Recently, my reading has involved both unusual plots and characters. Today I’m back with Sue Miller’s Monogamy, a novel that is, appropriately for this week, about grief. Annie McFarlane’s husband, Graham, dies of a heart attack in the night next to her in their bed. A large, boisterous man with an appetite for life he leaves a gaping hole in the lives of everyone who ... Read More...
Anxious People by Fredrik Backman
In my post about the fall books I was ready to read I made special note of my excitement about Fredrik Backman’s new book, Anxious People. The novel is about a group of eight people held hostage by a bank robber. I was interested because the bank robber failed at his job and the people he held hostage were so whiny and annoying he thought surrendering to police might be a ... Read More...
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
There are so many things I wish I could forget, but maybe “forget” isn’t quite right. There are so many things I wish I never knew. Transcendent Kingdom is a novel that lies at the intersection of religion, addiction, science, and mental health. Gifty is a PhD candidate at Stanford, studying reward-seeking behavior’s role in addiction. Her dedication to her research is ... Read More...
The Last Story of Mina Lee
Even though her mother is the only family she has, Margot Lee has never felt close to Mina. Margot left L.A. for Seattle for college and never moved back. She would dutifully call regularly, but visited seldom. Now, she’s arrived in Koreatown for a surprise visit, only to find Mina dead. The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun Kim is not a mystery thriller, but a poignant ... Read More...
His Only Wife: A Novel
In a small town in Ghana, Afi Tekple lives in a house with her widowed mother. It’s in a compound owned by her avaricious uncle and his many wives and their children. Afi did not go to university, but she loves to sew and has been studying and working as a seamstress. But is this barely-getting-by life all there is for her? It seems so, until her mother presents her with an ... Read More...
When These Mountains Burn
There are few things I love more than an evocative writer. Someone who makes me feel what and where they’re writing about. Two that come to mind immediately: Pat Conroy in Prince of Tides, not only for the low country of South Carolina, but for New York when Tom goes there and Kent Haruf for Holt, Colorado, a small town that served as the setting for his Plainsong trilogy. I ... Read More...
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