All Adults Here by Emma Straub I really enjoyed this book. Astrid, one of the main characters was nostalgically reminiscent of Olive Kitteridge. I also really enjoyed the dynamic portrayed between her three adult children – their squabbles and loyalties. I am an only child and have three adult children sheltering in place with me […]
Kimmery Martin has done it again in “The Antidote For Everything.” Her use of language and turns of phrase were plenty to keep me reading, but then there were the characters she developed in Georgia and Jonah. Their friendship is the type we all strive for. As a doctor, Martin knows about what she writes […]
The Darlings by Cristina Alger I enjoyed the audio version of this book very much. I was drawn to its portrait of a privileged family with its descriptions of the Manhattan elite and all their trappings. I am a fan of family drama and any book that is set in an environment of which the […]
This essay was originally published on Zibby Owens’ We Found Time. I once took a class in the art of memoir where the assignment was to write about an object and its meaning. I bristled at the prompt. Objects are only objects, I told myself, and imbuing them with meaning was materialistic and shallow. It […]
Small Fry by Lisa Brennan-Jobs Loved this memoir. If you’ve read Steve Jobs’ biography… it adds the perspective of a girl with such incredible emotional intelligence. Lisa Brennan-Jobs has the ability to honestly reflect on her adolescent and young adult self without being bitter or vindictive. If you haven’t read the man’s biography, it is […]
Severance by Ling Ma Not sure it was a good idea to read Severance while on lockdown during the COVID-19 Pandemic, but boy did it make it prescient and a bit surreal. I would wake up in the morning, having read before falling asleep, not sure which apocalyptic situation I was dealing with. I loved […]
Writers & Lovers by Lily King Maybe it’s because I’m a Bostonian and could relate so strongly to the setting, and being a writer myself, to that certain brand of neurosis, but King imparts so much in Writers and Lovers about being a creative soul and the insecurities and idealism that come with it. Casey […]
Watermark by Elise Schiller May 2020 Elise Schiller’s Watermark is a poignant novel that gripped me from beginning to end. Masterfully structured and told from the alternating points of view of the protagonist’s loyal friend and astute yet anxiety-ridden younger sister, this novel offers the reader a multi-faceted view of Angel Ferente, a girl positioned […]
Fairyland: A Memoir of My Father by Alysia Abbott I loved this memoir. This was an illuminating Father / Daughter story, unique in its setting, and the fact that Alysia was raised by her single, gay father in San Francisco in the ’70’s and ’80’s. Maybe it’s my current orientation, but what I really took […]
In THESE WOMEN, Ivy Pochoda paints a gritty portrait of South Central LA. A serial killer is on the loose but ‘these women’ aren’t heard, aren’t listened to, are dismissed as not mattering. I loved this novel for its voices. Pochoda is a master at elevating what is base and primal, and in some lights […]
