- Oct 29
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 19
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 15
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...
- Sep 24
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,...
- Aug 13
Six More Illuminating Memoirs to Lose Yourself In
More Memoirs I've Loved I love a good memoir, one that offers a glimpse or a deep dive into the life and pivotal experiences of another...
- Apr 2
March Wrap-Up: My Favorite Reads of the Month
Ta-da! My very favorite books from March! Here are the books I most loved reading during the past month: a beautiful story of heartbreak...
- Mar 22
Review of The Arsonists' City by Hala Alyan
Characters cope with lost dreams and find ways to (often clumsily) come together through their shared pain. The vibrancy of Beirut is...
- Mar 3
Three Books I'm Reading Now, 3/3/21 Edition
What I'm Reading Now Here's what I've got going at the moment: a dark, intriguing story of interconnectedness between unusual characters;...
- Jan 26
Review of Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo
Evaristo offers a set of twelve interconnected stories about Black women in contemporary Britain and their friendships, loves, struggles,...
- Jan 22
Six Great Books about the Immigrant Experience
01 Pachinko by Min Jin Lee In the early 1900s, a teenager falls for a silver-tongued stranger on the coast of Korea. But when the...
- Jan 18
Three Books I'm Reading Now, 1/18/21 Edition
01 Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo Evaristo won the Booker Prize in 2019 for this novel, which I'm listening to as an audiobook...
- Dec 28, 2020
Review of The Empress by Laura Martinez-Belli
In the story of tragic Carlota, each turn of events was more ill-fated and darker than the next, all barreling toward ruin and...
- Dec 19, 2020
Six Historical Fiction Books I Loved in the Past Year
01 The Huntress by Kate Quinn I'm in for World War II-set books with tough, brave female protagonists, and I loved this book. Nina...
- Dec 1, 2020
Review of Skyhunter by Marie Lu
Lu offers complex motivations, clashes between idealism and realism, editorialization about class and race, and futuristic advancements...
- Nov 6, 2020
Six More Great Fiction Titles I Loved This Year
01 Where the Forest Meets the Stars Joanna is feeling adrift after her mother's death, and she disappears into the constant attention her...
- Nov 4, 2020
Review of How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C. Pam Zhang
Zhang's detail was wonderful, and her characters make noble sacrifices and face impossible choices. The book's frequent heartbreak was a...
- Nov 3, 2020
Three Books I'm Reading Now, 11/3/20 Edition
01 To Sleep in a Sea of Stars I'd like to mention up front that To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is 878 pages, so if you never hear from me...
- Oct 28, 2020
Review of The Exiles by Christina Baker Kline
Many of her characters find themselves in despairingly difficult situations, but Kline offers glimmers of hope as well.
- Jul 8, 2020
Review of A Woman Is No Man by Etaf Rum
In A Woman Is No Man, Rum explores the often powerless and voiceless status of her conservative Palestinian female characters.
- Apr 6, 2019
Review of The Parting Glass by Gina Marie Guadagnino
There's a love triangle and fantastic details that bring the era1830s to life. The Parting Glass has both substance and lovely lighter...