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Goodbye, Vitamin: A Novel

July 10, 2017

goodbye

  Rachel Khong's debut novel, Goodbye, Vitamin begins with a young woman named Ruth making the trip home for the holidays and her mother asking her if she could stay for a while longer because of her father. Because her father, a well-regarded history professor has begun forgetting things, to the point of being asked to take a leave from his job. And it turns out that by ... Read More...

9 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, contemporary life, family, Henry Holt and Company, humor, literary

The Arrangement: A Novel by Sarah Dunn

March 29, 2017

arrangement

  How to describe Sarah Dunn’s new novel The Arrangement? All that is in my head is the Seinfeld episode where Jerry and Elaine decide to break the standards of friends and become friends-with-benefits. They are oh-so-careful with rules and boundaries and are certain they have cracked the code for getting to have sex without becoming involved. Dunn goes one step further ... Read More...

9 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, humor, Little Brown and Company, marriage, midlife, New York City

Bellweather Rhapsody

January 16, 2017

bellweather

  Remember the movie The Shining? If so, forget what you thought about it in relation to Stephen King’s book and just recall its many amazing visuals. Now, turn it into a campy musical, turn it back into a novel and you have Kate Racculia’s Bellweather Rhapsody. Set in the Catskills in early November with a grand old hotel about to be the scene, once again, for a huge ... Read More...

15 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, humor, mystery, teen years

Small Admissions: A Novel

January 3, 2017

small admissions

  Small Admissions is an example of a book whose writing goes the same way as its plot. Confused? I know, it’s weird, but what I mean is that it’s the story of a young woman named Kate whose life goes off the rails when she is unceremoniously dumped by a boyfriend. She basically checks out of life in the most stereotypical ways possible, lingering in an almost catatonic ... Read More...

10 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: Atria Books, coming-of-age, family, humor, Manhattan

It’s Not You, It’s Me: Today Will Be Different

October 12, 2016

it's not you

  If Herman Koch is the master at writing all the unpleasant things we might think about our fellow man, then Maria Semple is the heart behind the tough things we think about ourselves. In her newest novel, Today Will Be Different, that angst is directed at not being nice enough and not being present in life. Every day. All day. It’s a tall order, but one Eleanor Flood is ... Read More...

18 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Feature, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, humor, Little Brown and Company, Pacific Northwest, Seattle

How to Party with an Infant

August 17, 2016

how to party

  At twenty-eight Mele Bart finds herself as a single mother, because after giving birth to daughter Ellie her boyfriend Bobby tells her he was "kind of engaged" to someone else.  What?! Not one to wallow and with a infant to care for, Mele moves on. In an effort to have some kind of life outside her apartment she tries to find support in one of the neighborhood groups of ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, family, humor, San Francisco, Simon & Schuster

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