“The reindeer were biekka oapmi, belonging to the wind.” Ann- Helén Laestadius’s Stolen (translated from the Swedish by Rachel Willson-Broyles, Scribner 2023 – originally published by Romanus & Selling in 2021) came to my attention in January when Fredrick Backman recommended it. I made a mental note to check it out and promptly forgot. ThisContinue reading “STOLEN – Ann- Helén Laestadius”
Tag Archives: book review
THE END OF WORLD IS A CUL DE SAC – Louise Kennedy
I called Louise Kennedy’s Trespasses a “weeping wound of a novel about womanhood, love, and family” in my 3/30/2023 review, and her collection of stories, The End of the World is a Cul de Sac (Riverhead 2023, expected 12/5/2023; first published in Great Britain by Bloomsbury Publishing in 2021) is a series of festering woundsContinue reading “THE END OF WORLD IS A CUL DE SAC – Louise Kennedy”
HOW TO SAY BABYLON – Safiya Sinclair
“With echoes of Educated” is not a selling point for me; I, in a very unpopular opinion, found that book overhyped with a narrator I neither trusted nor liked. Other than some fuzzy timelines and a focus on the power of learning, I’m pleased to say Safiya Sinclair’s How to Say Babylon (Simon & SchusterContinue reading “HOW TO SAY BABYLON – Safiya Sinclair”
SILVER ALERT – Lee Smith
After I finished Backman’s novella, I still had several hours left of travel. Enter Lee Smith’s Silver Alert (Algonquin 2023), which I downloaded on Libby. A North Carolina resident, Smith’s writing vibrates and roars with the Southern gothic and grotesque – the voices her writing bring to life echo Flannery O’Connor and William Faulkner, loudContinue reading “SILVER ALERT – Lee Smith”
AND EVERY MORNING THE WAY HOME GETS LONGER AND LONGER – Fredrik Backman
Fredrik Backman is a hearthug of an author, someone I can expect to break my heart while still wrapping me in a hug. I was looking for an audio book to read while travelling for Thanksgiving, and when I saw Backman’s And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer (Simon & Schuster 2016),Continue reading “AND EVERY MORNING THE WAY HOME GETS LONGER AND LONGER – Fredrik Backman”
THE LONG GAME – Elena Armas
Small North Carolina town. Girls little league soccer team. Goats. Cute cover. Slow burn of an “enemies to lovers” between two out of towners tasked with saving the soccer team. I thought The Long Game by Elena Armas (Atria 2023) would be the perfect candy book. If you’ve been here any amount of time, youContinue reading “THE LONG GAME – Elena Armas”
HOW TO BUILD A BOAT – Elaine Feeney
“Cross imaginary boundaries, let go throw paint, sing cut a tree and empty it out, plant again find something hard but delicate, watch spaces for tension, be near it, but not in it, think. Design, redesign, build from what you have, you have so much already.” My thoughts on this year’s Booker longlist aren’t reallyContinue reading “HOW TO BUILD A BOAT – Elaine Feeney”
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”
THE HOUSE OF DOORS – Tan Twan Eng
“Where does a story begin, Willie?” I asked. For a while he did not say anything. Then he shifted in his chair. “Where does a wave on the ocean begin?” he said. “Where does it form a welt on the skin of the sea, to swell and expand and rush towards shore?” “I want to tell youContinue reading “THE HOUSE OF DOORS – Tan Twan Eng”
A Girl Named Tommi 