She and Her Cat, by Makoto Shinkai and Naruki Nagakawa
If you have a cat, you must read this book. If you don’t have a cat and don’t WANT to suddenly have a cat, definitely DON’T read this book. If you hate cats, you won’t read this book anyway, so I suppose you’re safe there. She and Her Cat hooked me from page one with […]
Ordinary Bear, by C.B. Bernard
I was driving somewhere about three years ago (it was Target, who am I kidding, it’s always Target) when traffic came to a sudden stop. Something was blocking the road about fifty feet ahead of me, causing cars to make a wide arc into oncoming traffic, which had also stopped. When it was my time […]
Sisters with a Side of Greens, by Michelle Stimpson
So my husband and I were in the car engaging in my favorite activity (no, not that one, lol). We were headed to Bruster’s for an ice cream treat after dinner. We were also having the dumbest fight we’ve had in a while. We don’t argue often, but sometimes, he gets this look on his […]
The Berry Pickers, by Amanda Peters
I’m not sure if everyone has a moment in their childhood that defines who they grow to be, but I have no doubt many of us do. For me, it was a certain night during the summer of 1980 that forever lowered my tolerance for conflict and created in me the kind of peace-making personality […]
Unsinkable, by Jenni L. Walsh
What to read when…you haven’t tired of WW2 Historical Fiction (as I have) or if you can’t get enough Titanic stories (as I can’t!). Titanic will forever hold the heart of every story in our oceans of imagination—the hopeful beginning, the devastating plot twist, the heart-breaking, yet poignant conclusion. Unsinkable draws from this well of […]
The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, by James McBride
You don’t often think that reading a book is like eating your vegetables, but in the case of James McBride’s Heaven and Earth Grocery Store, that’s exactly what it felt like. Reading it now, just after the holidays, and after having spent the last few weeks eating leftover lasagna, turkey, and a sundry of pies […]
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 […]
The Exiles, by Christina Baker Kline
There are only a few cardinal rules for a writer: you must not be boring (I’m looking at you, Trust by Hernan Diaz, whom I can pick on because you won a Pulitzer Prize). You must also not have plot holes (Doerr, what were you thinking? I haven’t finished Cloud Cuckoo Land yet, so I […]
Euphoria, by Lily King
In one of the multiverses (and now I’m betraying my begrudging enjoyment those movies), I would have definitely lived the life of Margaret Mead. She was born in Philadelphia, close to where I grew up, went to school at Columbia, where my father did, and traveled to foreign lands to learn about cultures and peoples […]
Case Histories: A Novel (Jackson Brodie, 1), by Kate Atkinson
You know something is about to go horribly wrong from the first line of this crime fiction book, even though the line reads innocuously enough—“How lucky were they?”—which is a tribute to Atkinson’s deft skill. I won’t spoil this intricately-weaved set of stories except to say that style-wise, Atkinson does something in the books that […]