Brutality and Bravery in the American West These books explore the brutality of pioneer times, when indigenous peoples were killed and abused at the hands of white people who explored and settled in the West, while also offering characters of all stripes who show bravery and unbreakable spirit. Historical fiction set in the West also lends itself to stories of strong female characters in a time when the world around them didn't support women's abilities, independent thinking,

Stedman takes a remote Australian sheep farm and drops our main protagonists into agonizing scenarios that threaten to break their spirits and ruin them forever. This was a beautifully written tale of anguish, penance, and redemption. A light coating of death dusts any scene you care to observe in the bush.... Death twinkles in this landscape like mineral sand. A Far-Flung Life is an epic family story of generations carving out existence in remote Western Australia, ruled by

The premise of this novel is irresistibly cute as two writers find themselves living and writing about endless romance tropes, but the tone shift and the story's veering into poignant tragedy surprised me and felt out of synch with the beginning of the book. Katie and Tyler were childhood neighbors and friends, on the verge of young love, then devastated, bound together, and pushed apart by a shared tragedy. Years later, they are completely estranged. Katie is a ghostwriter f

I love Amy Bloom's books, but her first foray into mystery writing left me wanting more character development and more resolutions. I love a woman PI, unorthodox investigative methods, and a darkly playful tone, but I ultimately wanted a longer book that let me dig further into Bloom's academia-adjacent world and its secrets. Amy Bloom is the author of one of my favorite historical fiction novels (see below), but she is no stranger to writing in varied genres. In Blunt Instru

The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Jordy Rosenberg's offbeat novel about a yenta on her deathbed examining her many failures, Night Night Fawn; I'm reading Daniel Mason's upcoming novel about two academics and their family move to rural Vermont, Country People; and I'm listening to Amy Bloom's first foray into mystery writing, Blunt Instrument. What are you reading, bookworms? 01 Night Night Fawn by Jody Rosenberg Barbara Greenberg is terminally ill, medicated out of her m

My Favorite Bossy Reads I've read about 70 books so far this year, and these are my six favorites. They vary in genre, in tone, in plot, and in style, but they all delighted me, made me want to keep reading, took me inside another place and time, and made me feel invested in what happened to the characters and their situations. I love to look back and take stock of my reading, and I'm always curious about whether my year-end overall favorites will include the titles on my fav