Algonquin Books Archives - The Gilmore Guide to Books

August Reading Wrap-Up

Catherine — Mon, 31 Aug 2026 07:01:19 +0000

It’s time for another monthly reading wrap-up. And the impending end to summer. The good news is that there are SO MANY authors coming out with new books this fall that the reading should be stellar. Stay tuned! There needs to be a better word than messy to describe Sisters of a Halved […]

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July Reading Wrap-Up

Catherine — Fri, 31 Jul 2026 07:24:05 +0000

Another July is in the books (pun intended) and I have yet to manifest the serene reading set-up in this graphic. Wouldn’t it be lovely? Thankfully, my July reading delivered more highs than lows. The Original is a take on Katherine Hepburn’s life, but Priya Parmar surrounds her with a cast who were all […]

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Missing Sam by Thrity Umrigar

Catherine — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 08:12:42 +0000

It’s the July 4th weekend when Ali‘s wife Sam goes missing on her early morning run in their upscale Cleveland Heights neighborhood. Her disappearance sets in motion events that keep Thrity Umrigar’s new novel, Missing Sam, at a slow burn over the mystery, but ignites a blaze in the response the community has to the […]

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The Wildes: A Novel in Five Acts

Catherine — Mon, 07 Apr 2025 07:33:42 +0000

Coming from a family where wit (largely sarcasm, but still) is a love language I’ve always been intrigued by Oscar Wilde. I’ve read his works, seen movie adaptations of his plays, and even read about his tumultuous and ultimately tragic life. Now comes The Wildes: A Novel in Five Acts by Louis Bayard, an inventive […]

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January Reading Wrap-Up

Catherine — Thu, 01 Feb 2024 08:20:19 +0000

Anyone else have a tough reading month in January? Who knows whether it was because I had so much amazing backlist reading over the holidays or the fact that none of the new January books panned out for me. Either way, I’m not sorry to say goodbye to this first month of 2024. Let’s go […]

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The Museum of Failures

Catherine — Tue, 26 Sep 2023 07:50:17 +0000

It’s been years since Remy Wadia has been back to Bombay, where he was born and raised. It was his father’s fervent wish that he go to America for university and then settle there, which Remy did. Now, he’s returning to adopt a baby as he and his wife have not been able to conceive. […]

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Dust Child

Catherine — Tue, 14 Mar 2023 07:59:03 +0000

The Vietnam War has been written about from many points of view in fiction, but for the most part my reading has focused on the years of the war, rife as they are with the atrocities perpetuated on the Vietnamese, both by their own people (ARVN soldiers in the South, Viet Cong in the North) […]

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2022 Underrated Gems

Catherine — Mon, 26 Dec 2022 08:43:15 +0000

Nothing like waiting until the last week of the year to put out best-of lists. Today I want to share five gems that I adored that didn’t get as much love and attention as they deserve. Hopefully, you got gift cards and pick up at least one of these remarkable novels. Title links go […]

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The Complicities: A Novel

Catherine — Mon, 26 Sep 2022 07:46:25 +0000

Con man Bernie Madoff’s life inspired a plethora of novels about the aftermath of a wife left to clean up her husband’s mess. Or at least try to escape it. By and large, they come from a perspective of innocence. But in Stacey d’Erasmo’s new novel, The Complicities, she opts to forgo the black-and-white ease […]

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Calling for a Blanket Dance

Catherine — Mon, 05 Sep 2022 04:18:30 +0000

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 […]

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