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”
Tag Archives: book review
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”
THE SANDCASTLE GIRLS – Chris Bohjalian
Next installment of Tommi Reads the World – still in the As. Country: ArmeniaTitle: The Sandcastle GirlsAuthor: Chris BohjalianLanguage: EnglishTranslator: N/APublisher: Doubleday (2012), First Vintage Contemporaries Edition (2013) “But history does matter. There is a line connecting the Armenians and the Jews and the Cambodians and the Bosnians and the Rwandans. There are obviously more, but,Continue reading “THE SANDCASTLE GIRLS – Chris Bohjalian”
THE PIANO TEACHER – Elfriede Jelinek
Next installment of Tommi Reads the World – still in the As. Country: AustriaTitle: The Piano TeacherAuthor: Elfriede JelinekLanguage: GermanTranslator: Joachim NeugroschelPublisher: Rowholt Verlag GmbH (1983), English translation by Weidenfeld & Nicolson (1988) What on earth did I just read? The Piano Teacher is one of the more disturbing novels I’ve cracked the spine of. TheContinue reading “THE PIANO TEACHER – Elfriede Jelinek”
TONIGHT, I BURN – Katherine J. Adams
Katharine J. Adams’s debut novel, Tonight, I Burn, (Orbit – expected 7 Nov 2023) echoes with legends, fairytales and folklore that came before. While I heard Hades and Persephone and Beauty and the Beast the most; I wouldn’t call this a retelling of either. Adams is a reader first, and it shows beautifully in herContinue reading “TONIGHT, I BURN – Katherine J. Adams”
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 Girl Named Tommi 