At a time when most teenage girls are busy with dating, hanging out with friends, and choosing colleges, 17-year-old Kiara is facing a rent increase that is likely to render her homeless. She lives in a rundown East Oakland apartment with her older brother Marcus. Their father is dead and their mother is in prison. This is the world explored in Leila Mottley’s gritty debut ... Read More...
Tracy Flick Can’t Win
Tracy Flick Can’t Win is the latest novel from Tom Perrotta and if the title’s name looks familiar it’s because this is a sequel to his novel, Election. I never read the first book, but know Tracy well from the movie adaptation of the book. She was a goody-two-shoes teenager perfectly played by Reese Witherspoon. Tracy Flick Can’t Win is about the life of middle-aged Tracy so I ... Read More...
The Year of the Horses: A Memoir
Courtney Maum’s memoir opens with a scene of a young daughter refusing her mother’s help to put on her socks despite the fact that they’re going to be late for an appointment. Maum is the mother and her frustration, veering into internal rage and the immediate weight of guilt, is so well-written my jaw clenched reading it and I don’t even have children. The book is called The ... Read More...
Joan: A Novel by Katherine J. Chen
Fresh week and time to really start sharing my summer reading. I’m coming in hot with a 5-star novel that is on track to be a favorite of the year. It’s Joan by Katherine Chen. The novel is about Joan of Arc, but is cast from the same mold as renderings of great men from historical times with few written records. Embellishing? Maybe, only this time, I’m here for it. What is ... Read More...
Remarkably Bright Creatures
Hello, everyone! I’m easing back in today with a novel that melted my curmudgeonly heart. Remarkably Bright Creatures is a debut by Shelby Van Pelt that takes place in Sowell Bay, a fictional small town in northern Washington State. Tova is an elderly woman, who works nights cleaning the town’s aquarium. It’s quiet work that, on the one hand, suits her wish to avoid prying, but ... Read More...
The Move: Seattle Edition
I was going to use some soothing and aspirational graphic (like the one from last week), but I decided reality would be best. Here you go, my room, my haven and where I do most of my work. Triple this and you have some idea of the joys of moving and what remains to be done. Of course, there is happiness in being back in an area we enjoy (I’ve had sushi 4 times in 6 days) and ... Read More...
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