Recent Reviews
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The Dunning-Kruger Effect |
The Dunning-Kruger Effect by Andres Stoopendaal It has been a long time since a character made me cackle as much as the nameless protagonist here. In The Dunning-Kruger Effect, Stoopendaal introduces us to a young man who, after deciding to write his first novel, is overcome with hubris and is absolutely bogged down with ego and unrelenting thoughts of self-importance. Also, his girlfriend’s pomeranian, who likely is brain-damaged, is a constant distraction. How can a person with this kind of potential possibly work under these conditions?!? You’ll snort throughout this book, as Stoopendaal lovingly (mostly lovingly) takes the piss out of what it means to be an affluent, white, millennial male. The protagonist is the deluded older brother of Townsend's Adrian Mole, and the well-meaning son of Friedman's Larry Hubbard. He’ll annoy the heck out of you in the most enduring way. The Dunning-Kruger Effect is, if anything, eye-rollingly witty as all get-out. Recommended by Manda |
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Cicada Summer |
Cicada Summer by Erica McKeen Within the first pages of Cicada Summer, when McKeen informed me that I was not about to read a novel (yes, I was!), and that I was Husha (no, I’m not!), I felt defensive. My defenses fell almost immediately. I slid down a rabbit-hole with Husha, becoming her, dipping into a warm lake of grief as we came to terms with loss of love together. Trauma can feel dreamy and languid or like a sharp clenched fist. Husha feels it in both ways, sometimes both at once, slowly tumbling into a state of hallucinatory derealization. As the characters in this story read a strange book together, you are reading it with them. You may not be at a lake in the heat, but you’ll still hear cicadas. When you open this book, try to hold on to yourself and try not to be pulled softly into an empathetic mania, because when you open this book you’ll be Husha, too. Recommended by Manda |
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Scorched Grace |
Over a sweltering New Orleans summer, a series of fires plagues the Sisters of the Sublime Blood and their associated school, St. Sebastian’s. Determined to catch the culprit is Sister Holiday, a queer punk Maria von Trapp, who, between playing guitar and helping kids, has broken a commandment or two. It’s actually not that uncommon for nuns to be radical, and the sisters in Holiday’s order are no strangers to run-ins with the law. But whose law comes first—God’s or man’s? This women-led story highlights struggles of incarceration, queerness, poverty, and addiction, with a few lovely Easter eggs for the Catholics among us. Sister Holiday’s love for the divine feminine, despite everything, is inspiring. Recommended by Mary |
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The Skunks |
The Skunks is an allegorical romp through new adulthood, following a recent college graduate over a leisurely hometown summer, during which various skunk sightings serve as oracular highlights. Armed only with an anthropology degree, Isabel attempts to find meaning in life as she splits her time between housesitting, babysitting, and yoga studio front desk sitting. She is sophisticated and never thinks about boys *wink*. I just loved this earnest, dreamy, mirror of a novel. Recommended by Mary |
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Cinema Love |
In Mawei, China, there was a cinema where gay men met in secret, their forbidden love expressed and cherished in dark, dingy rooms. But tragedy came, and three of those connected with the cinema found their way to New York, where twenty years later, they meet again, the past still haunting them. Tang expertly weaves his characters’ stories across the continents and years, threading in other supporting actors to create a complex tapestry of sorrow, struggle, joy, and redemption. Recommended by Nancy |
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Black Meme |
Black Meme is a force to be reckoned with. Legacy Russell tackles the continued exploitation of Blackness through the constant reproduction of Black movement and language. Art exhibits, police cam footage, and GIFs are all sites of Russell’s research on Black memes. Photos on postcards and videos of protestors facing police violence distribute the image of Black death and steal Black identity. In connecting these dots, Russell builds a masterpiece of thought on how non-Black consumption harms Black people and continues intergenerational trauma. This book is both an American historical text and a radical framework for Black futures. It blew me out of the water. Recommended by Nikita |
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The Fox Wife |
Folklore, mystery, and romance result in a beguiling tale of foxes and humans. An aging detective with a talent for discerning the truth is hired to find the identity of a young woman found dead. His journey leads him in many unexpected directions and to meetings with a multitude of fascinating and sometimes quite mysterious people. Yangsze has created a magical tale with some of the most intriguing and unforgettable characters I have ever encountered. Recommended by Nancy |
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The Editor |
For those readers who have loved The Diary of Anne Frank, The Art of French Cooking, and the cookbooks of MFK Fisher, Madhur Jaffrey and a host of others, they have, in large part, one fearless editor to thank: Judith Jones. The story of her rescue of The Diary of Anne Frank from a slush pile at Doubleday was enough to hook me, and the rest of her story kept and held me. The irrepressible Jones made a career for herself in the heyday of publishing, a time ruled largely by men. Franklin's riveting biography takes us through every luscious moment of Jones's career, from New York to Paris and back again, chronicling not only her life, but the rise of publishing itself. Recommended by Kelly |
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Long Island |
In Long Island, Tóibín picks up the threads of his Brooklyn protagonist, Eilis's story twenty years later. The decisions she made then have caught up with her. Her husband, Tony, the man she left Ireland to begin a life with in New York, has impregnated the wife of a plumbing customer, who promises to leave the "bastard" child on their front steps. In her dazed return to Ireland, ostensibly for her mother's eightieth birthday celebration, a more mature Eilis rediscovers the love of the man she left behind and must wrestle with her future. Who is she making decisions for, and what will be their ramifications? Tóibín's prose rustles with the unspoken. Recommended by Kelly |
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The Deepest Lake |
Speaking from personal experience, I can say that Andromeda Romano-Lax has perfectly captured the immense egos and occasional toxicity of writer's workshops in her thriller, The Deepest Lake. When Rose's daughter, Jules, disappears and is assumed dead following just such a workshop at a posh resort in Central America, Rose poses as another devotee of its edgy leader, known for bringing participants to their knees with her criticism. What she begins to uncover is terrifying. Couldn't put it down. Recommended by Kelly |
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