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Girls Burn Brighter

March 23, 2018

girls

  One of the reasons I love to read is that it offers me a chance to see places on the page (and in my mind) that I’m not likely to see in real life. Just as importantly it exposes me to experiences and lives utterly different from my own. Last month my first five-star book of the year was Song of a Captive Bird, a novel about an Iranian poet, and, while aspects of a ... Read More...

8 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: cultural, debut, Flatiron Books, India, literary, social issues, women

It’s Not You, It’s Me: Laura & Emma

March 21, 2018

Me

The whole point of this feature is that it’s for books that did not come together for me, but this is one of the first times I’m doubting myself, because two of the bloggers I know and trust loved Laura & Emma. I did not. I didn’t even like it. I disliked it, but gladly admit that maybe I was in the wrong mood for the novel and am wrong in my assessment. In that spirit, ... Read More...

9 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: debut, literary, New York City, relationships, Simon & Schuster

The House of Impossible Beauties

March 9, 2018

house

“Passing is an art form, darling. It’s a craft. And just like any craft, the artistic ideal is always impossible to achieve. We can try and try and try as hard as possible to pass as a woman, but if I’m a biological man, I can only go up to a certain point. The rest is all imagination.” John Cassara pumps up the beat from the very beginning of his debut novel, The House of ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: coming-of-age, contemporary life, ecco, New York City, social issues

The Woman in the Window

February 28, 2018

After a traumatic accident, Dr. Anna Fox is homebound, crippled by agoraphobia. She and her husband are separated and due to her condition, their young daughter lives with him. In this day and age, with the internet and home delivery of virtually anything needed to sustain life, Anna doesn’t find it to be as devastating as one might expect. She can indulge her love of old ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: debut, suspense, thriller, William Morrow

Self-Portrait with Boy: A Novel

February 23, 2018

self-portrait

  A startlingly unique and uncomfortable premise is at the heart of Self-Portrait with Boy: an artist is in the midst of taking a series of self-portraits against a window of her apartment when she hears a commotion and learns that the 9-year-old son of her upstairs neighbors, has fallen to his death from the roof. When she develops her film, she discovers one of the ... Read More...

1 Comment
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: art, contemporary life, debut, literary, Scribner

Asymmetry by Lisa Halliday

February 14, 2018

asymmetry

  Asymmetry is a novel split into three separate and seemingly unrelated parts. I know, sounds like short stories, but there is supposed to be a thread connecting the three. The question is whether I was able to find it or not. The first section is Folly, wherein 27-year-old Alice meets Pulitzer Prize winning author, Ezra Blazer, in Central Park. They talk and after ... Read More...

7 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary fiction, debut, family, Iraq, literary, Manhattan, relationships, Simon & Schuster

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