“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”
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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”
TO THE MOON AND BACK – Eliana Ramage
“I wanted, more than anything, to be gone.” When I read the synopsis of Eliana Ramage’s debut, To the Moon and Back (Avid Reader Press 2025), I was immediately sold. A young woman, exploring her sexuality and identity, embarks on a three-decade long quest to become the first Native American female astronaut. (As a noteContinue reading “TO THE MOON AND BACK – Eliana Ramage”
BIG KISS, BYE-BYE – Claire-Louise Bennett
“And the days, I write the days in green, and the things I need, the things I need – I write those in green too.” As I prepare for next year’s Booker season, let me go ahead and say that Claire-Louise Bennett’s Big Kiss, Bye-Bye (Riverhead 2025) stands alone at this point in time onContinue reading “BIG KISS, BYE-BYE – Claire-Louise Bennett”
MINOR BLACK FIGURES – Brandon Taylor
I’m making an effort to read more Booker-eligible books prior to the longlist announcement – up today is Brandon Taylor’s Minor Black Figures. (Riverhead 2025) Taylor was previously shortlisted for the Booker in 2020 with Real Life. At that time, I was only reading selected works from the list, and I did not read RealContinue reading “MINOR BLACK FIGURES – Brandon Taylor”
THE SISTERS – Jonas Hassen Khemiri
Booker season may be over, but the awards season continues! I’m not doing the entire NBA longlist for fiction, but I’m hitting a bit of them. Up this week is Jonas Hassen Khemeiri’s The Sisters. (Farrar 2025) It’s fitting I read the 638-page chunker during Booker week as this family saga fits beautifully with thatContinue reading “THE SISTERS – Jonas Hassen Khemiri”
A GUARDIAN AND A THIEF – Megha Majumdar
“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”
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”
A Girl Named Tommi 