“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”
Tag Archives: Alfred A. Knopf
THE GIRLS WHO GREW BIG – Leila Mottley
“Momma raised me right till she refused to raise me at all.” “They wanted us to be anything but what we were.” “’Cause hundreds of years ago, some pirate ship sunk and spilled treasures all over the bottom of our sea and now the water shines emerald green for us and if that don’t makeContinue reading “THE GIRLS WHO GREW BIG – Leila Mottley”
JAMAICA ROAD – Lisa Smith
“I’ve missed you too. I’ve been missing you for ages.” Lisa Smith’s Jamaica Road (Knopf 2025) is a heartbreaking debut of a love story that is very much time and place. Set primarily in South London, Jamaica Road opens in 1981 with a young Daphne. Daphne is the only Black girl in her class, andContinue reading “JAMAICA ROAD – Lisa Smith”
THE ANTIDOTE – Karen Russell
“A person can lose everything in an instant. A fortune, a family, the sun. I’ve had to learn this lesson twice in my life.” “The coroner gave me the only picture that I have of Mama, a print of her body in the ditch.” “I guess, the way I see it, you could tell theContinue reading “THE ANTIDOTE – Karen Russell”
THE UNBROKEN COAST – Nalini Jones
Nalini Jones’s debut novel, The Unbroken Coast (Knopf – expected 8/12/2025), is a story of intertwined lives, found families, regrets, and triumphs. Set in and around a Mumbai fishing village, the novel follows a prominent retired professor who is struggling with his memories, and a young Koli girl from the fishing village whose family isContinue reading “THE UNBROKEN COAST – Nalini Jones”
THE PRETENDER – Jo Harkin
“Lambert isn’t sure if he’d remember to answer to the name Lambert, but he does, every time. What kind of soul does he have, that can tip itself out of a John Collan cup into a Lambert Simons cup, without spilling a drop.” In 1487, Lambert Simnel, a boy raised in obscurity and believed toContinue reading “THE PRETENDER – Jo Harkin”
REAL AMERICANS – Rachel Khong
“Every book I’d read led me further away from her, from the life we once shared.” Rachel Khong’s Real Americans (Knopf 2024) is a beautiful but frustrating novel, frustrating because of the missing parts. Divided into three sections, into three generations, the novel halts every time it starts to dig into the meat of theContinue reading “REAL AMERICANS – Rachel Khong”
SOMEONE LIKE US – Dinaw Mengestus
“You look for ruin. And if you can’t find it, you make it.” My top read of the year came as a surprise right at the tail end of December. I was gifted Dinaw Mengestu’s Someone Like Us (Knopf 2024) by the publisher earlier this year. With life in the way, I didn’t get aroundContinue reading “SOMEONE LIKE US – Dinaw Mengestus”
WANDERING STARS – Tommy Orange
“I wasn’t trying to be funny. I could have done it if you hadn’t come. We’ve just been the feather. We used to be the whole bird. We used to believe and we were the whole bird.” Next up on my Booker journey is Tommy Orange’s Wandering Stars (Knopf 2024). Wandering Stars is a bookendContinue reading “WANDERING STARS – Tommy Orange”
STUDY FOR OBEDIENCE – Sarah Bernstein
“November brought the trouble.” In continuing with the rather lackluster 2023 Booker Prize longlist, I read Sarah Bernstein’s Study for Obedience (Knopf 2023). The novel was shortlisted for the prize, and the winner will be announced in a few weeks. (I’m still rooting for Western Lane.) While Berstein’s slim offering is well-written and interesting, itContinue reading “STUDY FOR OBEDIENCE – Sarah Bernstein”
A Girl Named Tommi 