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

LIKE MOTHER LIKE MOTHER by Susan Rieger

I am having a hard time focusing on books these days – ironic – as the bookstore opening is just a few days away. I keep picking up books and putting them down. One that I did manage to finish last month was Like Mother Like Mother by Susan Rieger. It’s about three generations of women/mothers – Zelda, an abused wife living in Detroit; Lila, her very successful daughter who is an editor at a Washington, DC newspaper; and Grace, one of Lila’s three daughters. Zelda died in a mental hospital when Lila was young, which shaped her into the

SHARK HEART by Emily Habeck

I have been consumed by bookstore stuff lately and while I’ve actually finished a few books, I haven’t had a chance to review them. I am going to try to keep my reviews a little shorter going forward so that I can keep up with this blog as the bookstore opening approaches. I know that many people initially took a pass on Shark Heart by Emily Habeck because of its unusual premise – a man

HOW TO PROTECT BOOKSTORES AND WHY by Danny Caine

I bought How To Protect Bookstores And Why: The Present and Future of Bookselling (from Bookshop.org, of course) about a year ago. I read it very slowly, not daring to presume that it would soon be very relevant to my life. But, of course, it now is, and I finished it a few weeks ago just as the plans for Wonderland Books became public. I recommend it to anyone who believes in the value of

SOCIOPATH: A MEMOIR by Patric Gagne

Sociopath by Patric Gagne is a memoir about the author’s experience going through life as a sociopath. As a young girl, Gagne knew that there was something different about her, but it took her a few decades to truly understand what it was. Sociopath is not only about her process of accepting herself as she is, but also her effort to help other sociopaths as they too follow the road to understanding and acceptance. Why

Introducing Wonderland Books!

Hi EDIWTB Readers! I am posting today with some very exciting news. I am opening a bookstore! Owning a bookstore has been a dream of mine for a very long time. (If you’re a reader of this blog I don’t think I need to tell you why.) I’ve spent the last 18 months or so planning this out, acquiring an amazing partner, developing a business plan, finding a place, negotiating a lease, and learning everything

GREEN DOT by Madeleine Gray

I love when authors take common scenarios and, thanks to introspective, detailed writing, turn them into unique stories that feel fresh and original. That’s the case with Green Dot by Madeleine Gray. Hera is an aimless twentysomething woman living in Sydney who takes a job as a discussion moderator for an online news site. Her job is soulless and boring, but a few days in, she meets an older journalist who sits on the other

MERCURY by Amy Jo Burns

I am way behind on posts, so in order to catch up these next few are going to be short! Mercury by Amy Jo Burns takes place in a small depressed town in Pennsylvania. Marley moves to town with her mother as a senior in high school and quickly gets involved with Baylor, the eldest of three sons in a local family that runs the town’s roofing business. Marley soon becomes entrenched in the Joseph

VICTIM by Andrew Boryga

Just as last year’s juggernaut Yellowface featured a shameless, amoral author taking advantage of woke liberalism and tokenism in publishing, Andrew Boryga’s Victim does the same thing with journalism. It looks at victimhood -projected, experienced or faked – and how one young man’s manipulation of it sent him soaring, and then crashing, through the New York City journalism scene. If you enjoy fast-paced novels with unlikeable characters and can’t-look-away plot trainwrecks, then Victim is for

THE HUSBANDS by Holly Gramazio

I love books with Sliding Doors/alternative endings formats, and boy did Holly Gramazio deliver with her new novel, The Husbands. Lauren lives outside London, and after a night of partying, wakes up to find her husband climbing down the attic stairs. The only catch – Lauren doesn’t have a husband. What follows for the next year and a half is a parade of husbands coming from and returning to the attic, some staying for a

TROUBLED by Rob Henderson

Troubled: A Memoir of Foster Care, Family, and Social Class by Rob Henderson opens with the assertion that the one thing that can create the foundation for a successful life isn’t education or wealth, but a stable family life. Henderson grew up in a chaos, with a mother who abandoned him at a very young age, a string of foster homes, and an adoptive family that splintered early. Despite his achievements later in life, including

GENERATIONS by Jean Twenge

Generations by Jean Twenge is a meticulous, detailed exploration of the six living generations – Silent, Boomer, X, Millennial, Z and Polars – and how and why they differ from each other. Using exhaustive data from a range of sources, Twenge explores how each generation approaches things like race, politics, sexuality, mental health, work, marriage, money, and more, and how those attitudes developed. I highly recommend Generations to pretty much anyone – there is so

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

AFTER ANNIE by Anna Quindlen

After Annie by Anna Quindlen tracks the first year after the sudden death of Annie, a married mother of four, through the eyes of her adolescent daughter Ali, her best friend Annemarie and her husband Bill. Through their thoughts and memories, Quindlen fills in a portrait of Annie as a wife, mother and friend, and explores the pain and timelines of grief. Why I picked it up: I’ve never read any Anna Quindlen novels before,

PIGLET by Lottie Hazell

Lottie Hazell’s debut novel Piglet is about one British woman’s appetites – for acceptance, for respectability, and yes, for food. Piglet, christened with a terrible nickname by her family, is so close to rising above her working-class roots. She’s engaged to a wealthy man, Kit, and they live in a lovely house in which they entertain and show off their enviable life. But a few weeks before their wedding, Kit admits to have betrayed Piglet,

GOOD MATERIAL by Dolly Alderton

Good Material by Dolly Alderton flips the usual sad breakup story by telling it from the guy’s perspective. Andy, a mid-thirties stand-up comedian, has just been broken up with by Jen, his girlfriend of three years, and he’s devastated. With his career stalling, his friends all married off and the love of his life gone, Andy is at loose ends. Good Material tracks the months after the breakup, as Andy tries to put his life

REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES by Shelby Van Pelt

My book club’s pick for this month was Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt, a book whose bright cover has been ubiquitous this year. I picked this one up on a recent trip to Parnassus Bookstore, based on the buzz about the book. (Also, I think octopuses are pretty cool.) It’s about Marcellus, an elderly octopus living in an aquarium in Washington state; Tova, an older woman who cleans the aquarium; and Cameron, a