When the woman leading our book club discussion of Real Americans by Rachel Khong said that Khong writes without a plan, little gears aligned in my head and I thought, “Of course she doesn’t!” I can’t guarantee that she’s one of those “outlines are below me” authors, but it would fit. (For my opinions on…
Ghosted by Amanda Quain is one of those YA books that is mostly meant for teen readers. I would say more than half of the YA books I read are more universal, but there you have it. That’s obviously more than okay. I enjoyed the read, to an extent, just maybe not as much as…
I was a little scared of The Honeys by Ryan La Sala because of the horror thing, even if it is YA. Honestly, many teens in my life can handle way more jump scares and gore than I can. Or they think they can and therefore watch and read it. But this book was full…
NEW PUBLICATIONS: Since it’s already July, some of these are already on the shelves and some of them are at the top of the charts. Sorry if I’m wrong about a couple of them. I plan to read The Hounding, Flashlight, Katabasis, Atmosphere, The Girls Who Grew Big, Run for the Hills, My Friends, and…
I read Bunny by Mona Awad because I was about to attend an event with the author. Out of the books available by the featured authors, Bunny was one that I already intended to read since many people over the past year had mentioned it, especially in conjunction with Yellowface (R. F. Kuang), another book…
I had almost no expectations when I bought Charles Yu’s Interior Chinatown and then slid it from the shelf then opened it to read it in the few days I had left for this book-club-read. I’m happy with the cover, but it would be impossible to set a reader up for exactly what they’re going…
I have a lot to say about Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver and David Copperfield by Charles Dickens. So I’m going to fly through the reviews as best I can. Synopsis: Loved Demon Copperhead. Made me look back and realize I actually like most of the Pulitzer-winners that I’ve read. (The Goldfinch had me feeling…
How many times did I say it over the years? I read everything except horror and romance. I guess at some point I amended it to erotica and horror, but still—I do read horror, sometimes, on very special occasions, for very special reasons. In fact, I’m about to read Children of Solitude because I heard…
I am so upset about this stupid book. The first in Hannah Kaner’s Fallen Gods series, Godkiller is maddening to read. I was reading it for a book club (and none of us are surprised), so when I struggled from the near-beginning with the writing, I kept going to see if I really had to…
Worth Fighting For by Jesse Q. Sutanto comes to a bookshop near you in a couple, short days. I got an ARC as a bookseller and was curious to read Sutanto for the first time. I am also actively looking for romance authors who I can stand behind. I did not realize exactly what this…
I haven’t been able to find a lot of recommendations for Mother’s Day reads. This year I had Mother-Daughter Murder Night and The School for Good Mothers lined up and only got to one. That leaves one for next year, though, already sitting on my shelf. As for Mother-Daughter Murder Night by Nina Simon, well,…
Let’s just jump straight into my summer reads recommendations. Which I will add to in the coming months as I make my way through ARCs and see what shows up on the shelves. I’ve already read a few of this summer’s releases and there are four that I am going to recommend. My most emphatic…
Mother-Daughter Murder Night has a great first line. But technically it’s the prologue. And when you combine it with the first line of chapter 1, even better. “Beth knew she couldn’t leave for work until she dealt with the dead body on the beach” Mother-Daughter Murder Night, Nina Simon (Prologue) “Three hundred miles south, Lana…
A Family Matter by Claire Lynch will be published in June in both England and America. (There is a giveaway on GoodReads, if you want to enter.) I expect it to be well-received. It is a beautiful, poignant, and pacific book with strong currents of pain, injustice, and joy beneath that carefully considered surface of…
And no, we are not referring to the Norton Anthology of Modern Poetry, although, actually, I love those giant anthologies that Norton has made for decades. And Diane Seuss references the Anthology in her latest book of collected poems, Modern Poetry. This is a collection that ruminates on modern poetry as one of its main…
Working in a bookshop has taken my book-noticing to a new level. I already “noticed” books all the time when I was in bookstores, when I was listening to podcasts, when I was attending book events or looking through magazines and fliers… Believe it or not, it has intensified. So, I thought that now and…
I have not had this much fun reading a book(s) in a long time. And it’s not like I haven’t had some fun reading some books lately, it’s just that the Love’s Academic series by India Holton is the most fun. Victorian England, fantasy, science, romance, and Indiana Jones, but over-the-top on all counts. I…
…assuming that the retiree is a book nerd. Most of the people around me these days are. And if you walk into the bookshop where I work, I am going to assume your friend or family member is a book nerd of the sort we usually get at the shop (unless you tell me otherwise,…
About a million years ago (in July of 2024), I went to a book event with an author that I didn’t yet know. The reason I went is that the novel he was reading from was an Arthurian story and one that I kept seeing everywhere (even though it was just then being published). I…
Now that all ya’ll are recovering from your midnight Emily Henry parties, I have a review for you. Just kidding. If you were at a midnight release party, you own the book and probably don’t want my two cents. Go read the book and enjoy. As for those of you who don’t know what I…
the starving artist 