

Review of Betty by Tiffany McDaniel
Betty is based on the author's family stories of difficulties, abuse, tragedies, and a hardscrabble life in the Appalachian foothills of...
Jan 12, 2022


Review of Beneath a Starless Sky by Tessa Harris
Harris's action-packed World War II story moves between the terrors of 1930s Germany and the glamour of Hollywood, and it details the...
Dec 13, 2021


Review of The Distance from Four Points by Margo Orlando Littell
In The Distance from Four Points, Littell explores deep human connections, grief, womanhood, what strength means, the power of origins,...
Dec 2, 2021


Review of These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant
The wilderness and isolation of the story combined with the looming dangers posed by the outside world make These Silent Woods feel...
Nov 29, 2021


Review of Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau
In Blau's gleefully 1970s-set novel, Mary Jane doesn't merely shift from emotional innocence to young adulthood, she comes into her own,...
Nov 23, 2021


Review of This Shining Life by Harriet Kline
Kline's poignant, lovely book explores a family's emotional missteps and enduring love after a painful loss, and their hard-fought...
Nov 18, 2021


Review of Forty Autumns by Nina Willner
ICYMI: Forty Autumns offers fascinating, wonderfully detailed perspectives in a rich, layered family memoir that reads like fiction. The...
Nov 10, 2021


Review of The Best of Me by David Sedaris
This collection of previously published Sedaris works is a gold mine of discomforting, edgy, offbeat observations--with more heart than I...
Nov 1, 2021


October Wrap-Up: My Favorite Reads of the Month
My very favorite books from October! These are the books I most loved reading during the past month. I included an immersive memoir...
Oct 29, 2021


Review of The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller
The Paper Palace is atmospheric and often disturbing. I didn't understand many of the characters' motivations or reasoning so didn't feel...
Oct 26, 2021


Six Fascinating Memoirs to Explore
More Memoirs I've Loved I find a good memoir irresistible, whether it's made up of key moments from the life of someone unknown to me or...
Oct 22, 2021


Review of Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
Main protagonist Gifty's journey was full of challenges and not too easy or complete, and her voice had me hooked throughout Yaa Gyasi's...
Oct 19, 2021


Three Books I'm Reading Now, 10/15/21 Edition
The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading The Paper Palace, Miranda Cowley Heller's novel about a middle-aged woman exploring other...
Oct 15, 2021


Review of So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell
So Long, See You Tomorrow is gorgeous, heartbreaking, and feels timeless. I loved it. My friend James mentioned this book as a favorite...
Oct 14, 2021


Review of The Project by Courtney Summers
Summers's young adult fiction begins with a fascinating premise--sisters are torn apart by tragedy and then further separated by a...
Oct 12, 2021


Review of Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney
Rooney plunges the reader into uncomfortably claustrophobic and microscopically examined moments in Conversations with Friends I listened...
Oct 11, 2021


Three Books I'm Reading Now, 10/8/21 Edition
The Books I'm Reading Now I'm listening to Conversations with Friends, Sally Rooney's book about a young poet hyper-focused on her...
Oct 8, 2021


Review of Somebody's Daughter by Ashley C. Ford
In this memoir, Ford shares how she navigated an unforgiving childhood and complicated relationships with her volatile mother and her...
Sep 28, 2021


Three Books I'm Reading Now, 9/24/21 Edition
The Books I'm Reading Now I'm reading Anthony Doerr's upcoming literary fiction tale of interconnected characters that spans centuries,...
Sep 24, 2021


Review of The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson
Johnson offers a wonderfully imperfect heroine and her fascinating journeys through the multiverse, her various lives, and her alternate...
Sep 21, 2021
