From the nucleus of one family, The Arsonists’ City is a novel that spins out between decades and countries. Idris and Mazna met in the 1970s. He lived in Beirut and was studying to be a doctor and she was a young actress living with her family in Damascus. Decades later they are settled in America with three grown children. The death of Idris’s father means he’s inherited the ... Read More...
Becoming Duchess Goldblatt: A Memoir
After eight years of writing reviews it feels as if the time for ‘firsts’ is long past, but here I am today with a first. I’ve never read or reviewed a book by an anonymous author before, but Becoming Duchess Goldblatt is just that. It’s the memoir of Duchess Goldblatt, a fictitious 81-year-old literary icon known for her wry, cajoling presence on Twitter. She has almost 40,000 ... Read More...
All This Could Be Yours
After another evening spent sniping at his wife about her excessive spending, 73-year-old Victor staggers off to bed and suffers a heart attack that leaves him unconscious and at the edge of death for much of Jami Attenberg’s novel All This Could be Yours. Instead of a heartfelt outpouring of memories and love, this is a novel of bitterness and acrimony, all caused by Victor. ... Read More...
Ten Best Books of 2019
Well, what do you know. Rather than being my usual contrarian self, I actually have ten books I consider to be the best of 2019. Of course, that doesn’t include the eight debut novels I wrote about on Wednesday, but let’s not split hairs. The point is: ALL of these books are marvelous. Even better, you still have time to get any one of them before Christmas for your ... Read More...
November Mini-Reviews
All of the book love from Monday’s review of The Starless Sea really took it out of me so I’m giving myself (and you) a word break for the rest of the week. Today is mini-reviews—three very different books with fewer words about each. In Adrienne Brodeur’s memoir, Wild Game fact once again proves to be infinitely stranger than fiction. Adrienne is 14 when ... Read More...
Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts
I loved Kate Racculia’s last novel, Bellweather Rhapsody, because it combined so many of my favorite elements—quirky, smart outsiders, the realities of life butting up against the unexpected, and sharp, funny writing. This means I was nervously excited to learn she had a new novel out this month. It is so hard to duplicate that combination. It’s like going back to restaurant ... Read More...
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