Who: Kevin Wilk (Walnut Creek city councilman)
Recommendation: “What Makes a Marriage Last” by Marlo Thomas and Phil Donahue
Why it’s a good read: It’s a series of 40 interviews with 40 famous couples on how their marriages have lasted decades. The couples are as diverse as Elton John & David Furnish and Jesse & Jacqueline Jackson. Each chapter is insightful and funny with a variety of ways that these couples have figured out what works for them, to keep things interesting and how they’ve overcome hurdles in their relationships, while being famous and still raising a family.
See a full list of contributors, from Lily Tomlin to Viola Davis, and find out how you can read the book at https://whatmakesamarriagelast.com.
Who: Maida Paxton, librarian at Bay area public library
Recommendation: ​”Pride and Preston Lin” by Christina Hwang Dudley
Why it’s a good read: It’s a perfect summer read. A delightful, funny, angsty, and just plain fun Pride and Prejudice retelling set on the Peninsula. The Bay Area setting and use of local class signifiers (Darcy goes to Stanford, Lizzie goes to SJSU) are pitch perfect.
Synopsis: Lissie is the middle of three sisters, orphaned and taken in by their aunt and uncle. Both she and her older sister, Jenny, work in the family restaurant while pursuing their education and career dreams. When Lissie accidentally serves a dish containing shellfish paste to an allergic customer, she runs afoul of the wealthy Lin family. Their golden boy, Preston, star swimmer and Stanford Ph.D. student, is as handsome as he is self-righteous. Lissie hates him and everything he stands for, but circumstances keep bringing them together. Can she overcome her pride and her initial misgivings about Preston Lin and his condescending mother? Will love prevail, and will these enemies turn into lovers?
Check if the book is available to borrow from your local public library.
Who: Kyla Zhao, Author of VALLEY VERIFIED and THE FRAUD SQUAD
Recommendation: “Valley Verified” by Kyla Zhao
Why it’s a good read: Imagine ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ meets ‘Legally Blonde’, but this time Elle Woods is tackling the cutthroat startup world. In Valley Verified, our heroine Zoe is forced to leave her fashion job in New York and move to Silicon Valley, where she joins an up-and-coming tech startup. In this sink-or-swim environment, Zoe must tackle judgmental coworkers, eccentric tech billionaires and her own insecurities to prove she’s more than just a fashionista in a land of tech bros.
Check if the book is available to borrow from your local public library.