It’s odd to say, but for the most part November felt like a normal month. So, either I’m acclimating to chaos or my memory has blanked out the month. What I do know is that it was a Wild West rodeo for my reading. There was the fun of getting to read whatever I felt like and the not-so-fun inability to settle down into books I’d expected to love. Instead I was ... Read More...
Yellowface: A Novel by R.F. Kuang
I’ve contorted the truth into such ways that I can, in fact, make peace with it. THIS. BOOK. Yikes. Ostensibly, Yellowface is about June Hayward, an aspiring writer who has quietly seethed as her friend Athena gets the success and accolades June craves. When Athena dies in a tragic accident June uses it as an opportunity to take her friend’s current manuscript for herself. ... Read More...
January Reading Wrap-Up
What to say about January? A month that went so fast, but didn’t seem to move at all. With subzero temperatures and a broken supply chain that left Costco with no Diet Coke (I can go without my meds, but no Diet Coke is a bridge too far). Those are the lows, but the important news is that January was an outstanding month for reading. Of the 14 books I read 9 were 4 stars or ... Read More...
Notes on an Execution: A Novel
In twelve hours Ansel Packer will be executed. As the time unwinds, three women parse the life of a serial killer. Lavender is his mother, Hazel the twin sister of his wife, and Saffron the police captain involved in his capture. In Notes on an Execution their stories strip the filters from Ansel’s own Auto-tuned portrayal of himself and his life’s Theory, leaving behind ... Read More...
My 6 Favorite Debuts of 2021
Happy Monday and welcome to my first yearend best-of lists. Today is a favorite category: best debuts. Finding new authors is one of my greatest reading pleasures and 2021 proved to be a very good year. Of all my reading, 38% was debut authors and of those debuts I rated 36% 3.5 stars or higher, with 3.5 being my baseline for a book I’d recommend to others. Finally, of ... Read More...
No One Will Miss Her: A Novel
Everyone has their own understanding of what appeals to them in fiction. Something I love is a dead narrator. For some reason, this makes me implicitly trust them. It’s even better if they acknowledge their own unlikability as is the case with the unloved Lizzie Ouellette. No One Will Miss Her opens with her imagining an old drunk sitting around the local bar after her death ... Read More...
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 6
- Next Page »
