“It came from the Greek god Pan: the god of the woods. He liked to trick people, to confuse and disorient them until they lost their bearings, and their minds.” “Something about her looks immortal…a spirit, an apparition, more god than child.” Liz Moore’s The God of the Woods (Riverhead Books 2024) is in myContinue reading “THE GOD OF THE WOODS – Liz Moore”
Tag Archives: Fiction
SYLVIA DOE AND THE 100-YEAR FLOOD – Robert Beatty
“She was thirteen now, and the one thing she knew how to do was run away.” I met Robert Beatty several years ago just after the release of Serafina and the Seven Stars. My oldest niece loved the Serafina books, and I wanted to surprise her with a personalized autographed copy of the newest release. Continue reading “SYLVIA DOE AND THE 100-YEAR FLOOD – Robert Beatty”
My 2024 Booker Prize Longlist Rankings
The 2024 Booker Prize winner will be announced Tuesday, and this is the first year I have read the entire longlist prior to the announcement. (I will not meet my Goodreads goal, so this is my reading accomplishment of the year!) If you’ve followed me, you know I had some predictions prior to the announcementContinue reading “My 2024 Booker Prize Longlist Rankings”
PLAYGROUND – Richard Powers
“You know me now. You know him as well as I did. Maybe better. You have raised the dead and given us one more turn. Now tell me how this long match ought to end.” “Our first god mad the world from eggshells and tears and bone. Then our artists made the other gods outContinue reading “PLAYGROUND – Richard Powers”
THE FROZEN RIVER – Ariel Lawhon
“To name a thing is a proprietary act. It is a commitment. Of ownership or care or loyalty. It means something. With that single word I have declared that this little beast is mine, and that I have a responsibility to protect her.” While the quote refers to a silver fox, the importance of namesContinue reading “THE FROZEN RIVER – Ariel Lawhon”
THE BERRY PICKERS – Amanda Peters
“…lost in a memory stirred alive by the moon.” Amanda Peters’s debut The Berry Pickers (Catapult 2023) is a quiet triumph of a novel about grief, anger, loss, identity, and forgiveness. When I was a child, I asked for The Face on the Milk Carton for Christmas. (It’s one of a few books I rememberContinue reading “THE BERRY PICKERS – Amanda Peters”
JOLLOF RICE AND OTHER REVOLUTIONS – Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi
“…oga dinma, oga dinma, it will be okay. Today. Tomorrow. Someday.” Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi’s Jollof Rice and Other Revolutions: A Novel in Interlocking Stories (Amistad 2022) is my favorite kind of short story collections – the kind where the stories weave in and out of each other, building the reader’s connection to a full castContinue reading “JOLLOF RICE AND OTHER REVOLUTIONS – Omolola Ijeoma Ogunyemi”
THE VANISHING HALF – Brit Bennett
“You could never know who might hurt you until it was too late.” I finally got around to reading Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half (Riverhead 2020) – it was likely the most hyped on my TBR that had just been sitting there for ages, and it was on my “Must Reads” for 2024. (Yes. IContinue reading “THE VANISHING HALF – Brit Bennett”
THE BEAR AND THE NIGHTINGALE – Katherine Arden
“Will you tell her?” asked the mare. “Everything?” the demon said. “Of bears and sorcerers, spells made of sapphires and a witch that lost her daughter? No, of course not. I shall tell her as little as possible. And hope that’s enough.” One of my favorite courses at UNC was one devoted to Russian fairytales;Continue reading “THE BEAR AND THE NIGHTINGALE – Katherine Arden”
THE OGRESS AND THE ORPPHANS – Kelly Barnhill
“But it’s best you know this now, at the beginning of this book. Every story has a villain, after all. And every villain has a story.” Kelly Barnhill is an absolute gift to literature, and not just children’s lit. She’s another one of my “heart hug” authors, but her hugs come in the form ofContinue reading “THE OGRESS AND THE ORPPHANS – Kelly Barnhill”
A Girl Named Tommi 