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

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 Greek chorus. Everyone has their own theory about what happened, with readers left to draw their own conclusions about guilt and innocence, honor killings and

GOOD PEOPLE by Patmina Sabit

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

Escape! by Stephen Fishbach

Escape! by Stephen Fishbach is about two characters looking for redemption on a fictional, Survivor-like reality competition show. Kent, a has-been former winner, and Beck, a disgraced TV producer, are each hoping that Escape! will give them a fresh start, a chance to erase former mistakes and emerge victorious, at least in the public’s eye. But the show goes in some very dark directions, thanks to manipulative producers and ruthless contestants. Fishbach, a two-time Survivor

STRANGERS by Belle Burden

As I watched the hype grow for Strangers by Belle Burden, I resisted it, thinking it was yet another divorce memoir by a privileged woman. What more could it add to this subgenre that I hadn’t read before? As it turns out, I really enjoyed it. Belle Burden was living in New York City with her banker husband and three children at the start of the pandemic. They immediately relocated to their house in Martha’s

THE MANY LIVES OF MAMA LOVE by Lara Love Hardin

The Many Lives of Mama Love by Lara Love Hardin was the pick for the first Wonderland Books Memoir Book Club. It’s the story of Lara Love Hardin, a mother of four living in an affluent Northern California suburb. who hid a drug addiction from her family and neighbors. To pay for her habit, she stole from people around her, using neighbors’ credit cards and taking money from people’s houses. When she and her husband

THE RESERVATION by Rebecca Kauffman

I adored Rebecca Kauffman’s novel Chorus, and was very excited to see that she has a new novel out. The Reservation is a compelling mix of mystery, kaleidoscopic character study and workplace drama. On the day that John Grisham is to attend a dinner at an upscale restaurant in a Midwestern college town, 22 ribeye steaks go missing from the kitchen, and the restaurant’s owner, Orsa, spends the day trying to figure out who stole

ISOLA by Allegra Goodman

Isola by Allegra Goodman is historical fiction (based on a real person) about a noblewoman named Marguerite who lived in France in the 16th century. She is orphaned and left under the care of a guardian who treats her cruelly, siphons away her fortune, and forces her to join hin as he sails to the New World (Canada). Ultimately, he maroons her on a bleak, uninhabited island, where she is forced to fend for herself.

ACROSS THE UNIVERSE by Natan Last

Crossword puzzle fans – this one is for you. Natan Last’s Across The Universe: The Past, Present, and Future of the Crossword Puzzle is an entertaining look at crossword puzzles, a pastime that has grown in popularity in recent decades, exploding especially after the pandemic. Last, a constructor and constructing instructor, explores the history and roots of the crossword puzzle, but what I found more interesting was the discussion of the puzzle as a social