Welcome to the last week of the longest year in history. I’m going to avoid any rehashing of what a nightmare it was for so many and stick to the easy stuff: my best books of 2020! Today I have five debut books that really stood out for me. Normally, I’d have more, but there was nothing normal in 2020. Like a lot of other readers, my taste and what worked for me was ... Read More...
The Unraveling of Mercy Louis
Take high school sports, an oil refinery explosion, a grandmother ready for the Rapture, and layer in a fetus found in a dumpster and a Purity Ball and you have the world that is The Unraveling of Mercy Louis. Ostensibly, the novel is about Mercy, a high school senior who is one of the best basketball players in the state of Texas, but the events listed create a vortex of ... Read More...
Monogamy: A Novel by Sue Miller
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...
The Boys’ Club: A Novel
Klasko & Fitch is a massive law firm where the best of the best work, so Alex Vogel is thrilled to be hired there. When she learns the most powerful and lucrative group in the firm is Mergers & Acquisitions, she signs up. She’s energized, not intimidated, because Alex always likes to win. The Boys’ Club is a high-octane debut novel about this first-year associate’s ... Read More...
Thin Girls: A Novel
The opening pages of Thin Girls take place in a treatment facility for people with anorexia. The key protagonist, Rose is sharing her thoughts on group therapy and they fairly crackle off the page with intelligence and sharp, incisive humor. She is 23 and has been at the facility for over a year, something she sees as a badge of honor. The only visitor she has is her identical ... Read More...
Almost, But Not Quite: Mini-Reviews
It’s not an unusual phenomenon, especially in these crazy times when concentration is a foreign concept for most of us, but sometimes a novel is…almost, but not quite right. For me, the pull is always good writing and if there’s a plot to go with it, it’s an easy sell. It’s when one or the other of these things is lacking that things get dicey. Both of today’s novels had plot ... Read More...
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