Editor’s note: The opinions of the smart, well-read women in my Denver book club mean a lot, and often determine what the rest of us choose to pile onto our bedside tables. So we asked them, and all Denver Post readers, to share their mini-reviews with you. Have any to offer? Email bellis@denverpost.com. – Barbara Ellis
‘The Best Dog in the World: Essays on Love,’ edited by Alice Hoffman (Scribner, 2026)
‘The Best Dog in the World: Essays on Love,’ edited by Alice Hoffman (Scribner, 2026)
Anyone who has ever had (or loved) a dog will get something out of this collection of essays by writers like Hoffman, Isabel Allende, Bonnie Garmus, Paul Yoon and Jodi Picoult, among others. Roxane Gay doesn’t like dogs, until … . Picoult’s Alvin is not a very good boy. Garmus and her husband take in Cake Angel/Ninety-Nine, a retired (and aloof) greyhound. Veterinarian Nick Trout treats, and fails, stoic Maverick. Each story is filled with sadness, joy, humor and so much love that you will find yourself grinning, saying “awwww” out loud and nodding in recognition. I’m not one to spend a lot of time on author bios and acknowledgements, but I read every last word printed in this slight (240-page) collection in search of more to delight; I just didn’t want it to end. – 4 stars (out of 4); Barbara Ellis, The Denver Post
‘Listen,’ by Sacha Bronwasser, translated by David Colmer (Penguin Books, 2025)
Set in contemporary Paris within the context of escalating terrorist bombings, this is a story of seeing and being seen, fate and coincidence, and reality versus the sometimes staged images captured by photography. A young professional family hires a new foreign au pair. The narrative perspective shifts among the characters as the story builds, finally landing on one of the au pairs, Marie, who learns to “see” through her study of photography. After yet another terror bombing, Marie is shocked to recognize her former mentor as one of the victims, bringing back shameful memories, as this “mentor” actually misled and misused Marie in an ambitious art project of her own. How Marie reacts leads to the eponymous declaration, “Listen!” — 3 1/2 stars (out of 4); Kathleen Lance, Denver
‘Anxious People,’ by Fredrik Backman (Atria, 2020)
A raucous read about a parent who attempts to rob a bank to secure rent money and ends up taking several people hostage at an apartment showing. This is about anxious characters with broken hearts, about strangers reaching out to each other, about loss and imperfect love. Plot twists abound. Incredibly funny, touching and well done. (A New York Times bestseller that is now available in at least 24 languages.) — 4 stars (out of 4); Jo Calhoun, Denver
‘Henry James Comes Home: Rediscovering America in the Gilded Age,’ by Peter Brooks (New York Review of Books, 2025)
‘The Killing Stones,’ by Ann Cleeves (Minotaur Books, 2025)
American novelist Henry James spent most of his adult life in England, visiting the U.S. only rarely. In 1904, he made one last trip home to assess America’s progress, and wrote about the visit in “The American Scene,” a dense and difficult book (even for James’ scholars). To re-create the 10-month journey and to make sense of what James concluded about his long-abandoned native home 120 years ago, literary critic Brooks weaves together biography, criticism, psychology and sociology. He illuminates “The American Scene,” delves into later letters and notebook entries, and explores some stories inspired by the trip. Clear, sensitive, balanced, Brooks does not sugarcoat or ignore when James exposes his snobbery or racial bias, and he applauds him for his moments of prescient, startling insight, including James’ observations about capitalism and democracy, fraud, immigration, slavery, wasteful ostentation, and the breathtaking beauty of the West Coast landscape. — 4 stars (out of 4); Michelle Nelson, Littleton
‘The Killing Stones,’ by Ann Cleeves (Minotaur Books, 2025)
This is the ninth novel in the Jimmy Perez series, the first four of which were adapted to become the Shetland Island Series on PBS. Set in the Orkney Islands, this mystery continues the story of Police Detective Jimmy Perez, his friends and family. Things get complicated when Perez’s best friend goes missing and is found murdered, ultimately the first of three related murders. Cleeves interweaves ancient Orcadian history, myths and traditions into the story. To solve the mystery, Perez must open his mind to see beyond his assumptions. The solution is truly unexpected and beyond mind-bending. — 3 1/2 stars (out of 4); Kathleen Lance, Denver
