Next installment of Tommi Reads the World – we’re in the Bs. Country: BelizeTitle: Beka LambAuthor: Zee EdgellLanguage: EnglishTranslator: NonePublisher: Heinemann Educational Books (1982) While published just after Belize’s independence, Zee Edgell’s Beka Lamb is set in the 1950s. The novel covers mere months in the life of a 14-year-old girl living in a country fightingContinue reading “BEKA LAMB – Zee Edgell”
Tag Archives: book review
YOU DREAMED OF EMPIRES – Álvaro Enrigue
Álvaro Enrigue’s You Dreamed of Empires (translated by Natasha Wimmer – pub date 1/9/2024, Riverhead Books (thanks for the gifted advanced copy!)) is a fever dream of a reimagined meeting between Hernán Cortés and Moctezuma in 1519. Edgar Allen Poe once wrote “all that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream,”Continue reading “YOU DREAMED OF EMPIRES – Álvaro Enrigue”
QUIXOTIQ – Ali Al Saeed
Next installment of Tommi Reads the World – ringing in 2024 with the Bs. Country: BahrainTitle: QuixotiQAuthor: Ali Al SaeedLanguage: EnglishTranslator: NonePublisher: iUniverse Inc. (2004) Finding a novel in English from Bahrain was extremely difficult, and QuixotiQ was one of very few options. Had this not been part of my reading challenge, I’d have DNF’d justContinue reading “QUIXOTIQ – Ali Al Saeed”
THE BULLET SWALLOWER – Elizabeth Gonzalez James
“I think a person knows when their parents are gone for good, when the people that brought them into existence have gone out. I think the air gets heavier or the light changes, something like that. I haven’t seen the sun get dimmer yet.” One of my highly anticipated 2024 releases was an early releaseContinue reading “THE BULLET SWALLOWER – Elizabeth Gonzalez James”
THE BEAR AND THE NIGHTINGALE – Katherine Arden
“Will you tell her?” asked the mare. “Everything?” the demon said. “Of bears and sorcerers, spells made of sapphires and a witch that lost her daughter? No, of course not. I shall tell her as little as possible. And hope that’s enough.” One of my favorite courses at UNC was one devoted to Russian fairytales;Continue reading “THE BEAR AND THE NIGHTINGALE – Katherine Arden”
THE OGRESS AND THE ORPPHANS – Kelly Barnhill
“But it’s best you know this now, at the beginning of this book. Every story has a villain, after all. And every villain has a story.” Kelly Barnhill is an absolute gift to literature, and not just children’s lit. She’s another one of my “heart hug” authors, but her hugs come in the form ofContinue reading “THE OGRESS AND THE ORPPHANS – Kelly Barnhill”
THE BOOK WOMAN OF TROUBLESOME CREEK – Kim Michele Richardson
“How many times had the hunger pangs tempted him? Set his belly afire for the wanting? Yet, his love for words and books was stronger.” Kim Michele Richardson’s The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek (Sourcebooks 2019) is historical fiction set in the 1930s in Troublesome Creek, Kentucky – deep in the heart of Appalachia. TheContinue reading “THE BOOK WOMAN OF TROUBLESOME CREEK – Kim Michele Richardson”
ALL THE LITTLE BIRD-HEARTS – Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow
“I would not have knowingly allowed even the image of a bird into my home, however beautiful. But I lived for and loved a bird-heart that summer; I only knew it afterwards.” Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow’s All the Little Bird-Hearts (Algonquin Books 2023), my tenth read of the 2023 Booker longlist, is a peculiar and unsettling read. Continue reading “ALL THE LITTLE BIRD-HEARTS – Viktoria Lloyd-Barlow”
FOUR TREASURES OF THE SKY – Jenny Tinghui Zhang
“There is something about her that can be rewritten over and over again.” Jenny Tinghui Zhang’s Four Treasures of the Sky (Flatiron Books 2022) is a novel that I had to have when it was released, and a novel that’s sat on my physical TBR since. When curating my “ten before the end,” I pulledContinue reading “FOUR TREASURES OF THE SKY – Jenny Tinghui Zhang”
FAMILY LORE – Elizabeth Acevedo
“I knew there was no safe home in the world for the violence I felt in my body in that moment.” Clap When You Land, Elizabeth Acevedo’s young adult novel in verse, was pure magic. When Acevedo’s first adult novel, Family Lore (Ecco 2023) was published, I wondered if Acevedo would be able to sprinkleContinue reading “FAMILY LORE – Elizabeth Acevedo”
A Girl Named Tommi 