The Sunday Salon and Why Do Birds Suddenly Appear... or 3 (Different) Literary "Love" Stories You Have to Read

Welcome to The Sunday Salon and The Sunday Post! It's that day of the week bloggers from all over the internet get together virtually in a large gathering place called The Sunday Salon and talk books!  And at The Sunday Post, which is a weekly meme hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer, in which more bloggers share their bookish news!

"Why do birds, suddenly appear? Every time you are near..." are the opening lines to a Carpenters love song from the 70's called Close to You, but not every love story is filled with such starry eyed lovers... sometimes love takes on a whole different form, as in these 3 just released novels that are getting all the buzz these days...

Imagine Me Gone by Adam Haslett... When Margaret’s fiancé, John, is hospitalized for depression in 1960s London, she faces a choice: carry on with their plans despite what she now knows of his condition, or back away from the suffering it may bring her. She decides to marry him. Imagine Me Gone is the unforgettable story of what unfolds from this act of love and faith. At the heart of it is their eldest son, Michael, a brilliant, anxious music fanatic, who makes sense of the world through parody, and the story of how, over the span of decades, his younger siblings—the savvy and responsible Celia, and the ambitious and tightly controlled Alec—struggle with their mother to care for Michael’s increasingly troubled and precarious existence.

Love takes on depression and the meaning of family in this story. The key to this book is author Adam Haslett and the way he takes the fight in a direction that  MARK ATHITAKIS in a review in the Star Tribune has called "rare empathy, realism and insight". And Michael, the eldest son in the story, plays a big part in all of that. It's not all a downer either, there is suppose to be humor sprinkled in the mix. Lots of great buzz about this book! On my TBR list! Puiblished by Little, Brown and Company and available now from your favorite bookstore!

A man is walking down a country lane. A woman, cycling towards him, swerves to avoid a dog. On that moment, their future hinges. There are three possible outcomes, three small decisions that could determine the rest of their life. Eva and Jim are nineteen and students at Cambridge when their paths first cross in 1958. And then there is David, Eva's then-lover, an ambitious actor who loves Eva deeply. The Versions of Us follows the three different courses their lives could take following this first meeting. Lives filled with love, betrayal, ambition but through it all is a deep connection that endures whatever fate might throw at them. The Versions of Us explores the idea that there are moments when our lives might have turned out differently, the tiny factors or decisions that could determine our fate, and the precarious nature of the foundations upon which we build our lives. It is also a story about the nature of love and how it grows, changes and evolves as we go through the vagaries of life.

We all have those "what if" moments and this is exactly what we are offered in Versions of Us, which just simply intrigues me. Love is seen three different ways.  Lots of great buzz about this one too, and it is on my TBR list now! Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and available now from your favorite bookstore!

The Curious Charms of Arthur Pepper by Phaedra Patrick... Sixty-nine-year-old Arthur Pepper lives a simple life. He gets out of bed at precisely 7:30 a.m., just as he did when his wife, Miriam, was alive. He dresses in the same gray slacks and mustard sweater vest, waters his fern, Frederica, and heads out to his garden. But on the one-year anniversary of Miriam's death, something changes. Sorting through Miriam's possessions, Arthur finds an exquisite gold charm bracelet he's never seen before. What follows is a surprising and unforgettable odyssey that takes Arthur from London to Paris and as far as India in an epic quest to find out the truth about his wife's secret life before they met--a journey that leads him to find hope, healing and self-discovery in the most unexpected places.

What would a summer be without a "charmer", and this love story has all the elements of that. Love takes on grief and hope in this love story! Maybe Miriam left that bracelet to help Arthur step out of that daily routine and live again. Lots of great buzz here too. On my TBR list! Puiblished by MIRA and available now from your favorite bookstore!

Weekly Wrap-up...
Last week was a busy week for me, but I had to share Behind Closed Doors by B.A. Paris! Read my review from Saturday! It's a love story gone wrong and boy, did I devour it! I literally could not put it down and lost quite a bit of sleep reading it until the wee hours of the morning.

What am I reading Now?...
An amazing story of the choices we make in the face of tragedy... LaRose by Louise Erdrich. I am really enjoying the writing of Louise Erdrich! Stay tuned for a review in the near future on this one.

That about does it for this Sunday. Hope you found something new to put on your TBR list! And if you discovered some great reading, please share it! I would love to hear about it!

Happy Reading... Suzanne