‘Good Morning America’ book club pick follows a woman trying to solve her own murder

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 inquired them and all Denver Post readers to share their mini-reviews with you Have any to offer Email bellis denverpost com Barbara Ellis Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson Bantam Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson Bantam Sarcastic foul-mouthed Jet Mason has been murdered and has a week to find her own killer You read that right Twenty-seven a law school dropout Jet has moved back home with her family and feels like a loser Finding who attacked her leading to a catastrophic brain injury that will lead to her death is now her mission and a chance to in the end succeed at something central The sardonic tone of this book drives the action and makes it quite fun despite the dire plot and my ambivalence about Jet Even though it spans only a week there s time for plenty of intrigue and perhaps a little romance By the end of this quick read I truly was hoping Jet would succeed A Good Morning America Book Club pick stars out of Neva Gronert Parker Your Moves on the Stairs by Antonio Mu oz Molina translated by Curtis Bauer Other Press A slow burn of suspense drives this novel in which past memories and present reality blur leaving the reader wondering what s real up until the very end The narrator has relocated from New York City to Lisbon and is obsessively re-creating the NYC apartment he shared with his wife in every loving detail while he awaits her arrival in Lisbon Is she really coming Is she veritably real Are the narrator s memories to be trusted stars out of Kathleen Lance Denver Every Living Thing The Great and Deadly Race to Know All Life by Jason Roberts Random House This history of how biology came to exist is an example of narrative nonfiction as compelling and immersive as the finest fiction Carl Linnaeus and Georges-Louis de Buffon th-century contemporaries one in Sweden and the other in France try to identify all of life on Earth The men disagree on just about everything as they posit how to approach nature as static objects to be inventoried or as dynamic independent manifestations of a greater whole Their diametrically opposed views will have consequences regarding how we perceive race evolution atmosphere even how we imagine the boundary between life and death The book owes its success in large part to the author s rich deeply drawn depictions of these two men Add in the author s grasp of the latest scientific discoveries the last chapter blew my mind and you ve got a winner Pulitzer Prize winner stars out of Michelle Nelson Littleton We All Live Here by Jojo Moyes Pamela Dorman Books TNS We All Live Here by Jojo Moyes Pamela Dorman Books Protagonist Lila Kennedy mother of two daughters is a accomplished writer under contract to finish a book about how to have a good marriage Then kerblam Hubby knocks up a girlfriend leaves Lisa high and broke struggling to handle the emotional and fiscal turmoil he s left behind Her aging stepfather knocks heads with her flawed and irritating ex-husband who also moves into the home Add the enticement of a new lover to mess with Lila s head Will he be loving and normal By the finale the reader is cheering that they ll all live happily ever after while retaining their off-beat all-so-human personalities and cockeyed relationships stars out of Bonnie McCune Denver bonniemccune com My Name is Emilia Del Valle by Isabel Allende translated by Frances Riddle Ballantine Books Allende is solidly back in her metier with a multigenerational cast of characters thrilling action in Chile and a sprinkling of magical realism Emilia grows up in the poor Mission District of post-Gold Rush-era San Francisco and seeks adventure and independence as a journalist The story comes to life when Emilia gets assigned to cover the Chilean Civil War in While in Chile she meets the family that had earlier disavowed her discovers her roots and finds her true self stars out of Kathleen Lance Denver Subscribe to our weekly newsletter In The Know to get entertainment news sent straight to your inbox