“Nyawĩra and Kamĩtĩ drifted from group to group till they came to a crowd around a storyteller with a single-stringed violin.” Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o passed away on May 28, 2025. I didn’t know until recently, but perhaps that’s why Wizard of the Crow ( 2006 Random House) called out from my shelves of the unread.Continue reading “WIZARD OF THE CROW – Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o”
Tag Archives: Fiction
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”
MY FRIENDS – FREDRIK BACKMAN
“Twenty-five years later he still wishes for the same thing, that he was fourteen years old and that the world was full of broken clocks. “As seventeen-year-olds they would sleep next to each other almost every night in the foster home, with ice cream stains on their clothes and each other’s laughter in their lungs,Continue reading “MY FRIENDS – FREDRIK BACKMAN”
TOUGH LUCK – Sandra Dallas
When I read John Larison’s Whiskey When We’re Dry, I called it Lonesome Dove meets Calamity Jane. I loved everything about it. When I saw he’d blurbed Sandra Dallas’s Tough Luck (St. Martin’s Press 2025), which is marketed as a homage to True Grit, the new release was immediately placed on my radar. (A hugeContinue reading “TOUGH LUCK – Sandra Dallas”
HAPPY LAND – Dolen Perkins-Valdez
I’ve been sitting on this review for a bit, trying to figure out how best to condense my thoughts into a relatively small space. (I’ve also been toying with the possibility of changing how I review/react, but that’s really neither here nor there.) As per usual, it’ll likely just be bookish babbling, but I encourageContinue reading “HAPPY LAND – Dolen Perkins-Valdez”
SO DISTANT FROM MY LIFE – Monique Ilboudo
“My mind ran off as soon as I opened my eyes. I have always had a vagabond mind.” Current installment of Tommi Reads the World – this marks the last of the Bs. Country: Burkina FasoTitle: So Distant from My LifeAuthor: Monique IlboudoLanguage: FrenchTranslator: Yarri KamaraPublisher: Le Serpent á Plumes, 2018 English translation published byContinue reading “SO DISTANT FROM MY LIFE – Monique Ilboudo”
SAY YOU’LL REMEMBER ME – Abby Jimenez
This is going to be a difficult review to write. Abby Jimenez’s new novel, Say You’ll Remember Me ( Forever 2025), just didn’t live up to my expectations. I really enjoy Jimenez’s work. I’ve said before that I don’t really read romance – that’s mostly because I’m just very particular about what I want inContinue reading “SAY YOU’LL REMEMBER ME – Abby Jimenez”
TIME SHELTER – Georgi Gospodinov
“Now, there’s everything you need to for a true beginning – bad dreams, war, and a headache.” “I had already lived through what was to come.” Current installment of Tommi Reads the World – we’re still in the Bs. Country: BulgariaTitle: Time ShelterAuthor: Georgi GospodinovLanguage: BulgarianTranslator: Angela RodelPublisher: Liveright Publishing Company 2022 (originally published 2020) Georgi Gospondinov’sContinue reading “TIME SHELTER – Georgi Gospodinov”
WILD DARK SHORE – Charlotte McConaghy
“I loved a landscape and watched it burn.” I really enjoyed Charlotte McConaghy’s Once There Were Wolves (2021), and Migrations (2020) has been sitting on my TBR cart for years, so picking Wild Dark Shore ( Flatiron Books 2025) as my BOTM selection was a no brainer. I was a bit concerned that it wouldContinue reading “WILD DARK SHORE – Charlotte McConaghy”
A Girl Named Tommi 