contemporary fiction Archives - The Gilmore Guide to Books

Chrysalis: A Novel

Catherine — Thu, 13 Apr 2023 07:47:16 +0000

Ready to switch reading gears? On Tuesday I reviewed Saturday Night at the Lakeside Supper Club, a novel that was all heart and humor. Today I’m back with Chrysalis which was neither, but is a unique little novel that held my interest. It’s split into three parts, despite there being four characters. Author Anna Metcalfe […]

The post Chrysalis: A Novel appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

March Reading Recap

Catherine — Fri, 31 Mar 2023 07:10:11 +0000

March has been a month of extremes. There was no middle ground to my reading. I had six books four stars and higher, but I also had four books I didn’t finish. This could be due, in part, to the fact that I overcommitted on books to read for March. Where I might normally push […]

The post March Reading Recap appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta

Catherine — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 08:18:39 +0000

Carlotta has had a time of it. She was sent to prison for 23 years because she was holding a gun nearby when someone was murdered. Worse, when she got there, she was a young man who knew he was meant to be a woman. Something the state had no interest in hearing and something […]

The post Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

Sirens & Muses: A Novel

Catherine — Wed, 07 Sep 2022 04:38:57 +0000

The bucolic landscape surrounding Wrynn College of Art a private, elite school in New England disguises an atmosphere of intensity in Antonia Angress’ novel, Sirens & Muses. Louisa and Karina are sophomores and roommates, but that’s where their surface commonality ends. Louisa is from New Orleans and can only afford school through loans and part-time […]

The post Sirens & Muses: A Novel appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

Cover Story: A Novel

Catherine — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 04:44:56 +0000

It’s a happy Monday—I’ve got an easy 5-star, fun, tear-through novel that I literally started and finished in one day because I couldn’t stop reading. Cover Story, based on the Anna Sorokin scandal, is just that good. In it, a young writer, Lora, finds herself flunking out of NYU just before getting a summer internship […]

The post Cover Story: A Novel appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

Fight Night: A Novel by Miriam Toews

Catherine — Mon, 04 Oct 2021 04:12:33 +0000

Sometimes when we fight…sometimes we’re not fighting in quite the right way…we need to adjust our game. But still, the main thing is that we’re fighting…your mom’s a fighter. We’re all fighters. Swiv comes from a family of fighters. At nine she’s suspended from school because King of the Castle is not a recess game […]

The post Fight Night: A Novel by Miriam Toews appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

Parakeet: A Novel

Catherine — Fri, 12 Jun 2020 04:52:36 +0000

It’s the week before her wedding when the Bride sees her grandmother. Not unusual except her grandmother has been dead for over ten years and what she sees is a parakeet who talks to her. Grandma parakeet is worried about the impending wedding, but more importantly she wants the Bride to find her older brother, […]

The post Parakeet: A Novel appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

Weather: A Novel by Jenny Offill

Catherine — Thu, 13 Feb 2020 05:34:55 +0000

Lizzie has a good life. She’s an academic librarian with a loving husband and a young son. Her mother, although more religiously inclined than Lizzie will ever be, is in good health. Her brother has kicked his pill addiction, found a girlfriend and a job. Into this relative quiet comes an old mentor of Lizzie’s […]

The post Weather: A Novel by Jenny Offill appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

Midwinter Doldrums: Mini-Reviews

Catherine — Fri, 07 Feb 2020 05:44:48 +0000

On Wednesday we officially hit the midwinter mark. Hurray! I’m halfway through my first Midwestern winter and it’s not so bad. Of course, by saying that I’m just asking for trouble. Unfortunately, while the weather has been cooperating, my reading has not. I’ve finished a number of books I discussed on my episode of Sarah’s […]

The post Midwinter Doldrums: Mini-Reviews appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

The Mere Wife: A novel

Catherine — Fri, 02 Aug 2019 07:37:43 +0000

Just out in paperback, this was a novel I loved and thought deserved a lot more attention. Maybe every monster is a miracle meant to change the world… Author Maria Headley dives into a modern-day retelling of Beowolf beginning with its title, The Mere Wife. This is no novel about a slight wife, a minor […]

The post The Mere Wife: A novel appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.