★★★★★ — I have either read it more than once, or it shaped and influenced my thinking, or I find myself thinking about it long after I finished reading it.

★★★★ — Well-worth the time spent reading, may read it again, but haven’t yet.

★★★ — Passed the time satisfactorily, but would not read again nor urge you to read.

★★ — Had a few redeeming moments, but for the most part, a poor use of time.

★ — Deeply regret that I read this. The time would have been better spent staring vacantly out the window.

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
fiction, ★★★★ Suzanne Chandler fiction, ★★★★ Suzanne Chandler

Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

This is a beautifully-told story of a young family in Stratford-upon-Avon, England in 1580. The characters and settings are elegantly sketched and their joys and troubles feel personal. The father of the family works at the theater in Shoreditch in London, and though he is never named, we recognize him, and the impact of the fate of his son, Hamnet, on his work.

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“Behind the Scenes at the Museum” by Kate Atkinson
fiction, ★★★★★ Suzanne Chandler fiction, ★★★★★ Suzanne Chandler

“Behind the Scenes at the Museum” by Kate Atkinson

Behind the Scenes at the Museum opens in 1951 with the conception of the Ruby Lennox, narrated by Ruby herself (from an insider's perspective, of course). The wee little one-celled, oopps, two-celled person, oopps, four-celled now, has all the vocabulary and literary references of a grown-up. It is a quirky and highly engaging narrative voice and I loved it.

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“To a Mouse On Turning Her Up in Her Nest with the Plough, November, 1785” by Robert Burns
fiction, ★★★★★ Suzanne Chandler fiction, ★★★★★ Suzanne Chandler

“To a Mouse On Turning Her Up in Her Nest with the Plough, November, 1785” by Robert Burns

Steinbeck took his title for Of Mice and Men from Robert Burn’s poem, To a Mouse: On Turning Her Up in Her Nest with the Plough, November, 1785. I love this poem and long to share it with others, but the original language is a bit off-putting to some. Here is my solution. Burns on the left; Chandler on the right.

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