Kayla Rae Whitaker’s Returns and Exchanges (Random House 2026) is likely going to wind up in my top five reads of the year – most definitely in the top ten. Spanning 1979-2015, the novel follows one Kentucky family – a rags to riches to reckoning story of resilience and risking it all to be seen,Continue reading “RETURNS AND EXCHANGES – Kayla Rae Whitaker”
Tag Archives: book review
AFTERNOON HOURS OF A HERMIT – Patrick Cottrell
Patrick Cottrell’s Afternoon Hours of a Hermit ( ECCO 2026) comes with some pretty hefty blurbs – Bryan Washington, Katie Kitamura and Rita Bullwinkle to hit the Booker and NBA names – and I can see why; the novel has that “je ne sais quoi” that makes it smell “Bookery.” It’s a noir detective novel,Continue reading “AFTERNOON HOURS OF A HERMIT – Patrick Cottrell”
A BEAUTIFUL LOAN – Mary Costello
“How to understand why we do what we do, or tolerate what we tolerate, or love who we love.” Named for a concept from the Quran where giving charity or lending to others for the sake of Allah is described as a beautiful loan (Christianity and Judaism have similar concepts), Mary Costello’s A Beautiful LoanContinue reading “A BEAUTIFUL LOAN – Mary Costello”
PORCUPINES – Fran Fabriczki
“And after all, every story is a manipulation in one way or another.” Fran Fabriczki’s debut novel, Porcupines ( Summit Books 2026), shows a lot of promise but ultimately falls just short of the mark because it under-delivers in each timeline, bringing us to a rather unsatisfying conclusion. I love the idea – but IContinue reading “PORCUPINES – Fran Fabriczki”
SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER – Vincent Yu
Seek Immediate Shelter by Vincent Yu ( Flatiron 2026) was a bit of a disappointment. The novel is a series of interconnected short stories about residents of a small Asian-American community in Massachusetts following a false ballistic missile alert. There is one section that takes place months after the alert and piggy-backs on an earlierContinue reading “SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER – Vincent Yu”
THE BOOK OF GOOSE – Yiyun Li
“If my geese ever dream, they alone know that the world will never be allowed even a glimpse of those dreams, and they alone know the world has no right to judge them. I live like my geese.” Despite this being my “library” year, I am getting to some of the books on my physicalContinue reading “THE BOOK OF GOOSE – Yiyun Li”
CANON – Paige Lewis
“They only bite what they don’t understand, which means, in this dream, Yara is biting everything.” Paige Lewis’s Canon (Viking 2026) is one whackadoodle of a book. This “nonbinary epic” will have you rolling. The bard of this tale and the distinctive voice of the storyteller throughout the novel is fantastic. The chapter headings areContinue reading “CANON – Paige Lewis”
GLYPH – Ali Smith
I mentioned in my Ghost Town review that I’d followed that novel up with another ghost story – Ali Smith’s Glyph ( Pantheon Books 2026 – thanks to the publisher for the ARC). Glyph released last week and is the sequel-not-sequel to the 2024 Gliff. I’d say it’s more of a companion – each bookContinue reading “GLYPH – Ali Smith”
GHOST TOWN – Tom Perrotta
“Ghosts and Orphans. Orphans and Ghosts. The ways we’re abandoned and never left alone.” This quote from Tom Perrotta’s Ghost Town (Scribner 2026) could also apply to the other book I read today, Ali Smith’s Glyph. Stay tuned for that review, but they were certainly interesting to read back-to-back. As for Perotta’s novel, I didn’tContinue reading “GHOST TOWN – Tom Perrotta”
JOHN OF JOHN – Douglas Stuart
“His hands were rough, but the fingers were long and elegant as though God had granted them for a life he had never lived.” “I’m not going to watch you torture yourself and then come round here expecting sympathy for it.” When I reviewed Douglas Stuart’s Shuggie Bain back in 2020, I wrote: “This novelContinue reading “JOHN OF JOHN – Douglas Stuart”
A Girl Named Tommi 