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Those We Thought We Knew

December 15, 2023

those we thought

The residents of Jackson, a quiet county in the North Carolina mountains, are happy believing racism is largely in their past. Until that is, reality intervenes in David Joy’s new novel, Those We Thought We Knew. Joy uses the perspectives of three local characters: two white law enforcement officers and one Black woman to strip the veneer from a place and people who thought ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, literary, racism, Southern life

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

November 27, 2023

tom lake

I’m not sure I’ve ever started a review with an apology to the book and, possibly, the author. There’s a story here, so please be patient. I’ve always enjoyed Ann Patchett’s books, both fiction and nonfiction so I thought I was ready for her latest, Tom Lake, when it came out in August. A friend kindly loaned me their print copy. I tried it and loved its beginning, but print ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, family, literary

Day by Michael Cunningham

November 21, 2023

day

A single day revisited for three years is the scaffolding that supports Michael Cunningham’s new novel, Day. The years are significant as they bracket the pandemic and lockdown, but this is not a COVID novel of suspense, terror, or disaster. Rather it’s snapshots of one family at three critical points in their lives as individuals and as a family unit. Dan and Isabel live in a ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, contemporary life, literary

The Berry Pickers: A Novel

November 14, 2023

berry

For one Mi’kmaq family summers in Maine have always been about sunshine, campfires, and reunions with old friends amidst long days of picking blueberries as migrant workers. Until 1962 when Ruthie, their youngest daughter, disappears, irrevocably changing the lives of the two main characters in Amanda Peters’ stunning debut The Berry Pickers. For Joe it begins a cycle of loss ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, debut, literary, Native Americans

Talking at Night

October 20, 2023

talking

Talking at Night is a love story about Rosie and Will, two young people impacted by a guilt-inducing tragedy when they’re in their teens, but whose feelings for each other continue to push them together and pull them apart throughout their lives. The two couldn’t be more different. Will is the rebellious sort—no interest in school, mysterious. The type of guy high school girls ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: coming-of-age, debut, literary, relationships

One Woman Show

October 16, 2023

wrapping

Caroline Margaret Brooks Whitaker Wallingford de Braganza Deen (aka Kitty), the epitome of 20th century American wealth, is depicted through art in the novel, One Woman Show. How does one represent a woman as art in a written format? Author Christine Coulson, whose imagination is as expansive as the art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art where she worked, makes it look simple in ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: 20th century, art, book clubs, literary, women

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