The Story of Arthur Truluv, by Elizabeth Berg
If you’ve been teaching the apartheid in South Africa, the genocide in Rwanda, and the human rights violations of the chocolate industry in western Africa, then you absolutely should be reading The Story of Arthur Truluv at the end of your day. But even if this hasn’t been your week, Berg’s novel is something everyone […]
Goyhood, by Reuven Fenton
If you’ve ever suddenly lost so much in your life that you don’t know who you are anymore, you will absolutely relate to Goyhood, by Reuven Fenton. I wasn’t expecting to find myself in a novel about two possibly Jewish, definitely middle-aged men on a road trip to find their lost boyhood, but I was […]
Morning in this Broken World, by Katrina Kittle
Usually, when I get toward the end of a book I really like, I don’t want it to end. You know that feeling, as the pages in your right hand start to thin and you have the urge to slow down and savor every paragraph. Not so for Morning in this Broken World. I thoroughly […]
Miss Benson’s Beetle, by Rachel Joyce
What to read when… …you need to feel there are still adventures to be had in this world. I promise you that Miss Benson’s Beetle will make you want to quit your job, sell all your belongings, and hop a freight for the other side of the world. The only issue there is that I […]
Vera Wong’s Unsolicited Advice for Murderers, by Jesse Q. Sutanto
What to read when… …your boyfriend’s moved in and you’re trying really hard to be normal about it. It had been 13 years since a man lived in my house, and for all the ways his nearness turned me into a warm gooey brownie inside, his permanent presence in my previously unmanned house baked me […]
The Nightingale, by Kristin Hannah
If you’re a book snob like me, you might have passed over this one simply because EVERYONE has been talking about it. I’m not one for hype, which is why I still haven’t forgiven Taco Bell for taking away their Mexican pizza, then bringing it back with such ridiculous fanfare. And I still haven’t forgiven […]
Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery
What to read when… …you just need a soft place to go to sleep. Do you have a “comfort” book? Something like mashed potatoes, or macaroni and cheese, or ice cream? A book you read on a bad day but with less calories? Or maybe a book you switch over to when you’re finishing Colson […]
West with Giraffes, by Lynda Rutledge
If your summer plans don’t include a road trip with giraffes while being chased by a murderous traveling circus and falling in love with the wrong person, what are you even doing? This book does an amazing job of pulling the reader out of our humdrum lives (or in Woody’s case, pulling him from a […]
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt
What to Read When…you just need to breathe a bit. I’d just finished Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad which left me feeling…shaken (so much so that I still don’t know what to say about it; look for that blog post a little later). I needed a book I could relax into. Not something “light,” but […]
The 100-Year-Old-Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, by Jonas Jonasson
If you’ve been feeling old lately, that all the magic is gone from this world, and that life has no more beautiful surprises left for you…this is the book you need to read. This story is a delight from the very first scene when Allan (the 100-Year-Old-Man) does what all of us fantasize about doing […]