“The redness in her eyes reminded me of the lipstick she hadn’t worn in a while. I wanted to ask her out to the street vendors again, to eat skewers together, to become two jobless mindless dipshit girls wandering the city together. To feel how surely she took each footstep, how her heels smacked theContinue reading “TAILBONE – Che Yeun”
Tag Archives: book review
PYTHON’S KISS – Louise Erdrich
“Flesh would become stone and stone become flesh, and someday they would meet in the mouth of a bird.” Louise Erdrich’s Python’s Kiss (Harper 2026) is a collection of short stories written over the last 20 years, with a number having appeared previously, in slightly different form, in numerous publications. The thirteen stories each haveContinue reading “PYTHON’S KISS – Louise Erdrich”
YESTERYEAR – Caro Claire Burke
“This is the last day of the life I imagined for myself.” Caro Claire Burke’s Yesteryear (Knopf 2026) is certainly one of the buzziest books of the year. Buzzy books can be hit or miss for me, so I was already approaching it from the standpoint that it probably wouldn’t live up to the hype.Continue reading “YESTERYEAR – Caro Claire Burke”
THE SEVEN DAUGHTERS OF DUPREE – Nikesha Elise Williams
“Everything don’t need to be voiced. Everything don’t need to grow wings, ride the air, and visit folk you don’t know with stories they got no stake it.” “She knew some deceptions deserved the dirt.” In the vein of The Love Songs of W.E.B. Du Bois comes Nikesha Elise Williams’s The Seven Daughters of DupreeContinue reading “THE SEVEN DAUGHTERS OF DUPREE – Nikesha Elise Williams”
THE FOUNTAIN – Casey Scieszka
“She touches the barrel to her chin, to her temple, back to her chin. She braces herself for the shock of it. She hopes for the thousandth time, millionth time, for some relief.” Emma Straub called Casey Scieszka’s debut novel, The Fountain (Harper 2026), “like Tuck Everlasting for grown-ups,” and that perfectly sums up thisContinue reading “THE FOUNTAIN – Casey Scieszka”
PARADISO 17 – Hannah Lillith Assadi
“Sufien had always been afflicted with this desire – no, it was a call, a call to fly, a call to fall.” Recently longlisted for the Women’s Prize, Hannah Lillith Assadi’s Paradiso 17 (Knopf 2026) is a beautiful portrayal home, family, and exile. While the second half seems a bit more rushed and distant thanContinue reading “PARADISO 17 – Hannah Lillith Assadi”
NONESUCH – Francis Spufford
“Tell me where all past years are…” Francis Spufford’s Nonesuch (Scribner 2026) was one of my anticipated releases of 2026. I really enjoyed Light Perpetual (a novel that rewrote history, allowing five children killed in the 1944 London Woolworths bombing to survive and live through the 20th century), and I was looking forward to anotherContinue reading “NONESUCH – Francis Spufford”
TRANSCRIPTION – Ben Lerner
“You call this fiction, but it is more.” “I felt eight and eighteen and forty-five all at once, my grasp on reality was tentative, an extreme form of the effect his presence always had on me, a nightmarish form of what others so loved about him – how he seemed from the future and theContinue reading “TRANSCRIPTION – Ben Lerner”
I LOVE YOU DON’T DIE – Jade Song
“It would be too painful to hold to every memory of every life we’ve ever lived.” I would encourage anyone interested in reading Jade Song’s I Love You Don’t Die (William Morrow 2026) to first read the trigger warnings as the novel deals with depression and suicide, among others. If you need help or justContinue reading “I LOVE YOU DON’T DIE – Jade Song”
THIS IS NOT ABOUT US – Allegra Goodman
“The flowers depressed her, especially those already wilting. When she looked at the mums, she felt like she wasn’t dying fast enough.” Allegra Goodman’s This is Not About Us ( The Dial Press 2026) is a sprawling family saga, beautifully highlighting the meaning of family, the ties the bind, the jealousies, the pettiness – theContinue reading “THIS IS NOT ABOUT US – Allegra Goodman”
A Girl Named Tommi 