“Hope for the future was no shy bloom but a blood-maddened creature, fanged and toothed, with its own knowledge of history’s hostilities and the cages of the present.” Next up on my NBA reading list is Megha Majumdar’s A Guardian and a Thief (Knopf 2025). This slim novel packs a powerful punch, each word aContinue reading “A GUARDIAN AND A THIEF – Megha Majumdar”
Author Archives: Tommi Powell
SHADOW TICKET – Thomas Pynchon
“Cheese – wait, cheese… has feelings, you say? You mean like… emotions?” “Long-time spiritual truth in Wisconsin. Thousands of secretly devout cheezatarians…” “Secretly?” “Only waiting for our moment. We have to be careful, don’t we… wouldn’t want to go through all that Christian-and-Romans business again, would we?” I once had a shirt that read “IContinue reading “SHADOW TICKET – Thomas Pynchon”
THE TRUE TRUE STORY OF RAJA THE GULLIBLE (AND HIS MOTHER) -Rabih Alameddine
“She asked me to tell you she would break the world for you.” “I begin this story with the lie, and like a great whale leading other sea creatures in her wake, it was followed by a whole pod. I wish I can say I had doubts. I didn’t. I jonahed that whale, swam rightContinue reading “THE TRUE TRUE STORY OF RAJA THE GULLIBLE (AND HIS MOTHER) -Rabih Alameddine”
THE IRISH GOODBYE – Heather Aimee O’Neill
“In her clenched hand, the ashes felt like the remains of something destroyed.” Heather Aimee O’Neill’s debut novel, The Irish Goodbye ( Henry Holt 2025) immediately called to mind Joyce Carol Oates’s We were the Mulvaneys (which I read in the ‘90s). Both are set in NY, both deal with family tragedy and family secrets,Continue reading “THE IRISH GOODBYE – Heather Aimee O’Neill”
THE WILDERNESS – Angela Flournoy
With the Booker dozen under my belt, I decided to swing for the National Book Award . (I’d already read two, so I figured why not.) First up is Angela Flournoy’s longlisted The Wilderness (Mariner 2025). An ambitious novel, it felt at times much longer than its 290 pages. It’s weighty, with so much heartContinue reading “THE WILDERNESS – Angela Flournoy”
WILL THERE EVER BE ANOTHER YOU – Patricia Lockwood
“A warm afternoon in winter, and Shakespeare’s wife was asking to see me. She wanted to buy my brain, but how to explain that is was no longer worth anything?” Y’all may recall the 2021 Booker season and my dark horse favorite, Patricia Lockwood’s No One is Talking About This. Her follow-up was published thisContinue reading “WILL THERE EVER BE ANOTHER YOU – Patricia Lockwood”
I SEE YOU’VE CALLED IN DEAD – John Kenney
“Maybe we’re all obituary writers. And our job is to write the best story we can now.” @rolly.looks.at.books recommended John Kenney’s I See You’ve Called in Dead (Zibby Publishing 2025), and when the world’s most well-read bichon recommends something, you listen. It’s quirky, hilarious, and full of heart. I can see why it draws comparisonsContinue reading “I SEE YOU’VE CALLED IN DEAD – John Kenney”
THE LONELINESS OF SONIA AND SUNNY – Kiran Desai
THE LONELINESS OF SONIA AND SUNNY: Kiran DesaiRandom House : 23 September 2025 (US)Hamish Hamilton (Penguin): 25 September 2025 (UK)Page Count: 670 First line: The sun was still submerged in the wintry murk of dawn when Ba, Dadaji, and their daughter, Mina Foi, wrapping shawls closely about themselves, emerged upon the veranda to sip theirContinue reading “THE LONELINESS OF SONIA AND SUNNY – Kiran Desai”
AMONG THE BURNING FLOWERS – Samantha Shannon
“Hope was now a dying lamp, and hers only had a little more oil.” “I am a wine-makers’ child – I will not waste the fruits of my labour by tipping them on to the ground.” The Bone Season was my introduction to Samantha Shannon well over a decade ago. While I still love theContinue reading “AMONG THE BURNING FLOWERS – Samantha Shannon”
THE REST OF OUR LIVES – Ben Markovits
THE REST OF OUR LIVES: Ben MarkovitsSummit Books : 13 January 2026 (US)Faber & Faber : 27 March 2025 (UK) (I’m using the UK edition)Page Count: 239 First line: When our son was twelve years old, my wife had an affair with a guy called Zach Zirsky, whom she knew from synagogue. Blurbed by: Lucy CaldwellContinue reading “THE REST OF OUR LIVES – Ben Markovits”
A Girl Named Tommi 