Category Archives: Contemporary

The Kiss Quotient

A lot of my reading friends have been enjoying romance novels lately, but I’ve been hesitant to give the genre much attention, not so much out of snobbery but because I already enjoy too many genres. I don’t need another … Continue reading

Posted in Contemporary, Fiction | 4 Comments

Breasts and Eggs

My TOB reading continues with Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami and translated from the Japanese by Sam Bett and David Boyd. It’s a long book, maybe the longest on the list this year, and I think it could have done … Continue reading

Posted in Contemporary, Fiction | 8 Comments

October 2020 in Review

I can’t quite believe we’re here at the end of October, just a few days away from the election we’ve been anticipating since November 9, 2016, and with no end to this pandemic in sight. I am cautiously optimistic about … Continue reading

Posted in Classics, Contemporary, Fiction, Graphic Novels / Comics | 4 Comments

September Reading in Review

Do you ever feel guilty for not loving a book? I sometimes do, especially when I have several middling reading experiences in a row with books that don’t have obvious problems because that’s when I have good reason to suspect … Continue reading

Posted in Classics, Contemporary, Fiction, Speculative Fiction | 10 Comments

February Reading in Review

I hadn’t intended to read all of the 2020 Tournament of Books contenders, but once I’d read most of them, I couldn’t help myself and ended up finishing the list. Alas the TOB brackets have my favorites (Girl Woman Other, … Continue reading

Posted in Contemporary, Fiction, Mysteries/Crime | 16 Comments

Nothing to See Here

A month ago, I was pretty discouraged with this year’s Tournament of Books line up. Everything I read from the shortlist was just … fine. Sometimes pretty good. Sometimes worth discussing. But nothing was knocking my socks off. Well, now, … Continue reading

Posted in Contemporary, Fiction | 12 Comments

Your House Will Pay

Steph Cha’s Your House Will Pay takes a nuanced look at the difficulties of living in a world filled with intergenerational racist violence. It tells this story through the lives of two characters who come at the problem from opposite … Continue reading

Posted in Contemporary, Fiction | 8 Comments

Fleishman is in Trouble

For a long time, Toby Fleishman and his wife Rachel weren’t happy together, and the decision to divorce felt like a relief. But then, in the midst of the separation period, Rachel takes off for a yoga retreat, a day … Continue reading

Posted in Contemporary, Fiction | 2 Comments

What I Read This Summer: June Readings

Instead of attempting to review all the books I read while on my unplanned break, or leaving them entirely unrecorded, I’m going to do a series of posts with mini-reviews of what I read when I wasn’t blogging. If anyone … Continue reading

Posted in Classics, Contemporary, Fiction, Mysteries/Crime | 6 Comments

Normal People

Now I’m going to see if I can keep up my blogging momentum by writing about a book I enjoyed well enough but don’t think I have much to say about it. Sally Rooney’s Normal People seems to be something of … Continue reading

Posted in Contemporary, Fiction | 6 Comments