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The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell

September 19, 2022

marriage

I adored Maggie O’Farrell’s last novel, Hamnet. She returns, with another novel set in the 1500s, but in Italy this time. The Marriage Portrait is about a young Italian princess and bride, Lucrezia of the famous Medici family, known for its support of key artists and scientists of the Renaissance. The Marriage Portrait is both her story and the name of one of the few portraits ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: 16th century, historical fiction, Italy, literary

NSFW: A Novel

September 9, 2022

nsfw

I recently read NSFW a debut from Isabel Kaplan and I’m fairly certain my visceral reaction to the novel is a response becoming more and more common to me and to many of the women I know given recent events in America. Which is to say, I found the novel to be triggering in a way that I would not have felt so strongly in the past. NSFW’s narrator is unnamed—an interesting and ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, debut, new adult, social issues, women

Calling for a Blanket Dance

September 5, 2022

calling

In a desperate attempt to save her marriage, Turtle packs up her 6-month-old son, Ever, finds her drunk husband, Everardo, loads him into the car and leaves Oklahoma for Mexico. Her plan is to reunite Everardo with the mother he hasn’t seen in a decade in the hope she’ll pressure him into living up to his responsibilities. The visit is a welcome one and ignites Everardo’s sense ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, contemporary life, cultural, debut, literary, Native Americans

Upgrade: A Novel by Blake Crouch

August 24, 2022

upgrade

As summer winds down, it’s time for one last hurrah of propulsive, can’t-put-down, vacation reading. For me, it was Upgrade by Blake Crouch. In the novel, Agent Logan Ramsey shares his troublesome past and the present that’s shattered his life as he knew it. It’s an unspecified time in the future and he’s on the run trying to find and stop the person who believes their idea of ... Read More...

8 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, science fiction, thriller, vacation reading

Nightcrawling: A Novel

August 22, 2022

nightcrawling

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...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, contemporary life, debut, social issues, teen years

The Year of the Horses: A Memoir

August 17, 2022

horses

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...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Non-fiction Tagged: book clubs, marriage, memoir, motherhood, women, writers' lives

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