On The Come Up and The Poet X: a Double Review
These books share a lot of similarities and both were fantastic, so I’m reviewing them together. Both are about teenagers dealing with racial identity, religion, friendship,…
Review: The Farm by Joanne Ramos
I really liked this slow-burner of a novel about a program for the wealthy who want surrogate parents. Ramos creates what I found to be a…
Review: Normal People by Sally Rooney
I loved the way this book begins, because I identified very much with Marianne, one of its two narrators. Marianne and Connell are two teens in…
Review: Trust Exercise by Susan Choi
I had to force myself to finish this book, and that’s never a good thing. At times this book was nicely written and I found myself…
Review: Ghostwritten by David Mitchell
I love David Mitchell – I love how every book by him is more of an experience than just a read. This book felt like a…
Review: A Place for Us by Fatima Farheen Mirza
This is my favorite book of the year so far. It was everything I like in a book – really character-driven, about complex family relationships. It’s…
Review: Bellflower by Mary Vensel White
In 2012, author Mary Vensel White sent me her book The Qualities of Wood, a small town mystery about a compelling main character and a complicated…
Review: There There by Tommy Orange
There’s a lot to recommend about Tommy Orange’s There There, and I can see why it was nominated for so many awards. It’s the story of…
Review: The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker
I requested this book on NetGalley, mainly because it had an endorsement from the author of Station Eleven, and because the premise of a virus that…
Mini-Reviews: Lethal White, In the Distance, I Am I Am I am, We Were the Lucky Ones
I didn’t have a chance to review any of the books I read in December because I was traveling, so I’m posting some mini-reviews of the…
Review: Those Who Knew by Idra Novey
Those Who Knew is a novel about a senator with a violent past in a small unnamed island country. It’s about about the intersections of politics,…
Review: Tiny Shoes Dancing and Other Stories by Audrey Kalman
This book of short stories by Audrey Kalman really resonated with me. The stories are different but deal with common issues, most related to marriage and…
