PALAVER – Bryan Washington

My ten before the end got hijacked by library holds, so who knows what the last few days of 2025 will bring reading wise. I just finished another National Book Award finalist – Bryan Washington’s Palaver (Farrar, Straus and Giroux 2025).  This is my first Washington;  Memorial  has been on my “to be put onContinue reading “PALAVER – Bryan Washington”

THE SISTERS – Jonas Hassen Khemiri

Booker season may be over, but the awards season continues! I’m not doing the entire NBA longlist for fiction, but I’m hitting a bit of them. Up this week is Jonas Hassen Khemeiri’s The Sisters. (Farrar 2025) It’s fitting I read the 638-page chunker during Booker week as this family saga fits beautifully with thatContinue reading “THE SISTERS – Jonas Hassen Khemiri”

THE WILDERNESS – Angela Flournoy

With the Booker dozen under my belt, I decided to swing for the National Book Award .  (I’d already read two, so I figured why not.)  First up is Angela Flournoy’s longlisted The Wilderness (Mariner 2025). An ambitious novel, it felt at times much longer than its 290 pages. It’s weighty, with so much heartContinue reading “THE WILDERNESS – Angela Flournoy”