Doireann Ní Ghríofa’s Said the Dead (Farrar, Straus and Giroux 9/22/026 – a huge thanks to the publisher for the galley copy) is one of my top reads of the year. I have to assume it wasn’t submitted for Booker consideration, likely due to the genre-blurring elements that lean heavily into nonfiction, because I can’tContinue reading “SAID THE DEAD – Doireann Ní Ghríofa”
Tag Archives: Fiction
MAY WE FEED THE KING – Rebecca Perry
“In this way, my work has sustained me when people could not.” “My house had been holding its breath for a long time.” “No, he will not come when called. He is no dog.” Rebecca Perry’s May We Feed the King won the Waterstones Debut Fiction Prize before being longlisted for the Booker; there isContinue reading “MAY WE FEED THE KING – Rebecca Perry”
THE SHADOW OF THE OBJECT – Chloe Aridjis
“No more tricks, no more abracadabra, no more misdirection or uncertainty, no more seeing things one way when most people saw them another.” “My mother didn’t mention him, I didn’t mention him, but there he sat in the room with us.” “…she didn’t believe in blank pages…” Right now, Chloe Aridjis’s The Shadow of theContinue reading “THE SHADOW OF THE OBJECT – Chloe Aridjis”
THE END OF EVERYTHING – M. John Harrison
“Whole worlds… trapped in a few daisies, some grapes in a bowl.” “What would she remember about him in the end anyway that could be separated from everything else that happened?” Baffling and bizarre, M. John Harrison’s The End of Everything is a bit Seascraper meets Fringe. (You remember – the tv show where JoshuaContinue reading “THE END OF EVERYTHING – M. John Harrison”
THE RENOVATION – Kenan Orhan
“Better not to be making memories right now anyway,” he said. “In my father’s reality, my mother had never died and his country had never betrayed him.” “What is the weight of memory?” “Then she died and no one called me that anymore.” There is typically a novel of exile appearing on the Booker longlistContinue reading “THE RENOVATION – Kenan Orhan”
HELEN OF NOWHERE – Makenna Goodman
“Isn’t it a joke, how you can tell a story and other people hear a different story than the one you told?” “Reading became an intellectual pursuit, one of focus instead of escape.” In many ways, Makenna Goodman’s Helen of Nowhere and Missouri Williams’s Vivisectors are telling the same story – just recast with differentContinue reading “HELEN OF NOWHERE – Makenna Goodman”
BLACK BAG – Luke Kennard
“I’m sure this comes up somewhere in Revelation.” “You try not to become a full-blown alcoholic,” she says. “Fetishize small pleasures. A good water bottle. A first edition of a novel you like. A really good cup of coffee. The crack as a needle hits the record.” “I have measured out my life in coffeesContinue reading “BLACK BAG – Luke Kennard”
THE PALM HOUSE – Gwendoline Riley
“As long as it’s not boring. That’s our motto now.” Set in London in 2017, The Palm House by Gwendoline Riley is my least favorite Booker read to date. I’ve never read Riley before, but I have seen some comparisons drawn between her and Rachel Cusk. That tracks. I don’t like either. It’s a writingContinue reading “THE PALM HOUSE – Gwendoline Riley”
SOME PEOPLE – Parini Shroff
“We’re all just people, trying. We’re all eggshells, walking around trying not to bump into shit that will break us.” I really enjoyed Parini Shroff’s The Bandit Queens, so I was eager to read the follow-up novel, Some People (Ballantine Books 2026). While it is a very different book from The Bandit Queens, the writingContinue reading “SOME PEOPLE – Parini Shroff”
The Pōhaku – Jasmin ‘Iolani Hakes
“Death has been chasing this story for generations, trying to kill it.” The Pōhaku by Jasmin ‘Iolani Hakes (HarperCollins 2026) has all the elements of the type of story I love: family saga, a storytelling tradition, and a bit of magic realism. Add the fact it is about the Hawaiian people and boasts a stunningContinue reading “The Pōhaku – Jasmin ‘Iolani Hakes”
A Girl Named Tommi 