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

KIN by Tayari Jones

Kin by Tayari Jones is a novel about two women, Vernice and Annie, who grew up as “cradle friends” in a small town in Louisiana in the 1950s. Both are motherless (Vernice’s mother was killed by her father, Annie’s mother abandoned her as an infant), and as they grow up, they become each other’s sister. After high school, Vernice goes to college while Annie moves to Memphis in search of her mother. Kin follows their parallel lives as they move into adulthood, always a presence for each other despite the physical distance between them. Through the women’s sporadic letters and

KIN by Tayari Jones

THE YAHOO BOYS by Carlos Barragán

Yahoo Boys: Love, Deception and the Real Lives of Nigeria’s Romance Scammers by Carlos Barragán is a disturbing book that stemmed from the author’s attempts to find the Nigerian man who had conned his well-educated, confident Spanish mother online for months. Barragán sets out to understand how these “Yahoo Boys”, so named because they develop so many online identities, prey on lonely white Americans, and why those Americans fall for the ruse. He interviews several

FINDING GRACE by Loretta Rothschild

[Warning: spoilers ahead!] I picked up Finding Grace by Loretta Rothschild based on glowing online reviews that described it as a cross between a literary romance and a psychological thriller. Tom and Honor, a wealthy couple living in London, go to Paris to celebrate Christmas with their young daughter. While there, they experience a tragedy that affects their relationship and lives forever. However, aside from this shocking early twist, the rest of the book played

THE FOURSOME by Christina Baker Kline

The Foursome by Christina Baker Kline is a fictionalized recounting of the life of Sarah Yates, one of the two sisters who married famous conjoined twins Cheng and Eng in mid-1880s North Carolina. What could convince a woman to marry a man with whom she could never be alone, signing up for a lifetime of sharing her husband not only with his brother, but with her own sister? Kline does a great job of getting

YOU WITH THE SAD EYES by Christina Applegate

I chose You With The Sad Eyes by Christina Applegate as the June memoir book club pick for Wonderland Books because I had heard great things about it, and it delivered. Applegate, an actor known best for her roles on Married… With Children and Dead To Me, has faced a lot of challenges in her life despite her onscreen success. She and her mother were abandoned by her father when she was a baby. She

THE BURNING SIDE by Sarah Damoff

Earlier this year, I read a debut novel called The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff. I loved this book about grief, forgiveness and parenthood, told through the prism of a marriage plagued by addiction. I was very excited to read Damoff’s new book, The Burning Side, which is also a family drama about a marriage in crisis. In The Burning Side, April, Leo and their two small children are forced to move out of their

GOOD PEOPLE by Patmina Sabit

Good People by Patmina Sabit is a powerful story about an Afghan family living in Northern Virginia. The Sharafs are successful and wealthy (after a rough start as immigrants), but their daughter Zorah pushes back against her confining, traditional upbringing. When she goes against her parents’ wishes, there are tragic consequences for her and the family. This book is narrated entirely by people outside the Sharafs – friends, neighbors, police, school officials – like a

WHISTLER by Ann Patchett

In Whistler, Ann Patchett’s latest novel, she returns to her roots with a novel about complicated family dynamics and the relationships in childhood that shape identity and one’s sense of self. One afternoon at the Met in New York City, Daphne, a middle aged woman visiting the museum with her husband, encounters an older man who has been following her through the rooms. He turns out to be Eddie, a man who was married to

SOLITO by Javier Zamora

Solito by Javier Zamora is a harrowing memoir about the author’s attempts to immigrate to the US from El Salvador when he was only nine years old, a trip he took unaccompanied because he was to meet his parents once he arrived safely across the border. The crossing, a stretch of 9 weeks when he was not in touch with anyone from his family, was arduous, risky and scary, including overnight boat rides to reach

YESTERYEAR by Caro Claire Burke

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke is the book of the spring, if sales at Wonderland Books are any indication. I was told to go in blind on this one, so I am going to keep this review pretty vague. Yesteryear is about a tradwife influencer named Natalie who lives on a ranch called Yesteryear in Idaho with her husband and five children. She wakes up one day in the 1850s, forced to adapt to the

DOGS, BOYS AND OTHER THINGS I’VE CRIED ABOUT by Isabel Klee

For those who don’t know who Isabel Klee is – she’s a tireless dog rescue advocate and Instagram influencer with a huge following who posts about the special needs dogs she fosters and guides to adoption. Her new memoir, Dogs, Boys and Other Things I’ve Cried About, chronicles the decade of her twenties, during which she had several relationships – many quite unhealthy – and discovered her true calling in life: dog rescue. I thoroughly

BRAWLER by Lauren Groff

Brawler by Lauren Groff is a collection of short stories that mostly revolve around women in a state of desperation or at a crossroads in their lives. In one, a woman tries to flee an abusive marriage with her three young children in tow. In another, a woman reaches midlife without ever really pursuing what she wants, and then finds herself in the throes of unrequited love. The longest story in the book is about

DOMINION by Addie Citchens

Dominion by Addie Citchens is the April pick for Wonderland Books’ literary fiction book club. It centers on a Black family living in Mississippi – a couple with five sons. The father, Sabre Winfrey, is a popular and powerful preacher in the town, yet one with a roaming eye and wandering hands. His wife, Priscilla, is aware of her husband’s transgressions, but looks the other way to maintain her role in the church and in

WHO NEEDS FRIENDS by Andrew McCarthy

Andrew McCarthy’s new book, Who Needs Friends: An Unscientific Examination Of Male Friendship Across America, is a travelogue of the author’s cross-country road trip to visit five close male friends with whom he has basically lost touch. He not only analyzes his relationships with these men – how they started, why they lapsed, and how they reignited thanks to these impulsive visits – but also talks to various men across America whom he encounters on

A HYMN TO LIFE: SHAME HAS TO CHANGE SIDES by Giséle Pelicot

A Hymn To Life: Shame Has To Change Sides by Giséle Pelicot is the long-anticipated memoir by the French woman whose husband drugged and raped her hundreds of times, allowing strange men into their bedroom at night while she slept, unaware. While I’ve heard people in the bookstore say, “I could never read that book,” I was eager to do so, wanting to hear her story in her words and be an audience to the