Goodnight June and Almost Famous Women

I just finished two wonderful books - Goodnight June by Sarah Jio and Almost Famous Women by Megan Mayhew Bergman.

If you are a parent, or have spent any time around small children, then you probably know the book Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. It is a favorite of all children, as its rhymes are as soothing as a lullaby, and children love finding the mouse on each page.

Goodnight June is about a young woman who inherits her great-aunt's bookshop, and discovers a correspondence detailing the great friendship between Margaret Wise Brown and her great-aunt.  Although you know it is fiction, you really want it to be true, because their friendship is so wonderful.

It is a love story, both romantic love and familial love. But it is not saccharine or too mushy. It involves a mystery and a great twist at the end. But most of all, it is a book that warms your heart.

This book made me cry (which is a good thing, I promise), and left me feeling happy when I finished it. I will certainly look for Jio's previous books the next time I am at the library.

Before I tell you about Almost Famous Women, I will disclose that Megan is my sister-in-law's sister (my brother's wife's sister). So I might be a little prejudiced :-).

Almost Famous Women is a collection of short stories about women whose stories have been lost in time. From Oscar Wilde's niece to a lesbian speed boat racer heiress, the women in Bergman's stories are fascinating. She begins with the kernel of truth, and builds great fiction around each true story.

At the end is a list of the real people the stories reference, with information on where she found the information.  She describes her journeys into the Internet to research these women as going down a rabbit hole, and it is an apt description!

Bergman is a very talented writer. She uses words well to illustrate a scene, a person, a situation, that you feel she really knew them and was there.  This is her second book of short stories. She is originally from North Carolina, but now lives in Vermont with her husband and two adorable girls.

Almost Famous Women will be in bookstores on January 6, and she will be appearing in North Carolina at several bookstores to promote her book. Dates and places are below.  More information can be found on her website.

Monday, January 12
7 PM
Regulator Bookshop
Durham, NC

Tuesday, January 13
7 PM
Quail Ridge Books
Raleigh, NC

Wednesday, January 14
7 PM
Flyleaf Books
Chapel Hill, NC

Thursday, January 15
7 PM
Malaprop's Bookstore
Asheville, NC