After a lonely childhood spent with an unloving family, William Waters finally feels at home playing basketball at a prestigious college in Chicago. When William meets Julia Padavano, a dynamic and beautiful girl with a tight-knit and loving family, he is quickly embraced by the lively Padavano clan. Julia is a literal… Keep Reading
MY LAST INNOCENT YEAR by DAISY ALPERT FLORIN
Excuse me while I recover from a book hangover. This is a powerful yet very tender coming-of-age story set in late 1990’s academia. Isabel is a college senior at a small liberal arts college who has a non-consensual sexual encounter with a fellow student. That acts as the catalyst for her affair with her (married)… Keep Reading
BIG SWISS by JEN BEAGIN
I’m certain I won’t read another book this year as quirky as Big Swiss. The title refers to the nickname that our main protagonist Greta gives to the voice in the therapy sessions she is transcribing. Greta works for a sex therapist named Om in Hudson, New York (where everyone knows each other) transcribing… Keep Reading
SAM by ALLEGRA GOODMAN
I generally love the book recommendations from Read With Jenna, and after seeing this book all over Instagram, I decided to listen to the audiobook. The author noted that her own daughter was the inspiration for this story which I found very intriguing. Overall, this is a very spare yet very thoughtfully written coming of… Keep Reading
BUNNY by MONA AWAD
I’m sure you’ve heard about this very odd and very wicked book by now (it has over 80,000 Goodreads reviews!!) As 2022 drew to a close, was anxious to get to some of the books on my TBR, and this one was at the top of my list. The first half of the book was… Keep Reading
THE RABBIT HUTCH by TESS GUNTY
Astounding! Tess Gunty is brilliant. I am not smart enough to give this book the review it deserves. This absolutely STUNNING debut novel, the winner of the National Book Award 2022 for Fiction, is unlike any book I’ve ever listened to. Definitely not an easy read, this book tackles trauma, the foster care system,… Keep Reading
SIGNAL FIRES by DANI SHAPIRO
“Change one thing and everything changes.” Such a beautiful, melancholic story of family, love and memory! The quick summary is that one summer night in 1985, three teenagers, who have been drinking, get into a car. One of them gets behind the wheel and, in an instant, everything changes. This book explores the connections… Keep Reading
OUR MISSING HEARTS by CELESTE NG
The mighty Celeste Ng has created a dystopian United States where neighbors inform on neighbors, police violence is the norm and people are deemed patriotic based on their belief in American “customs and traditions”. Books are banned and turned into toilet paper and Asian-Americans are met with suspicion, hatred and violence. Children are forcibly… Keep Reading
TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW, AND TOMORROW by GABRIELLE ZEVIN
My Review: Epic. I never imagined a novel about gaming would be so beautiful. There is a lot to unpack in this novel. Readers have noted the book’s length but I only had the length of the audiobook to go by – a hefty (for me) 13 hours and 51 minutes. But for… Keep Reading
CORINNE by REBECCA MORROW
About the Book: You want to walk away from the things that were bad for you and never look back. That’s what Corinne Callahan wants. Cast out of the fundamentalist church she was raised in and cut off from her family, Corinne builds a new life for herself. A good one. But she… Keep Reading