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

“Good Material,” by Dolly Alderton (Penguin Random House, 2023)

Andy, a 35-year-old occasionally successful standup comedian, has never been dumped before. Until now. Devastated, he invites us on his wild ride of post-breakup craziness as he struggles to understand what happened, and how to get Jen back. Andy’s journey includes many nights of drinking with his ever-dwindling group of friends (who have moved on and have jobs, wives and children), and overnight stays with his mother, who offers some startling observations about the nature of romantic rejection. When he writes a stand-up show about his breakup trauma, Andy is about to find his big break and the success he craves. But by then, the world is hurdling toward COVID-19, when everything will change, and live performances will be halted for years. Toward the end of the novel, we finally hear from Jen herself, and it becomes clear that no matter how much love exists between two people, sometimes a breakup is needed for personal growth before any lasting commitment can be achieved. Hard to put down, funny and at times strikingly tender and compassionate, “Good Material” illustrates the adage “It takes two to be in a relationship, and only one to end it.” — 4 stars (out of 4); Karen Goldie Hartman, Westminster

“The Weight of a Piano,” by Chris Cander (Knopf, 2019)

“She closed her eyes and cried through her fingers; then they moved across the sleeping baby, a silent performance of Beethoven’s ‘Sonata ‘à Thérèse.’ There were so many sharps in that piece, the crosses could fill a cemetery.” Chris Cander’s composition is generous with sonorous passages like this. The stories of two women who love the same piano are entwined in counterpoint, one in 1962, one in 2012, both absorbing as the best historic fiction can be. There are mysteries hidden within the varied motifs, and their resolutions are satisfying and cathartic. The writing has a few false notes (such as a love scene that dissolves into cliché) but I enjoyed this novel very much despite a few ill-placed accidentals. — 2 1/2 stars (out of 4); Neva Gronert, Parker

“Star 111” by Lutz Seiler, translated by Tess Lewis (New York Review of Books, 2024)

A big book (nearly 500 pages) with big themes: the opportunities, hopes, disorientation and disillusion that play out in the context of one young East German man’s life and family after the fall of the Berlin Wall. While the narrator is pulled into the underground bar and squatter scene in 1990s Berlin, his parents live out their own dreams of freedom by emigrating. We learn that everyone, regardless of where they come from, has hopes and aspirations for a better life. — 3 1/2 stars (out of 4); Kathleen Lance, Denver

“American Diva: Extraordinary, Unruly, Fabulous,” by Deborah Paredez (W.W. Norton & Company, 2024)

Author Paredez is fascinated by the diva phenomenon. Paradez takes a series of divas such as Grace Jones, Tina Brown, tennis stars Venus and Serena, and her own aunt to illustrate her belief that instead of being a criticism, the label is a source of pride and distinction no matter what actually happened in a person’s life. And to some extent, this is valid. The reader is left to wonder, however, if there are any regrets? We don’t learn that. Instead, because these personalities are the foundations on which our daydreams and memories rest (many are entertainers), we can relive our own dancing days and what those memories give us. It’s a fun stroll through pop culture, albeit in a disjointed, somewhat bewildering style. — 2 stars (out of 4); Bonnie McCune, Denver (bonniemccune.com)

“The Bright Ages: A New History of Medieval Europe,” by Matthew Gabriele & David M. Perry (Harper, 2022)

If “Game of Thrones” or other such popular fare has ever piqued your interest in the Middle Ages, this may be the book for you. It’s a very accessible jaunt through the period, a time, the authors assert, that was anything but the Dark Ages conjured up by earlier historians’ depictions of a violent, primitive, plague-ridden time. Thus, they call it the “Bright Ages,” for a time that engendered not only violent wars, enslavement and disease, but also Byzantine art, iconic Gothic architecture, and inspiring, lasting poetry. Moreover, the authors shine a light on significant historical figures beyond the standard list of white European males, with their broader range and reading of source materials. — 3 stars (out of 4); Kathleen Lance, Denver