The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab is a wonderful fantasy novel about a girl in 18th century France, desperate to escape an arranged marriage, running for her freedom, when she finds herself making a deal with the Devil that will change everything. Completely addictive, this book was impossible to put down, and I found myself rooting for Addie the whole way through. Schwab has put an original twist on the story, so it didn’t feel like something…
Transcendent Kingdom is the new novel by Yaa Gyasi, author of Homegoing. Gifty, a PhD student at Stanford, is a brilliant scientist who mostly keeps to herself in her lab, trying to understand the parts of the brain that cause addiction, reward seeking and depression, among other things. Gifty is part of an immigrant family from Ghana, whose Father returned there when she was little, leaving her mother to raise her and her older brother, a gifted athlete who becomes…
Miss Iceland by Audur Ava Olafsdottir is a poetic, atmospheric book set in Iceland in the 1960’s. It follows Hekla, a young female writer and Jon, her gay best friend who longs to work in the theater. Both are out of place in Iceland at that time. Although the tone is often melancholic, I loved every second of this book. Olafsdottir completely captured the mood and the feeling of that particular time and place and what it would have been…
The Break by UK author Marian Keyes is a big juicy novel that’s absolute fun to get lost in. Hugh, wonderful husband and father of teenage daughters, goes through something of a mid-life crisis after the death of his parents and a good friend. Unable to pull himself out of grief, he decides he needs a six month complete break from his life and his marriage and he takes off to Thailand. This means Amy, his heartbroken wife, is also…
Where the Line Bleeds is the debut novel by Jesmyn Ward, author of Sing, Unburied, Sing. Set in rural Mississippi, the book follows twin brothers Joshua and Christophe the Summer after they graduate from high school. They live with their blind grandmother and both spend their days applying for any jobs they can find. The reappearance of their absent Mother and their addict Father bring challenges to the boys lives, which have for the first time ever, veered off in…
The Distance Between Us, A Memoir by Reyna Grande tells the all too common story of Mexican children who are left behind while their parents go to “El Otro Lado” the other side, to try to make a better life for their family, often times never coming back for their children. Reyna and her siblings grow up with a cruel grandmother in Mexico while waiting for their parents to return and take them to “El Otro Lado.” Beautifully written, honest,…
Sharks in the Time of Saviors by Kawai Strong Washburn, is a family saga set in Hawaii. Strong Washburn brings ancient Hawaiian mythology into modern day life and explores local Hawaiian culture in a way that few writers ever have. When seven year old Nainoa falls overboard and is saved by a shiver of sharks, his family knows there is something special about him. As he struggles with his newfound gifts as a healer, he eventually ends up working as…
We are Never Meeting in Real Life by Samantha Irby is a book of personal essays by Irby who also has a blog www.bitchesgottaeat.com. These essays are heart-wrenching, honest, gritty, often painfully sad, and always hilarious. Totally compelling, this book kept me up at night until I was through it all. It’s hard to laugh at another person’s pain, yet Irby invites us to do just that. Her writing is razor sharp, direct and packs an emotional punch, and did…
The Sleepwalkers Guide to Dancing is the debut novel by Mira Jacob. This is a fantastic family saga that takes the reader from India to New Mexico to Seattle and back. Following the lives of the Eapen family, Thomas, a brain surgeon and his wife Kamala, whose cooking I could almost taste, moved from India to America, raising their two kids Amina and Akhil in New Mexico. Amina, now in her early 30’s is a photographer living in Seattle when…
The Peppermint Tea Chronicles by Alexander McCall Smith is part of his 44 Scotland Street Series. If you feel like hanging out in Edinburgh for a few days this is a fun series to read. Full of McCall Smith’s usual wit and charm, we revisit familiar characters, my favorite of which is ten year old Bertie, finally free of the therapy sessions and yoga classes his mother had previously imposed on him. Nothing really new here, but as comfy as…