This is likely going to be an unpopular opinion based the positively gushing reviews all over, but I didn’t like Madeline Cash’s Lost Lambs. (Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2026) It was quite nearly a rare DNF for me. Perhaps I’m so hard on it because it bills itself on being the exact type of quirkyContinue reading “LOST LAMBS – Madeline Cash”
Tag Archives: Book reviews
THE THIRD GILMORE GIRL – Kelly Bishop
Gilmore Girls is one of my comfort shows. I put it on as background noise when I’m working, reading, sleeping. It is soothing. Kelly Bishop’s The Third Gilmore Girl: A Memoir (read by the author – Gallery Books 2024) had that same soft comfort to it; her oh so recognizable voice captivated me as sheContinue reading “THE THIRD GILMORE GIRL – Kelly Bishop”
JAX FREEMAN AND THE PHANTOM SHRIEK – Kwame Mbalia
“It’s been seven hours and nineteen minutes since I, Jackson Freeman, turned twelve, moved across the country into a house of doom, and abandoned everything I ever knew and loved, only to be accused of tomfoolery. Me! Tomfoolery!” I do love a well-done middle grade novel, and I adore Kwame Mbalia. (You may recall howContinue reading “JAX FREEMAN AND THE PHANTOM SHRIEK – Kwame Mbalia”
THE SILVER BOOK – Olivia Laing
“It’s not a story you can kiss better, but he kisses him all the same, wrapping both arms around his slender waist.” I’ve mentioned before that my ten before the end was derailed by library holds – the most recent was Olivia Laing’s The Silver Book ( Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2025). The slender volume hasContinue reading “THE SILVER BOOK – Olivia Laing”
THE TRAVELERS – Regina Porter
“So, I followed her cue and became Guildenstern. I didn’t need to look at the lines to play the part. None of us did, except maybe Mom, who never learned the words ‘cause someone in the family had to be a spectator in the madness.” It’s fitting that I picked up Regina Porter’s The TravelersContinue reading “THE TRAVELERS – Regina Porter”
DAYS COME & GO – Hemley Boum
I took a “traveling” break for Booker season, but we’re back to “Tommi Reads the World” – we’re still in the C’s!!! Country: CameroonTitle: Days Come & GoAuthor: Hemley BoumLanguage: FrenchTranslator: Nchanji NjamnsiPublisher: Agence littéraire Astier-Pécher (2020), Two Lines Press (2022) I was a bit bummed when my copy of Hemley Boum’s Days Come & GoContinue reading “DAYS COME & GO – Hemley Boum”
MIGRATIONS – Charlotte McConaghy
“Sometimes I dream of them waiting in that tree for a girl who would never come, bringing gift after precious gift to lie unloved in the grass.” Migrations (Flatiron Books 2020) was Charlotte McConaghy’s US debut, and it’s been on my shelf for years. I read Once There Were Wolves and Wild Dark Shore beforeContinue reading “MIGRATIONS – Charlotte McConaghy”
TO THE MOON AND BACK – Eliana Ramage
“I wanted, more than anything, to be gone.” When I read the synopsis of Eliana Ramage’s debut, To the Moon and Back (Avid Reader Press 2025), I was immediately sold. A young woman, exploring her sexuality and identity, embarks on a three-decade long quest to become the first Native American female astronaut. (As a noteContinue reading “TO THE MOON AND BACK – Eliana Ramage”
THE SISTERS – Jonas Hassen Khemiri
Booker season may be over, but the awards season continues! I’m not doing the entire NBA longlist for fiction, but I’m hitting a bit of them. Up this week is Jonas Hassen Khemeiri’s The Sisters. (Farrar 2025) It’s fitting I read the 638-page chunker during Booker week as this family saga fits beautifully with thatContinue reading “THE SISTERS – Jonas Hassen Khemiri”
THE TRUE TRUE STORY OF RAJA THE GULLIBLE (AND HIS MOTHER) -Rabih Alameddine
“She asked me to tell you she would break the world for you.” “I begin this story with the lie, and like a great whale leading other sea creatures in her wake, it was followed by a whole pod. I wish I can say I had doubts. I didn’t. I jonahed that whale, swam rightContinue reading “THE TRUE TRUE STORY OF RAJA THE GULLIBLE (AND HIS MOTHER) -Rabih Alameddine”
A Girl Named Tommi 