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May Reading Recap

May 31, 2022

May

Wait a minute—is May over? I’m pretty sure I was cheated out of a week. Or maybe it’s just that the bad news is coming at a faster pace, whether it’s the increasing attack on women’s rights or the unrelenting uptick in gun violence. I veer between apathy and a rage that wants to know: why doesn’t the government apply the same attention and rigor to young men buying guns as they ... Read More...

6 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Feature Tagged: book clubs, debut, food, historical fiction, memoir, mini-reviews, racism, true crime

An Unlasting Home

May 23, 2022

unlasting

When Sara’s mother was 8 months pregnant, she lied to the airlines and flew from Missouri back to Kuwait, determined that her daughter be born in the country of her ancestors. This is just the first of many miles and countries crossed by the indomitable women in Mai Al-Nakib’s sweeping novel, An Unlasting Home. A fitting title for a book populated by women whose lives span ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, debut, family saga, Middle East, women

Lessons in Chemistry

April 20, 2022

lessons in chemistry

It's the 1960s and you’re a brilliant chemist exploring one of the most elusive topics in chemistry—the chemical reaction that led to life. You should be at the forefront of the scientific community. Instead, you’re grappling with your thesis advisor as he tries to rape you and later being called “luscious” by the director of a chemical laboratory where you work. This is ... Read More...

10 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: debut, historical fiction, humor, women

Cover Story: A Novel

April 18, 2022

cover story

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 at Elle magazine. Once there the entire trajectory of her ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, contemporary fiction, debut, Manhattan, new adult

Memphis: A Novel by Tara Stringfellow

April 11, 2022

memphis

Memphis is both the title and location of Tara Stringfellow’s stirring debut novel. Three generations of women pass through the family’s home and tumultuous times in a city where racism and violence flourish. Hazel, August, Miriam, and Joan share lives that spill over with trauma, love, and resilience in this novel about the abiding strength in love and family. It's 1995 and ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, cultural, debut, Southern life

The Honeybee Emeralds

April 8, 2022

honeybee

The Honeybee Emeralds is about a young woman working at a Parisian magazine who discovers a gorgeous necklace in the pocket of an old coat. Is it real? Who did it belong to? The hunt is on in this fun, light novel. The magazine Alice interns at is failing fast, as evidenced by the fact that the heat has been off in the building for weeks. She and a surly neighbor are ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: debut, historical fiction, Paris

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