Everyday I Write the Book - It'll help you figure out what to read.

LEAVING by Roxana Robinson

Leaving by Roxana Robinson is a wrenching novel about a couple in their 60s who reconnect after having been involved in college. Sarah and Warren, who dated in their early 20s, broke up over what was basically a misunderstanding. They each married and had families, and decades passed. Forty years later, they cross paths at the opera and discover that they still have a connection. Leaving is about the rekindling of that connection and the ramifications it brings. Why I picked it up: I read Robinson’s equally wrenching novel about addiction, Cost, many years ago (2009), and really liked it.

Favorite Books of 2023

Here are my favorite books of 2023! These are the ones that stayed with me over the months, that said something important or moving or memorable. 7 fiction, 1 non-fiction, and mostly sad/depressing (what else is new?). In no particular order: Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld: A completely realistic, relatable story of an unlikely pair who reconnects during the pandemic. I adored this book. The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton: Dystopian cli-fi about the demise

HOT SPRINGS DRIVE by Lindsay Hunter

I’ve been in a major reading rut the last two months, too distracted to focus, so I keep starting books and reading 20 pages and then stopping. I thought I might get out of the rut with Hot Springs Drive by Lindsay Hunter, a book I had heard compared to Gone Girl. It’s about Jackie and Theresa, next door neighbors who become best friends and then decide to lose weight together. Their physical transformations change

TANGERINE by Christine Mangan

I just finished up the last few categories of the 2023 EDIWTB Reading Challenge. My final three unread books were all from the same category – Book From My Bookshelf – one that I love because I get to pick a random book from my unread shelves, no matter how old. #1 was Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin and #2 was Adelaide by Genevieve Wheeler. #3 was Tangerine by Catherine Mangan, a 2018 debut

ADELAIDE by Genevieve Wheeler

Adelaide by Genevieve Wheeler is a debut novel about a bad but completely relatable relationship. Adelaide is an American twentysomething living in London. She meets Rory, a handsome young English man, and they start dating. She falls quickly and hard for him, but he’s not quite the boyfriend she wants him to be. He’s maddeningly elusive, inconsistently attentive and doesn’t see a future with her. And yet she keeps giving him more and more, hoping

YOUNG JANE YOUNG by Gabrielle Zevin

Young Jane Young by Gabrielle Zevin tells a familiar story through the eyes of three women: Rachel Grossman, a woman in her 60s in Florida whose daughter Aviva has had an affair with a congressman while working in his office as an intern; Jane Young, an event planner in Maine and Aviva’s new identity; and Ruby Young, Jane’s adolescent daughter. Even though the intern-politician story was trampled to death in the late 90s, it feels

NOTHING GOOD CAN COME FROM THIS and EXIT INTERVIEW by Kristi Coulter

I read two memoirs by Kristi Coulter in October – Nothing Good Can Come From This, about her experience with alcoholism and sobriety, and Exit Interview, about her decade working at Amazon. This is the first time I’ve ever combined two reviews into one post, but these books are basically about the same thing: Coulter coming to the realization that after many years of doing something ultimately detrimental to her health – drinking and working

THE GUEST by Emma Cline

Two months ago, it seemed like The Guest by Emma Cline was everywhere and everyone I know was reading it. Thankfully, that resulted in me getting a copy from my friend (thanks, TB!). I had read and liked, but not loved, Cline’s debut novel The Girls, and was a little iffy on the premise of The Guest, but when people told me they couldn’t put it down, I decided to give it a try. It’s

PETE AND ALICE IN MAINE by Caitlin Shetterly

I think readers fall into two camps: those who enjoy pandemic novels that bring back all the stress and angst of 2020 Covid, and those who do not enjoy pandemic novels that bring back all the stress and angst of 2020 Covid. I am one of the readers who enjoys those novels, and the most recent one I read was Pete And Alice In Maine by Caitlin Shetterly. It’s about a married couple with two

THE COUNTRY OF THE BLIND by Andrew Leland

Another short review because I am so behind! The Country Of The Blind: A Memoir At The Edge Of Sight by Andrew Leland is about the author’s experience losing his sight due to retinitis pigmentosa, a condition that causes the gradual loss of vision over decades. At times it is intensely personal, while at others it is an almost academic treatise on blindness through history and the organizations and institutions devoted to representing and advocating

THE ROAD TO DALTON by Shannon Bowring

I am waaaay behind on reviews, so the next few are going to be short. If you like books of interconnected stories about small towns, I have a five-star read for you: The Road To Dalton by Shannon Bowring, a character-driven debut novel about several people living in a small remote town in northern Maine. It’s an ordinary cast of characters – a doctor, his wife the librarian. a woman who works at a nursing

WHO WE ARE NOW by Lauryn Chamberlain

I am a sucker for books about post-college groups of friends. That rootless, confusing time of life, when you’ve left the college cocoon and have to figure out what you want to do and who you want to be, lends itself so well to fiction. And groups of people with changing – often conflicting – goals and desires can make for a compelling story. That’s why I picked up Lauryn Chamberlain’s novel Who We Are

END CREDITS by Patty Lin

I am naturally drawn to the microgenre of memoirs about people’s jobs/careers – I love digging in on the challenges and joys of what people do for a living, whether it’s acting, working in tech, medicine, or finance. Patty Lin’s memoir End Credits is about her almost two decades spent as a TV screenwriter, taking readers through how she got into the industry and why she eventually left. Like many of the memoirs I’ve read

TOM LAKE by Ann Patchett

A new book from Ann Patchett is always cause for excitement, and her latest came out in early August (unusual for a highly anticipated release) because Patchett wanted it to be a summer read. Tom Lake is a pandemic novel about love, family, and how people and timing can change our ambitions and dreams. The premise of this one didn’t grab me right away when I read about it, but I was definitely willing to

THE OTHER SIDE by Lacy Johnson

Boy, I am really gravitating toward heavy books these days. The most recent was The Other Side, a memoir by Lacy Johnson about an abusive relationship that resulted in a kidnapping and rape. The memoir is a raw, deeply honest account of Johnson’s relationship with the man who assaulted her, as well as the trauma she experienced in the years that followed. Why I picked it up: I learned about The Other Side on an

SOMETHING WILD by Hanna Halperin

Something Wild by Hanna Halperin is a dark novel about two sisters who go to help their mother move out of their childhood home and discover that she is in an abusive relationship with her husband. Their attempts to extricate her from the relationship force them to relive complicated and painful memories from their adolescence that shaped them into who they became as adults. Why I picked it up: I read Halperin’s second novel, I