The Books I'm Reading Now
I'm reading Horse, the newest historical fiction novel by Geraldine Brooks; I'm listening to Happy-Go-Lucky, the newest book of essays from the oddball, poignant, darkly funny David Sedaris; and I'm reading The Dead Romantics, Ashley Poston's adult debut about a romance ghostwriter who is haunted by ghosts as she copes with loss and tries to open her heart again.
What are you reading these days, bookworms?
01 Horse by Geraldine Brooks
In Geraldine Brooks's newest novel, Horse, she links three moments in time: 1850 Kentucky, where an enslaved groom and a foal forge a bond and an itinerant painter captures their likenesses; 1954 New York City, in which a gallery owner becomes obsessed with the mid-nineteenth-century painting; and 2019 Washington, DC, when two historians are linked by their interest in a record-breaking stallion from the past.
Based on the true story of the thoroughbred Lexington, Horse delves into science, art, and race as it spans decades.
Geraldine Brooks is also the author of The People of the Book, March, Year of Wonders, Caleb's Crossing, and The Secret Chord.
02 Happy-Go-Lucky by David Sedaris
I like to listen to my David Sedaris books, and I'm listening to his newest, Happy-Go-Lucky--his first book of new essays since Calypso--as an audiobook.
Here, Sedaris shares offbeat moments from living in Paris and Sussex, reflects on living in New York City during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, and, as always, pokes fun at himself and hilariously skewers others for various affronts.
In and among these scenes, Sedaris shares strange, sweet, funny moments with each of his living sisters, discusses his sister Tiffany, who died of suicide, and faces the decline of his nonagenarian father, with whom he has always had a complicated relationship.
Please click here for my review of David Sedaris's The Best of Me.
03 The Dead Romantics by Ashley Poston
In Ashley Poston's The Dead Romantics, Florence Day is a ghostwriter for a famous reclusive romance writer. But she's gone through a breakup because of her partner's betrayal, and she's having a hard time getting her mojo back to write about flowery love and happy endings. She's starting to think that her handsome new editor might just be the inspiration she needs.
Then Florence's beloved father dies, and she returns to her hometown for the first time in many years. In town, she'll always be known as The Girl Who Solved a Murder Mystery by Talking to Ghosts, with all the fascination and suspicion one might expect.
Oh, and Florence's family runs the local mortuary business. And Florence really can communicate with ghosts. Oh, and then her cute editor shows up in town...as a ghost. Helping but also haunting her.