What I Read – March 2017

I've fallen behind in reviewing books but am working to catch up and get some reviews posted next week. In the meantime, here's what I read this month: Eileen - Ottessa Moshfegh (Penguin Press, 2015) The Dark and Other Love Stories - Deborah Willis (Hamish Hamilton, 2017) She was glad that was done. What a… Continue reading What I Read – March 2017

Book Review: How to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen by Joanna Faber & Julie King

In the world of parenting books, one I had heard frequently recommended was How to Talk so Kids will Listen and How to Listen so Kids Will Talk Adele Faber. I figured I would wait until Pearl was older/ more verbal to read it but when I saw a new edition titled How to Talk… Continue reading Book Review: How to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen by Joanna Faber & Julie King

Book Review: The Dark and Other Love Stories by Deborah Willis

A quick disclaimer to say that I know Deborah Willis but only a little bit. We were in the same program at university but she was a couple of years ahead of me and we briefly worked at the same coffee shop and then we worked at rival bookstores. I read her first short story… Continue reading Book Review: The Dark and Other Love Stories by Deborah Willis

Book Review: Eileen – Otessa Moshfegh

  I finished this book in about two days, which gives you a pretty good idea of how compelling a read it is. Yet now, days later, I find myself struggling over what to say about Eileen and even whether or not to say that I liked it. It's a compulsive read. While the action… Continue reading Book Review: Eileen – Otessa Moshfegh

Book Review: What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours

I I'd previous read one novel by Helen Oyeyemi (Boy, Snow, Bird) so I had some idea of what to expect from her writing. Oyeyemi's stories exist in a slightly alternate universe of magic, discomfort, and romance. There is something delightfully disorienting about her world. It's almost like ours but some of the details are… Continue reading Book Review: What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours

Book Review: The Best Kind of People by Zoe Whittall

The novel opens with Sadie Woodbury, elementary school student, finding herself face-to-face with a would-be school shooter. Sadie (and, presumably, the entire school or at least the secretary the shooter came to kill) is saved by teacher George Woodbury, also her own father. This is a rather heavy-handed way of letting the reader know how… Continue reading Book Review: The Best Kind of People by Zoe Whittall

Book Review: Barrelling Forward by Eva Crocker

One of my 2017 reading goals is to read more short stories. Readers seem to have a love 'em or hate 'em relationship with short stories (especially short story collections) but I fall firmly into the love 'em category. Particularly in my life right now, I enjoy being able to finish a whole story in… Continue reading Book Review: Barrelling Forward by Eva Crocker

Book Review: Here I Am by Jonathan Safran Foer

Here I Am is 500+ pages and it took me about half of that to begin enjoying the novel. Having read Foer's work before, I was sure my commitment would pay off. At the same time, my expectations of Foer's work led to some initial disappointment with Here I Am. Foer's two previous novels, Extremely… Continue reading Book Review: Here I Am by Jonathan Safran Foer