Memphis - Tara M. Stringfellow (The Dial Press, 2022) In 1995, Joan, her mother Miriam, and her younger sister Mya flee her father's violent temper and return to their family home in Memphis. They move back into the house that Miriam's father built, the house she grew up, and where Joan's aunt August still lives.… Continue reading Book Review: Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow
The Sentence - Louise Erdrich (Harper, 2021) This book was so much more than I expected. I went into it knowing that it was set in a bookstore, that the bookstore was haunted by their most annoying customer, and that part of it was set during lockdown in 2020. All of that is present in… Continue reading Book Review: The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
Jack - Marilynne Robinson (McClelland & Stewart, 2020) There is something about Marilynne Robinson's writing that cuts to the core of human nature. Her words are careful and thoughtful and she nails humanity and what it is to be human beings, especially humans in relationship with one another. In Jack, Robinsons explores the character of… Continue reading Book Review: Jack by Marilynne Robinson
The Chosen and the Beautiful - Nghi Vo (Tordotcom, 2021) A re-telling of The Great Gatsby from the perspective of Jordan Baker. This alone, as a blurb for a book, got my attention. Then throw in a Jordan Baker who is also an Asian immigrant and I was definitely intrigued. The Chosen and the Beautiful… Continue reading Book Review: The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain (Canterbury Classics, 2012) Huckleberry Finn is our hero and our narrator in this adventure novel that is really so much more than an adventure novel. Huck lives in Missouri, some time in the mid-19th century. The story begins after The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and we find Tom… Continue reading Book Review: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Vanishing Half - Brit Bennett (Riverhead Books, 2020) I received an Advance Review Copy of this book. All opinions are my own. This book is available for sale now. Having not yet read Brit Bennett's previous novel The Mothers, I wasn't sure if The Vanishing Half could live up to all the hype. I… Continue reading Book Review: The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou (Ballantine Books, 2015) This is the type of book that I'm not sure I can fairly review. Partly because it tells a story that isn't mine to judge or critique but also partly because I just really loved it. I didn't enjoy every moment -… Continue reading Book Review: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
When I first saw Ducks, Newburyport on the shelf at the bookstore and when I first read about it, I thought, "Well, there's a book I'll never read." The story clocks in at 988 pages. It's a stream-of-consciousness novel, told mostly in one rambling sentence. The parts that aren't this stream-of-conscious are told from the… Continue reading Book Review: Ducks, Newburyport by Lucy Ellmann
American War - Omar El Akkad (McClelland & Stewart, 2017) American War is a dystopian-style novel set in the near future of the United States. The very near future, as in 2074. For me, this was one of the most disconcerting and powerful aspects of the novel. In 2074 I'll be eighty-nine. It's not unreasonable… Continue reading Book Review: American War by Omar El Akkad
I've read Toni Morrison's Bluest Eye previously and had a vague idea of what Beloved was about so I knew I was in for a heavy read. To be honest, I'd put off reading this novel for that very reason. Yet as I read Beloved, I was reminded that sometimes it's important to look closely… Continue reading Book Review: Beloved by Toni Morrison
Karissa Reads Books 