Not long into George Saunders’s Vigil (Random House 2026), I remarked that it was a bit Charles Dickens meets Tom Stoppard – to be more exact, it’s A Christmas Carol meets Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, with a strong nod to the Stoppard play. You would think that those echoes would be enough to haveContinue reading “VIGIL – George Saunders”
Tag Archives: books
THIS IS WHERE THE SERPENT LIVES – Daniyal Mueenuddin
Daniyal Mueenuddin’s This is Where the Serpent Lives (Knopf 2026) reads like Chekhov wrote a Dickens’s plot. This highly anticipated debut novel by Mueenuddin, whose short story collection was a finalist for the National Book Award and the Pulitzer (among others), is likely to be a strong contender come awards season. Will it make theContinue reading “THIS IS WHERE THE SERPENT LIVES – Daniyal Mueenuddin”
BURN DOWN MASTER’S HOUSE – Clay Cane
“Remembering is an act of brilliant opposition.” Clay Cane’s Burn Down Master’s House (Kensington Publishing Corp.) will make you extremely uncomfortable. Spoiler alert – it’s supposed to. No matter the attempts to erase the horrors of slavery from this country’s past, to whitewash the repeated crimes against black and brown bodies, the truth remains –Continue reading “BURN DOWN MASTER’S HOUSE – Clay Cane”
WESTWARD WOMEN – Alice Martin
“That’s how it goes, I guess. Sometimes you need to hurt first so you can finally go numb.” I went into Alice Martin’s Westward Women ( St. Martin’s Press 2026) entirely blind, and I can’t decide if that was a help or a hindrance to my reading experience. It’s a buzzy new release and MartinContinue reading “WESTWARD WOMEN – Alice Martin”
TANGERINN – Emanuela Anechoum (translated by Lucy Rand)
“You died on a random day and, like on any other random day, I wasn’t there. Between us there were two thousand kilometers and all the things left unsaid.” If you’re like me and a member of the Dead Dads Club, Emanuela Anechoum’s Tangerinn (translated from the Italian by Lucy Rand, translated copyright 2026 EuropaContinue reading “TANGERINN – Emanuela Anechoum (translated by Lucy Rand)”
A GOOD ANIMAL – Sara Maurer
“A strange grave, the lion and the lamb together. In the end, I thought, the dirt gets everything.” I read Sara Maurer’s debut novel, A Good Animal (St. Martin’s Press 2026) and I have “feelings” about it. If you don’t want it spoiled, stop now. Seriously. I’m going to spoil the stuffing out of thisContinue reading “A GOOD ANIMAL – Sara Maurer”
GUNK – Saba Sams
Gunk (Knopf 2026), Saba Sams’s debut novel, is the sort of novel that will likely win prizes. It is also the sort of novel that I don’t find enjoyable. There’s nothing “wrong” with the novel. It’s well-written. It has a beginning, middle, and end. Sams clearly has talent. But it just never “clicked” for me,Continue reading “GUNK – Saba Sams”
OUR NUMBERED BONES – Katya Balen
“I am failing. I want to go home. But not that home. Home to the past. I am so stupid that it burns. But not hot enough.” “stories and soil change and stay the same” Katya Balen’s first adult novel, Our Numbered Bones (HarperVia 2026), is a 237-page gut punch; the ache in the pagesContinue reading “OUR NUMBERED BONES – Katya Balen”
SAOIRSE – Charleen Hurtubise
“The past can haunt someone else now, she thinks, and turns her hand back to this drawing of Daithi, back to the things in her new life which can be named.” Saoirse (Celadon 2026) is Charleen Hurtubise’s US debut. A blend of domestic fiction and literary suspense thriller, the novel is told in shifting timelines,Continue reading “SAOIRSE – Charleen Hurtubise”
EATING ASHES – Brenda Navarro (translated by Megan McDowell)
“I realized that there was no truth, just points of view.” “…it seems that we copy ourselves and repeat the same patterns – I guess that’s what being a family is.” Eating Ashes by Brenda Navarro, translated from the Spanish by Megan McDowell (Liveright Publishing Corporation 2026, first published in Mexico by Editorial Sexto PisoContinue reading “EATING ASHES – Brenda Navarro (translated by Megan McDowell)”
A Girl Named Tommi 