Three Books I'm Reading Now, 5/19/25 Edition

The Books I'm Reading Now

I'm reading Kevin Wilson's newest novel, about a surprise extended family and a road trip to confront their patriarch, Run for the Hills; I'm listening to a dark, satirical novel about a delusional would-be actress, She's a Lamb!; and I'm listening to Geraldine Brooks's poignant memoir about finding a way to acknowledge the loss of her husband and dive into her grief, Memorial Days.

What are you reading, bookworms?

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01 Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson

I'm a Kevin Wilson fan, and I'm here for all of his wonderfully eccentric characters and his story scenarios that might seem self-consciously zany in another writer's hands but in Wilson's novels, allow for delightful, unexpected revelations and poignant growth.

In Run for the Hills, Mad and her mother have run their farm in Coalfield, Tennessee, ever since Mad's father disappeared twenty years ago. Mad is a loner, but that's okay. But when a stranger who calls himself Rube shows up in a rented PT Cruiser and a story about how Mad is his half sister--and explains that their father has more kids spread across the country as well--Rube and Mad head out on an awkward, nerve-racking mission to find their siblings and then their father. Nothing will ever be the same.

Kevin Wilson is also the author of Now Is Not the Time to Panic, Nothing to See Here, Baby, You're Gonna Be Mine, The Family Fang, Perfect Little World, and Tunneling to the Center of the Earth: Stories.

I received a prepublication edition of this title courtesy of NetGalley and Ecco.

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02 She's a Lamb! by Meredith Hambrock

In Meredith Hambrock's darkly funny, satirical novel, Jessamyn St. Germain is as over the top as her name. She's booking occasional commercial jobs, but she firmly believes she's destined to become famous and perform on Broadway, singing and dancing her way to superstardom.

She's hired to mind the bratty child actors for a community theatre production of The Sound of Music, but she's got her heart set on capturing the role of Maria von Trapp, and her systematic destruction of the show unfolds in gruesome detail as her powerful delusions about her talent and deservedness shape each cutthroat decision she makes to try to propel herself onstage as the lead.

After all, she hasn't sacrificed, obsessed, planned, spent all her money on voice lessons, and humiliated herself with men in powerful positions for a mediocre acting life. Not by a long shot.

Meredith Hambrock's debut novel was Other People's Secrets.

I received an audiobook edition of this title courtesy of Libro.fm and Dreamscape Media.

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03 Memorial Days: A Memoir by Geraldine Brooks

Memorial Days is Geraldine Brooks's memoir of sudden loss, delayed grief, and a delving into sorrow so she can move forward with her life.

Brooks's husband Tony Horwitz, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and acclaimed author, father to her two sons, and her best friend, was on a book tour when he collapsed on a D.C. street in 2019 and died at age 60. Brooks and Horwitz himself had believed him to be in good health, and Brooks was beyond shocked at the news. But an endless logistical to-do list following his death kept her busy and delayed her grieving.

Three years later, she traveled to a remote Australian island to sit with Tony's journals, dive into her memories, rage against what she's lost, and give in to sorrow. She explores various cultures' traditions of marking life and acknowledging grief, seeking peace by shaping her own way of honoring Tony, their life together, and their hopes for the future that would never come to be.

Geraldine Brooks is also the author of the novels People of the Book, Horse, Year of Wonders, and others.

If you're interested in books about mortality and loss, check out the titles here.

I'm listening to Brooks's lovely Australian accent by reading this as an audiobook.