My third read of the 2022 Booker Prize longlist was Karen Joy Fowler’s Booth (Putnam 2022). While Fowler is no stranger to the Booker Prize (she was shortlisted in 2014), this is my first novel by her. While reviews are relatively mixed, I found it a fascinating, well researched and executed historical saga about theContinue reading “BOOTH – Karen Joy Fowler”
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THE COLONY – Audrey Magee
My second read of the 2022 Booker Prize longlist was Audrey Magee’s The Colony (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022). While it clearly drips with Booker-type, it didn’t work for me because of an intense hatred or general indifference for the characters (excluding James and his mother). During the summer of 1979, while Ireland is rockedContinue reading “THE COLONY – Audrey Magee”
TRUST – Hernan Diaz
The Booker Prize longlist was announced last Tuesday, which means my Booker countdown has officially started. I began the baker’s dozen of books with Hernan Diaz’s Trust (Riverhead Books, 2022), a cocky and bold literary experience about truth and memory, trust and fiction. The novel is told in four separate parts by four separate fictionalContinue reading “TRUST – Hernan Diaz”
INFINITE COUNTRY – Patricia Engel
Patricia Engel’s Infinite Country (Avid Read Press, 2021) is a brief but bittersweet snapshot into the lives of a mixed-status Columbian family divided by borders. While the novel is well-written and a very important read, it was a disappointing display of missed opportunities for this reader. As some of you know, I was an immigrationContinue reading “INFINITE COUNTRY – Patricia Engel”
MIDNIGHT AT THE BLACKBIRD CAFE – Heather Webber
Heather Webber’s Midnight at the Blackbird Café (Tor-Forge 2019) is Southern magical realism novel of family and second chances that is as sweet as tea should be. If you liked The Book Charmer (Karen Hawkins, Dove Pond series), you’ll love this. It’s that same type of candy read, set in a sleepy Southern town withContinue reading “MIDNIGHT AT THE BLACKBIRD CAFE – Heather Webber”
THE LOST QUEEN – Signe Pike
Signe Pike’s The Lost Queen (Touchstone 2018) is the first in a trilogy following Languoreth, twin of the man who’d inspire the legends of Merlin and forgotten queen of sixth-century Scotland. The first of series opens when she is 10, just after the death of her mother and ends when she’s 32 and standing deadContinue reading “THE LOST QUEEN – Signe Pike”
JUST FOR YOU – Jennifer Ann Shore
Jennifer Ann Shore writes some of my favorite candy books. With a comforting and familiar writing style and characters that ring both real and unique, her YA works are quick, delicious reads. Her latest, Just For You (Indie published, 2022) is no exception, and it proved the perfect read for a stormy summer night. VioletContinue reading “JUST FOR YOU – Jennifer Ann Shore”
WAHALA – Nikki May
Nikki May’s Wahala (HarperCollins 2022) is Sex in the City meets Working Moms meets a psychological thriller. The novel, set in England, revolves around a group of three Anglo-Nigerian friends whose worlds are shattered when a fourth joins. It’s vibrant, colorful, and enough to make you hungry. (There are even recipes at the end. IContinue reading “WAHALA – Nikki May”
CROOKED HEART – Lissa Evans
Lissa Evans’s dark comedy Crooked Heart (2015 HarperCollins) made me think of Helen DeWitt’s The Last Samurai, a 2000 novel that doesn’t get nearly the hype it should. While Evans’s novel is considerably shorter, there are striking similarities in the dark humor and in their young protagonists. Ten-year old Noel Bostock is being raised byContinue reading “CROOKED HEART – Lissa Evans”
BIG LIES IN A SMALL TOWN – Diane Chamberlain
Diane Chamberlain’s Big Lies in a Small Town (St. Martin’s 2020) is fantastic, page-turning thriller of a candy book. Chamberlain is a North Carolina author, and the novel is set in sleepy Edenton, which is not far from where I grew up. One of the characters is even from Cary, which is where I currentlyContinue reading “BIG LIES IN A SMALL TOWN – Diane Chamberlain”
A Girl Named Tommi 