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Lost in the City, by Edward P. Jones *****
Edward P. Jones needs my review like Shakespeare needs my review. He is one of those literary luminaries whose work is timeless. Nobody can teach anyone to write like this. Either you have it, or you...
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The Sunlit Night, by Rebecca Dinerstein *****
When was the last time I read something this poignant? No, it’s more than poignant. This novel is a real powerhouse, and my heartfelt thanks go to Net Galley and Bloomsbury, USA for letting me read it...
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River of Earth, by James Still *****
River of Earth, originally published in 1940, is a classic tale of Appalachian coal miners, dirt-poor, ever-proud people living deep in the mountains, crags and hollers, trying to scratch out a living,...
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The Goldfinch, by Donna Tartt *****
I didn’t want to read this book. I resisted it until it had the Pulitzer; then I caved. And once begun, Tartt’s spellbinding tale owned me until I had turned the final page. The story begins in an art...
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The Sunken Cathedral, by Kate Walbert ***
My three stars here are a compromise. Try as I did, I could not enjoy this novel, but it is marketed more toward New Yorkers than others, and although I like a good urban setting and have enjoyed New...
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City on Fire, by Garth Risk Hallberg*****
Luminous, epic, and brilliantly scribed, City on Fire is the buzz book of the year. I would be hard pressed to find a story of greater genius published this century. Those that love literature have to...
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My Name is Lucy Barton, by Elizabeth Strout*****
Elizabeth Strout is the Pulitzer winning author of Olive Kitteridge and The Burgess Boys. Her new novel, My Name is Lucy Barton, may be her strongest work yet. I was lucky enough to get my DRC free of...
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Breaker: A Windy City Dark Mystery, by Richard Thomas*****
Richard Thomas is a monstrously great writer. In Breaker, a Windy City Dark mystery, he presents us with Ray, a man of unusual and intimidating appearance; a sinister stranger in a white van who...
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The Fugitives, by Christopher Sorrentino****
Sandy Mulligan is a renowned author, but he’s hit a crisis. He’s left his wife and children for someone else, and it didn’t work out. Now he’s taken to the hinterlands to try to write the book he’s...
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The Children’s Home, by Charles Lambert*****
Lambert is a brilliant writer, and his absorbing new novel, The Children’s Home, is the best literary fiction I have read in some time. Thank you to Scribner and Net Galley for the DRC, which I...
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Pilgrims: A Lake Wobegon Romance*****
Oh my stars. Keillor is at his finest here. I’ve never read anything funnier. Every now and then I permit myself to read a title that isn’t a new release but that I’ve been considering reading for a...
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Miller’s Valley, by Anna Quindlen*****
Miller’s Valley is an intimate, poignant story so personal that it is hard to remember that it’s fiction rather than a memoir. Thanks to Net Galley and Random House for the DRC. Though I usually read...
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The Tin Roof Blowdown, by James Lee Burke*****
Sometimes people say they “ran across” a book, and that is close to how I came to read James Lee Burke for the first time. I had been tidying up for company, and my daughter had selected this book from...
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Where All Light Tends to Go, by David Joy*****
“Dead men tell no tales, Jacob. The ones left to living are the ones who write the history.” I received my DRC courtesy of Net Galley and Putnam Penguin publishers in exchange for an honest review....
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The Portable Veblen, by Elizabeth Mckenzie*****
“There is a terrible alchemy coming.” Veblen has led an insular life, focusing her energies on genealogy, a love of nature, and oh dear heaven, her mother. The fact is, her mother is both dominant to...
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Work Like Any Other, by Virginia Reeves****
Reeves makes her debut here with a deeply moving, haunting tale of a man that tries to do the right thing and finds his entire life miserably, horribly gone wrong instead. Thank you to Net Galley and...
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The Girls, by Emma Cline*****
The Girls is a fictionalized account of the Manson Murders, a terrible killing spree that stunned the USA in the 1960s before any mass shootings had occurred, when Americans were still reeling from the...
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The Fat Artist and Other Stories, by Benjamin Hale*****
I like short stories. My Goodreads library tells me I have munched my way through 89 collections and anthologies; yet I can tell you that there is nothing even remotely similar to what Hale offers...
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Redemption Road, by John Hart ***-****
John Hart has loyal readers, but until a friend mentioned his name to me I had not read his work. Thanks go to Net Galley and St. Martin’s Press for the DRC, which I received free in return for an...
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Everyone Brave is Forgiven, by Chris Cleave*****
This is one of those rare novels that I have passed by multiple times despite all the buzz it has generated, because it looked as if it was out of my wheelhouse. A socialite. Pssh. A British officer....
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