“Will you tell her?” asked the mare. “Everything?” the demon said. “Of bears and sorcerers, spells made of sapphires and a witch that lost her daughter? No, of course not. I shall tell her as little as possible. And hope that’s enough.” One of my favorite courses at UNC was one devoted to Russian fairytales;Continue reading “THE BEAR AND THE NIGHTINGALE – Katherine Arden”
Monthly Archives: December 2023
THE OGRESS AND THE ORPPHANS – Kelly Barnhill
“But it’s best you know this now, at the beginning of this book. Every story has a villain, after all. And every villain has a story.” Kelly Barnhill is an absolute gift to literature, and not just children’s lit. She’s another one of my “heart hug” authors, but her hugs come in the form ofContinue reading “THE OGRESS AND THE ORPPHANS – Kelly Barnhill”
THE BOOK WOMAN OF TROUBLESOME CREEK – Kim Michele Richardson
“How many times had the hunger pangs tempted him? Set his belly afire for the wanting? Yet, his love for words and books was stronger.” Kim Michele Richardson’s The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek (Sourcebooks 2019) is historical fiction set in the 1930s in Troublesome Creek, Kentucky – deep in the heart of Appalachia. TheContinue reading “THE BOOK WOMAN OF TROUBLESOME CREEK – Kim Michele Richardson”
ALL THE LITTLE BIRD-HEARTS – Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow
“I would not have knowingly allowed even the image of a bird into my home, however beautiful. But I lived for and loved a bird-heart that summer; I only knew it afterwards.” Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow’s All the Little Bird-Hearts (Algonquin Books 2023), my tenth read of the 2023 Booker longlist, is a peculiar and unsettling read. Continue reading “ALL THE LITTLE BIRD-HEARTS – Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow”
FOUR TREASURES OF THE SKY – Jenny Tinghui Zhang
“There is something about her that can be rewritten over and over again.” Jenny Tinghui Zhang’s Four Treasures of the Sky (Flatiron Books 2022) is a novel that I had to have when it was released, and a novel that’s sat on my physical TBR since. When curating my “ten before the end,” I pulledContinue reading “FOUR TREASURES OF THE SKY – Jenny Tinghui Zhang”
FAMILY LORE – Elizabeth Acevedo
“I knew there was no safe home in the world for the violence I felt in my body in that moment.” Clap When You Land, Elizabeth Acevedo’s young adult novel in verse, was pure magic. When Acevedo’s first adult novel, Family Lore (Ecco 2023) was published, I wondered if Acevedo would be able to sprinkleContinue reading “FAMILY LORE – Elizabeth Acevedo”
STOLEN – Ann- Helén Laestadius
“The reindeer were biekka oapmi, belonging to the wind.” Ann- Helén Laestadius’s Stolen (translated from the Swedish by Rachel Willson-Broyles, Scribner 2023 – originally published by Romanus & Selling in 2021) came to my attention in January when Fredrick Backman recommended it. I made a mental note to check it out and promptly forgot. ThisContinue reading “STOLEN – Ann- Helén Laestadius”
THE END OF WORLD IS A CUL DE SAC – Louise Kennedy
I called Louise Kennedy’s Trespasses a “weeping wound of a novel about womanhood, love, and family” in my 3/30/2023 review, and her collection of stories, The End of the World is a Cul de Sac (Riverhead 2023, expected 12/5/2023; first published in Great Britain by Bloomsbury Publishing in 2021) is a series of festering woundsContinue reading “THE END OF WORLD IS A CUL DE SAC – Louise Kennedy”
A Girl Named Tommi 