ICYMI: This fictionalized version of a first lady's personal history from the talented Curtis Sittenfeld was a five-star read for me. In American Wife, Sittenfeld takes a few facts from Laura Bush's life and the Bush family history and creates an alternate story--one that's plausibly similar in a sense to Laura Bush's own, yet wholly Sittenfeld’s creation. I was continually captivated by Sittenfeld's story. She made me feel that I deeply understood the potential circumstances

01 Leaving the Witness In Leaving the Witness: Exiting a Religion and Finding a Life, Amber Scorah takes the reader into her confidences and lays bare her sheltered experiences, religious indoctrination, societal and gender pressures, hearty evangelism, and her eventual questioning and subsequent freezing out from the Jehovah’s Witnesses—which meant she was cut off permanently from almost everyone she knew. Scorah retraces her steps from being a covert, illegal proselytizer i

01 A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World And there may be no law left except what you make of it, but if you steal my dog, you can at least expect me to come after you. If we’re not loyal to the things we love, what’s the point?... That’s a kind of death, even if you keep breathing. The thief came and shattered what was left of young Griz's life. Now Griz and his dog are making their way through the world. Griz is capable of fury and revenge, but also great love and loyal

Six of the books I bought during the 2020 pandemic and can't wait to read.

"A stirring call to conscience and consciousness in white brothers and sisters."

There's a beautiful exploration in this book of dying, death, appreciating the beauty of the impermanence of our lives and living life fully

This is character-driven historical fiction at its best.

There were a million ways this story could have felt less real and messy and fascinating. But it was just wonderful.