Goodbye summer! What an odd one it was—mostly chilly, but dry with only three days got that anywhere near hot. The worst of it was in with the fires in the Columbia Gorge when, even though we live up in Seattle, we had ash settling on our deck, trapping the heat and smoke for almost a week of hot, sticky, smelly weather. My reading was odd as well—four DNFs in June and mostly ... Read More...
The Golden House by Salman Rushdie
I’m a fan of detail in my fiction. I love it whether it’s literary (Donna Tartt) or historical (Alison Weir, Ken Follett), but when it isn’t specific to the story and is in fact an extrapolation of some minor concept, it can be exhausting. This means I left Salman Rushdie’s The Golden House feeling that the book was 800 pages long when it was actually only 380. Why? ... Read More...
Sing, Unburied, Sing
JoJo lives in Bois, a small town in rural Mississippi, with his Pop and Mam—his mother’s parents, and his little sister, Kayla. His mother, Leonie, is a sometime visitor, but drugs and other past-times mean she’s not around much. His father, Michael? He’s in Parchman prison. And he’s white, which means JoJo has a whole other family that wants nothing to do with him or ... Read More...
Little Fires Everywhere
In her outstanding debut novel, Everything I Never Told You, Celeste Ng delicately exposed the family tragedy that can result from unrealistic expectations and the insecurity of trying to fit into a new culture. In her newest novel, Little Fires Everywhere, the Richardson family has no such problem. They are picture postcard perfection, happily sailing through their ... Read More...
The Resurrection of Joan Ashby
When Joan Ashby is in her early twenties she is acclaimed as a writer to watch. Her short stories win awards, she is interviewed and profiled, and all await her first novel. She knows this is her one true gift and so even when she marries Martin, a man she loves deeply, it is with the agreement that there will be no children. Which is fine until Joan is pregnant. ... Read More...
Emma in the Night
Apparently, I’ve moved from dystopian novels this summer to thrillers. On Monday I reviewed See What I Have Done a novel about Lizzie Borden, which I found fascinating more for its bizarre family dynamics than the actual murders. Now I’m back with Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker, a contemporary novel with a family that makes the Bordens look like the Brady Bunch. ... Read More...
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