Japan is known as having a culture that prizes social conformity and adherence to societal values. In such a country, what would it be like to be a young woman whose nature keeps her from understanding these unspoken guidelines? For Keiko Furukuro, the narrator of Convenience Store Woman, it is not difficult. For everyone around her, especially her family, it is an ongoing ... 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...
A Burning: A Novel by Megha Majumdar
Jivan is a young woman living with her parents in a slum in India. She is a sales clerk at a nice clothing store. Everyone around her is shocked then when she is arrested for the bombing of a commuter train that killed over 100 people. She is the nexus at the center of Megha Majumdar’s novel, A Burning. The novel’s other two narrators are PT Sir, a gym teacher who knew her when ... Read More...
Exciting Times by Naoise Dolan
At 22 Ava decides the best way to have a happy life is to move as far from Dublin as possible. She chooses Hong Kong where she is hired by a private elementary school to teach English grammar. She makes one friend, Julian, who is an investment banker, but what begins as friendship segues into something else. What that is is hard to define in Naoise Dolan’s subtle, but sharp ... Read More...
What I’m Reading in June
Hello, June and welcome, summer. I’m not sure what to expect here in Michigan, but so far, humidity seems to be a very real thing. Thankfully, even though I’m not going anywhere anytime soon, I have a great crop of book lined up to start my summer reading. It’s a nice blend of authors I already know and new voices. Bring on the cocktails, a comfy place to read and let's get ... Read More...
Little Family by Ishmael Beah
In an abandoned field hidden by a maze of thickets, trees, and shrubs is a downed airplane. When it crashed is unknown, but in this unnamed African country it has become home for four young people and one little girl. In Little Family they use stealth, determination, and their wits to survive in a world that either views them with suspicion or has forgotten them entirely. At ... Read More...
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