informative and eye-opening, but it’s also hilarious, wildly creative, and fascinating in unexpected ways. I…

My 2025 Valentine Day’s read was Pick-Up by Nora Dahlia, a super smart rom-com with laugh-out-loud dialogue. It was recommended by my local indie bookstore, so I knew it was going to be good, but it exceeded expectations. Sasha is a video producer and struggling single mom of two. Her ex-husband, a filmmaker who was…

After finishing a Terry Pratchett puzzle this Christmas—thank you, Flyleaf Books in Chapel Hill—I decided to download a Terry Pratchett audiobook. I chose THUD and loved every second. (This book is the last in the City Watch series but reads as a standalone.) The genius of Terry Pratchett aside, the narrator is outstanding. I have…

Margo’s Got Money Troubles is a hilarious novel about the power of storytelling, the magic of making art, and how one memorable young woman adapts to a life that feels like doing origami with soggy paper. Twenty-year-old Margot is forced to drop out of community college after becoming pregnant. The father, her married English professor,…