“Don’t worry, it can’t hurt them. It’s only a memory.” The discourse around R.F. Kuang’s Katabasis (HarperCollins 2025) has been absolutely ridiculous; the book community is certainly not immune to the toxic nature bred and natured by online communities. So, I’ll begin with this – if you didn’t like this novel, it doesn’t mean you’reContinue reading “KATABASIS – R.F. Kuang”
Author Archives: Tommi Powell
SUNRISE ON THE REAPING – Suzanne Collins
I can’t read when I’m sick, and the first of year brought that wicked creeping crud along with it. And that’s where Libby comes in – during my feverish state, I listened to Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins, narrated by Jefferson White. Now it’s been a hot minute since I’ve been in theContinue reading “SUNRISE ON THE REAPING – Suzanne Collins”
THE THIRD LOVE – Hiromi Kawakami
“Long ago. Saying those words puts me in a strong mood. Long ago – what does that mean? I’m not all that young, but I’m not that old either.” I’ve been meaning to read more works in translations outside of my read the world challenge, and Hiromi Kawakami’s The Third Love (translated from the JapaneseContinue reading “THE THIRD LOVE – Hiromi Kawakami”
JAX FREEMAN AND THE PHANTOM SHRIEK – Kwame Mbalia
“It’s been seven hours and nineteen minutes since I, Jackson Freeman, turned twelve, moved across the country into a house of doom, and abandoned everything I ever knew and loved, only to be accused of tomfoolery. Me! Tomfoolery!” I do love a well-done middle grade novel, and I adore Kwame Mbalia. (You may recall howContinue reading “JAX FREEMAN AND THE PHANTOM SHRIEK – Kwame Mbalia”
THE SILVER BOOK – Olivia Laing
“It’s not a story you can kiss better, but he kisses him all the same, wrapping both arms around his slender waist.” I’ve mentioned before that my ten before the end was derailed by library holds – the most recent was Olivia Laing’s The Silver Book ( Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2025). The slender volume hasContinue reading “THE SILVER BOOK – Olivia Laing”
PALAVER – Bryan Washington
My ten before the end got hijacked by library holds, so who knows what the last few days of 2025 will bring reading wise. I just finished another National Book Award finalist – Bryan Washington’s Palaver (Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2025). This is my first Washington; Memorial has been on my “to be put onContinue reading “PALAVER – Bryan Washington”
THE ELEVENTH HOUR – Salman Rushdie
“If old age was thought of as an evening, ending in midnight oblivion, they were well within the eleventh hour.” That quote from the first story in Salman Rushdie’s new collection, The Eleventh Hour: A Quintet of Stories (Random House 2025), pretty much sums up the work as a whole; in these five stories, fallingContinue reading “THE ELEVENTH HOUR – Salman Rushdie”
THE TRAVELERS – Regina Porter
“So, I followed her cue and became Guildenstern. I didn’t need to look at the lines to play the part. None of us did, except maybe Mom, who never learned the words ‘cause someone in the family had to be a spectator in the madness.” It’s fitting that I picked up Regina Porter’s The TravelersContinue reading “THE TRAVELERS – Regina Porter”
DAYS COME & GO – Hemley Boum
I took a “traveling” break for Booker season, but we’re back to “Tommi Reads the World” – we’re still in the C’s!!! Country: CameroonTitle: Days Come & GoAuthor: Hemley BoumLanguage: FrenchTranslator: Nchanji NjamnsiPublisher: Agence littéraire Astier-Pécher (2020), Two Lines Press (2022) I was a bit bummed when my copy of Hemley Boum’s Days Come & GoContinue reading “DAYS COME & GO – Hemley Boum”
MIGRATIONS – Charlotte McConaghy
“Sometimes I dream of them waiting in that tree for a girl who would never come, bringing gift after precious gift to lie unloved in the grass.” Migrations (Flatiron Books 2020) was Charlotte McConaghy’s US debut, and it’s been on my shelf for years. I read Once There Were Wolves and Wild Dark Shore beforeContinue reading “MIGRATIONS – Charlotte McConaghy”
A Girl Named Tommi 