“If old age was thought of as an evening, ending in midnight oblivion, they were well within the eleventh hour.” That quote from the first story in Salman Rushdie’s new collection, The Eleventh Hour: A Quintet of Stories (Random House 2025), pretty much sums up the work as a whole; in these five stories, fallingContinue reading “THE ELEVENTH HOUR – Salman Rushdie”
Tag Archives: books
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”
MINOR BLACK FIGURES – Brandon Taylor
I’m making an effort to read more Booker-eligible books prior to the longlist announcement – up today is Brandon Taylor’s Minor Black Figures. (Riverhead 2025) Taylor was previously shortlisted for the Booker in 2020 with Real Life. At that time, I was only reading selected works from the list, and I did not read RealContinue reading “MINOR BLACK FIGURES – Brandon Taylor”
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”
SHADOW TICKET – Thomas Pynchon
“Cheese – wait, cheese… has feelings, you say? You mean like… emotions?” “Long-time spiritual truth in Wisconsin. Thousands of secretly devout cheezatarians…” “Secretly?” “Only waiting for our moment. We have to be careful, don’t we… wouldn’t want to go through all that Christian-and-Romans business again, would we?” I once had a shirt that read “IContinue reading “SHADOW TICKET – Thomas Pynchon”
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”
THE IRISH GOODBYE – Heather Aimee O’Neill
“In her clenched hand, the ashes felt like the remains of something destroyed.” Heather Aimee O’Neill’s debut novel, The Irish Goodbye ( Henry Holt 2025) immediately called to mind Joyce Carol Oates’s We were the Mulvaneys (which I read in the ‘90s). Both are set in NY, both deal with family tragedy and family secrets,Continue reading “THE IRISH GOODBYE – Heather Aimee O’Neill”
A Girl Named Tommi 