Marilyn Baron's 3 favorite reads in 2023

I have devoured all of Kent Krueger’s books, from his popular Cork O’Connor mystery series to his three standalones. Although I’m hooked on his Cork O’Connor mysteries, his standalones are beautifully written and his characters come alive on the page.

I had the opportunity to meet Kent when a group I belong to—Roswell (GA) Reads, a one city-one read program, brought him to town for an event in September 2023. He is as nice a person as he is a brilliant writer. His characters are wonderfully developed, although some are flawed, and his stories are fast-paced and engaging. His love of rivers and the land and the people who inhabit it is evident.

I found it interesting that, until he wrote one, he had never read a mystery. Now he is the master of that genre. He says he writes his standalones from his heart and his books Ordinary Grace and This Tender Land were two of the easiest stories he’s ever written.  He felt like the stories were given to him. “As a storyteller, you have to be a good listener and open the door and your stories flow from all directions and all places. You go where the characters take you.”   

One of my favorite things to do is go to author talks either live or virtually. I saw Abraham Verghese in person earlier this year and he was so engaging and brilliant and funny.

His books read like poetry, so very literary, yet the story he tells catches your interest immediately and holds your interest throughout. He was inspired to write this book from his mother’s experiences in India and his descriptions and setting are almost characters and make you feel like you are there.

I loved hearing about his writing process and that it was about 14 years since his last book, Cutting for Stone, one of my all-time favorite books. He writes about places I’ve never been and I found the book fascinating. 

I “met” Ann Patchett over Zoom when we were interviewing her in preparation for her appearance as our Roswell Reads guest author, and she was a lovely person and, of course, a brilliant writer. I also like the fact that she owns an independent bookstore and is a big supporter of writers and readers.

I have two daughters, and I can relate when the protagonist was sharing her early life with a famous movie star with her three daughters. Her setting was so real I had to look it up to see if it really existed off the page. I wasn’t very familiar with “Our Town,” which plays a very significant role in the book, but I wanted to learn more. She writes with emotion and heart.