“It was a language, she saw now, the way he touched her.” Megan Hunter’s Days of Light (Grove Press 2025) is very Bookery, and I read it as part of my “get a jump on possible longlisted books” journey. It’s The Safekeep meets Stone Yard Devotional, and while I loved both of those novels, IContinue reading “DAYS OF LIGHT – Megan Hunter”
Tag Archives: books
THE HISTORY OF SOUND – Ben Shattuck
“She wished that she could read music. She might have hummed the melody, or at least understood why this phrase of music was important or original or innovative enough – or elusive enough, at the risk of being forgotten – to require being written out so urgently. But she couldn’t read music, and so theContinue reading “THE HISTORY OF SOUND – Ben Shattuck”
THE ANTIDOTE – Karen Russell
“A person can lose everything in an instant. A fortune, a family, the sun. I’ve had to learn this lesson twice in my life.” “The coroner gave me the only picture that I have of Mama, a print of her body in the ditch.” “I guess, the way I see it, you could tell theContinue reading “THE ANTIDOTE – Karen Russell”
THE UNBROKEN COAST – Nalini Jones
Nalini Jones’s debut novel, The Unbroken Coast (Knopf – expected 8/12/2025), is a story of intertwined lives, found families, regrets, and triumphs. Set in and around a Mumbai fishing village, the novel follows a prominent retired professor who is struggling with his memories, and a young Koli girl from the fishing village whose family isContinue reading “THE UNBROKEN COAST – Nalini Jones”
NESTING – Roisín O’Donnell
“Nights like this, she knows this is real, she’s not imagining it. The fear is bright, animal, sure. Pure blue at the heart of a flame.” “But right now, there’s no space for stories.” Rounding out my Booker predictions for the weekend is Roisín O’Donnell’s debut novel, Nesting (Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill 2025 –Continue reading “NESTING – Roisín O’Donnell”
OUR EVENINGS – Alan Hollinghurst
“I lay there for agonized hours as the miracle of being in bed at him was nibbled away by the heat and the hangover and the longing.” This year, I decided to get “a jump” on potential Booker books, and Alan Hollinghurst’s (a previous Booker winner) new novel, Our Evenings (Random House 2024) was aContinue reading “OUR EVENINGS – Alan Hollinghurst”
THE PRETENDER – Jo Harkin
“Lambert isn’t sure if he’d remember to answer to the name Lambert, but he does, every time. What kind of soul does he have, that can tip itself out of a John Collan cup into a Lambert Simons cup, without spilling a drop.” In 1487, Lambert Simnel, a boy raised in obscurity and believed toContinue reading “THE PRETENDER – Jo Harkin”
BURY OUR BONES IN THE MIDNIGHT SOIL – V.E. Schwab
“It is easy, isn’t it, in retrospect? To spot the cracks. To see them spread. But in the moment, there is only the urge to mend each one. To smooth the lines. And keep the surface whole.” Toxic lesbian vampires. That’s how V.E. Schwab’s Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil (2025 Tor) was marketed.Continue reading “BURY OUR BONES IN THE MIDNIGHT SOIL – V.E. Schwab”
TWIST – Colum McCann
“We are all shards in the smash-up.” “Everything gets fixed, and we all stay broken.” As y’all know, I read the Booker longlist every year. Sometimes, I try to get a jump on things by reading eligible books that smell Bookery. (If you follow the Booker Prize, you’ll know what that means.) The buzz aroundContinue reading “TWIST – Colum McCann”
ANY TROPE BUT YOU – Victoria Lavine
I wanted a cute, candy read. A Hallmark movie in book form. Set in the remote wilderness of Alaska with a romance author from California and the hunky lumberjack son of the proprietor of the resort she’s staying at? That sounds like a delicious candy book. And Victoria Lavine’s Any Trope But You (Atria 2025)Continue reading “ANY TROPE BUT YOU – Victoria Lavine”
A Girl Named Tommi 