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The Last Story of Mina Lee

September 11, 2020

mina

Even though her mother is the only family she has, Margot Lee has never felt close to Mina. Margot left L.A. for Seattle for college and never moved back. She would dutifully call regularly, but visited seldom. Now, she’s arrived in Koreatown for a surprise visit, only to find Mina dead. The Last Story of Mina Lee by Nancy Jooyoun Kim is not a mystery thriller, but a poignant ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, cultural, debut, literary

His Only Wife: A Novel

September 7, 2020

his

In a small town in Ghana, Afi Tekple lives in a house with her widowed mother. It’s in a compound owned by her avaricious uncle and his many wives and their children. Afi did not go to university, but she loves to sew and has been studying and working as a seamstress. But is this barely-getting-by life all there is for her? It seems so, until her mother presents her with an ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: Africa, book clubs, contemporary life, cultural, debut

Summer Fun Reading

July 8, 2020

summer

We’re in the midst of a hot summer week here in Michigan so in my head I’m lounging in the middle of this flamingo floatie. Given the heat (and humidity!) I’m going to keep it light and cool today with two novels that check all the boxes for summer fun reading. Both involve big weddings, travel, extravagance, complicated families, and love. At the same time, both have ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: chick lit, cultural, mini-reviews

What’s Left of Me is Yours

June 29, 2020

left of me

Sumiko’s mother, Rina, died in a car accident when she was a child. Her parents were divorced, her father not a part of her life, so she went to live with her beloved grandfather. Now, twenty years later, as What’s Left of Me is Yours opens, she receives a call about a man from her mother’s past. This call unleashes the flood that overtakes her life, sweeping away her memories ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, cultural, debut, Japan, literary

What I’m Reading This Week

June 22, 2020

reading

  For the first time in a very long time, I have nothing bookish to share. Oh, I’ll get to what I’m reading this week, but my reading last week was so uninspiring it left me without a book to review today. Quite honestly, I feel drained. My ability to enjoy reading faltered in the early days of the lockdown as the COVID numbers rose across the country. Then the economy ... Read More...

6 Comments
Filed Under: Feature, Reading Tagged: chick lit, cultural, lists, memoir

A Burning: A Novel by Megha Majumdar

June 15, 2020

burning

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...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, contemporary life, cultural, debut, India, literary

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