A year in the life of a Harvard freshman, Selin - awkwardly tall & charmingly self-aware. This book is so so funny with moving insights on language and identity. One of my new all-time favorites!
--Becky
This is such a well written biography of a fascinating and complicated monarch. So easy to read - an absolute delight!
--Becky
The novel follows a young woman as she tries to rebuild her life after her beloved fathers violent death. It's a slow-moving but gorgeous story about grief, identity, and place.
--Becky
This book of short stories by the author of Fates and Furies is one of those books that left me feeling utterly changed. It's rare to encounter an author so willing to dive into the darkness of the human experience. This book is raw, brave, honest. It evokes such a sense of place that you can almost feel the Florida humidity. Such a powerful read.
I picked this up because I wanted an escape from the current news cycle and found it so inspiring and uplifting to read about how we've overcome even darker times and how we've made (imperfect) progress. Well worth a read.
A mystery told in reverse over the course of four days - this book is unlike anything I've ever read. For fans of hisorical fiction, mysteries, or just really great, well told tales.
A rollicking adventure as we follow our heroine off the grid in search of her friend's daughter. I laughed out loud throughout this book - it's one of my favorite books of the year!
For anyone suffering from Obama withdrawal/nostalgia, this book is a temporary fix. Written with honesty, and hilariously self-aware, Alyssa Mastromonaco has bested all my favorite episodes of The West Wing with this memoir!
A story of a woman struggling with depression written with empathy and a healthy dose of humor. It's such a compelling story with vivid characters helping to move the narrative along. I read it in a single sitting.
Ma Jian weaves the history of the Cultural Revolution in China with an intense character study of a high-up official in the communist party struggling with his past self and painful memories. All brilliantly done. Also worth reading the foreword!
Bridie Devine is a female detective in Victorian London. With the help of a dead man, she goes in search of a kidnapped child. This book is a ton of fun. I loved every second of it.
McBride expertly blends humor and pathos in his character driven book set in the Causeway Housing Projects in New York. I have fallen madly in love with every character - he somehow evokes this longing in every single one of them with such lightness. It's such a hopeful book.
One of my favorite books in the last decade. This book is like nothing I've read before. Set in an Africa-like fantasy world, Tracker is called on to find a missing child. Unforgettable characters and richly imagined worlds and customs move this book into a category of its own. I loved it and can't wait for the next installment!
A book that takes a hard look at some of the poorest regions in America and analyzes the lives of individuals in order to get a bigger picture of some of the problems causing inequality in our country. Written with empathy and compassion, this was an excellent read.
Debut author An Yu absolutely kills it with this novel. When a young woman's husband dies leaving no note, just a sketch of a mysterious fish man, she goes on a bit of a quest to find out what happened. For fans of Murakami! This book was strange and lovely. A fantastic debut.