I came to hate that I'd put my heart and my pain into my music because it meant that I couldn't ever leave it behind. Daisy Jones is the quintessential ‘70s rock ‘n roll dream girl—preternaturally beautiful, no inhibitions, and ready to party. Except that she’s got dreams of her own and an astonishing whiskey-soaked voice. Billy Dunne is the charismatic, handsome, lead ... Read More...
Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal
Unmarriageable is one of the winter books I was most looking forward to reading in January. Author Soniah Kamal takes Jane Austen’s beloved Pride & Prejudice and updates it to fit into Pakistan in the year 2000. Every detail is the same, but with an Eastern flair. The Bennetts are the Binats, Darcy is Darsee, and Wickham is Wickaam. Other than name changes Kamal shapes her ... Read More...
A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult
Jodi Picoult is a seasoned pro at presenting both sides to highly charged and complicated issues—which is one of the reasons I love her books. She moves me out of my comfort zone and gives me perspectives that I might not come to on my own. Generally, she finds hot-button topics shortly after they’ve hit the mainstream news, but in her latest, A Spark of Light, she is prescient ... Read More...
Love and Ruin by Paula McLain
It wasn’t bravery when you did what you had to do. Paula McLain’s novel, Circling the Sun, was one of my favorites of 2015, largely because she portrayed Beryl Markham so well as a woman who wasn’t content to follow the norms of her times—get married, have children—but who understood that the only way to follow her own path meant the norms would never be an option. ... Read More...
Song of a Captive Bird
Remember its flight, for the bird is mortal. -Forugh Farrokhzhad I was looking forward to learning about a time and culture, far away from my own, but I never thought I’d be so thoroughly seduced by Jasmin Darznik’s debut novel, Song of a Captive Bird. It is a fictionalized account of Forugh Farrokhzhad, the first woman in Iran to defy her country’s cultural bias and ... Read More...
June Reading Wrap-Up
Quick disclaimer: it never got anywhere near warm enough in Seattle in June for outdoor swimming so this photo is fake news. There was no lounging and reading by the pool—I was wearing socks the last week of the month, but that’s all right for me. I spent three days in the 90° heat with 80% humidity that was Cleveland and it was more than enough to remind me why I love ... Read More...
