“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”
Tag Archives: Alfred A. Knopf
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”
TRUE HISTORY OF THE KELLY GANG – Peter Carey
Next installment of Tommi Reads the World – still in the As. Country: AustraliaTitle: True History of the Kelly GangAuthor: Peter CareyLanguage: EnglishTranslator: N/APublisher: Alred A. Knopf (2001) “Wait to see what more there is to hear my daughter for in the end we poor uneducated people will all be made noble in the fire.” PeterContinue reading “TRUE HISTORY OF THE KELLY GANG – Peter Carey”
NIGHT WATCH- Jayne Anne Phillips
“Her mother had named her the name he’d taken – her given name a version of her surname. She was a hint, a riddle, a remembrance.” Longlisted for the 2023 National Book Awards, Jayne Anne Phillips’s Night Watch (Knopf 2023) is a powerful historical novel that echoes with Faulkner but with a feminine energy thatContinue reading “NIGHT WATCH- Jayne Anne Phillips”
A SPELL OF GOOD THINGS – Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀
Booker season continues with Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ ’s A Spell of Good Things (Knopf 2023). The novel is Wole Soyinka (without the bitter wit) meets The Girl with the Louding Voice – full of political corruption, a hunger for both food and education, and a sharp division between classes while still showing, quite literally, that we allContinue reading “A SPELL OF GOOD THINGS – Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ “
A DANGEROUS BUSINESS – Jane Smiley
Jane Smiley’s A Dangerous Business (Knopf 2022) was published in December of last year, but I just got around to reading the uncorrected proof the publisher sent. I know Smiley is a phenomenal writer – Horse Heaven and A Thousand Acres are two powerful novels that highlight that talent – but A Dangerous Business wasContinue reading “A DANGEROUS BUSINESS – Jane Smiley”
THE RACHEL INCIDENT – Caroline O’Donoghue
“The smell of pastry, the chocolate melting on my tongue, the bitter black coffee. I needed to remind myself of my anger, so I didn’t inadvertently mix up good snacks with a good man.” Set primarily in 2009-2010, Caroline O’Donoghue’s The Rachel Incident (Knopf expected 27 June 2023) is a slice of life work that’sContinue reading “THE RACHEL INCIDENT – Caroline O’Donoghue”
BETTY – Tiffany McDaniel
“Then I buried the story alive, making sure it was deep enough, a wolf wouldn’t smell blood on it and dig it up.” I don’t really know what to say about this book, and I keep oscillating between a poor rating and a middle range rating. Part of the flipflopping is because I know thisContinue reading “BETTY – Tiffany McDaniel”
A Girl Named Tommi 