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The Book of Essie: A Novel

June 20, 2018

essie

For most young girls, being seventeen and pregnant is not a good place to be. For Esther Hicks it’s even worse because she is the youngest daughter of a fundamentalist pastor and part of a reality TV show about their family. With a life played out in front of the camera and the nation, how can this be anything but catastrophic for Essie, and more importantly, for the show's ... Read More...

8 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, contemporary life, debut, family, Knopf, religion

Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture

June 15, 2018

bad

I feel like a broken record for all the times since 2017 that I’ve said, “Important reading. Timely reading. Everyone should read.”, but here I am again. Not That Bad, with its essays from women around the world, talking about their experiences of rape, harassment, intimidation, and violence is the kind of reading that goes beyond tears. In Roxanne Gay’s foreword we learn that ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Non-fiction Tagged: book clubs, contemporary life, essays, HarperCollins, social issues, women

The Stranger in the Woods

May 30, 2018

stranger

In case this news slipped by you, as it did me: In 2013 a man was apprehended at a children’s summer camp in northern Maine stealing food and supplies. Not particularly interesting except that when asked by the police he can tell them his birth date, but not how old he is—he has no idea what year it is. Further questioning reveals he has no address, no vehicle, no mail, none of ... Read More...

5 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Non-fiction Tagged: biography, book clubs, Knopf, life, New England

Heart Berries: A Memoir

May 9, 2018

heart

It’s hard, as a reviewer, to say you loved a book or felt deeply touched by it, but that you’re not sure you understood a lot of it. And by understand, I mean, literally, the facts. This is the case for me regarding Terese Mailhot’s memoir, Heart Berries. The emotion of it gripped me. The symbolism of her words is a cold, clear stream—shocking and cleansing. For much of the ... Read More...

6 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Non-fiction Tagged: book clubs, Counterpoint, memoir, mental health, women

American Radical: Inside the World of an Undercover Muslim FBI Agent

May 4, 2018

american

  Like some of the other non-fiction books I read last month (Educated, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark), American Radical by Tamer Elnoury reads like fiction. High-wire tension, thriller kind of reading. Tamer Elnoury (not his real name) is an undercover FBI agent. He was brought here from Egypt by his parents when he was a small boy. English is his first language and he speaks ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Non-fiction Tagged: book clubs, contemporary life, crime, Dutton, religion

I’ll Be Gone in the Dark

April 27, 2018

gone

I finally joined the hordes of readers I know who have been held hostage by Michelle McNamara’s I’ll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer, a true crime thriller. And I won’t bury the lede: If you haven’t read it you should, especially given the recent news. But not alone at night. Despite taking place in the days before smart phones, ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Non-fiction Tagged: book clubs, California, debut, Harper, true crime

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