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LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY by Bonnie Garmus

Lessons In Chemistry is a hot book this summer, and politically timely as well. It’s about Elizabeth Zott, a chemist and mother living in California in the 1960s who faces repeated discrimination against women scientists and is forced to give up her job. Out of desperation, Zott agrees to helm an afternoon television program about cooking, where she achieves a degree of fame but still has to contend with the irrational ire of the male producer and station owner. Zott refuses to hew to societal expectations, working chemistry lessons into her cooking demonstrations and continuing to fight for equality and

NEWS OF THE WORLD: Book vs Movie

Hi guys! I am alive and well. I haven’t posted here in a little while for a few reasons: I was traveling for work last week, had a fun COVID scare (negative), and was then deep in the vortex of college applications. Also, I have been a little stalled on the book front. I have a print book, an audiobook and a blow dry book going, and while I am enjoying each of them, none

COUNT THE WAYS by Joyce Maynard

Oh, I have the worst book hangover right now. I just finished Joyce Maynard’s new novel, Count The Ways, which was so good that I didn’t want it to end. It’s a family drama about a woman named Eleanor who has a terribly sad, lonely childhood and marries a man named Cam in her mid-20s. They have three kids and enjoy several blissful years of parenting and building a life together until a tragedy strikes

NEWS OF THE WORLD by Paulette Jiles

I’ve had News Of The World by Paulette Jiles on my shelf for several years (my copy is a 2016 ARC) and finally decided to pick it up to satisfy the book vs movie pairing category of the 2021 EDIWTB Reading Challenge, as the film adaptation of the book came out last December. (I haven’t watched the movie yet, but I will soon.) The book is historical fiction about Captain Jefferson Kidd, an 70 year-old

THE OTHER BLACK GIRL by Zakiya Dalila Harris

The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris, a novel about a young Black woman working at a prestigious publishing house in New York, was one of the hot books of spring 2021. I’ve had it in the house for a while, and for some reason the timing never felt right to pick it up. My book club chose it as one of our two October reads (don’t ask, we got off-schedule), providing the action-forcing

WANT by Lynn Steger Strong

Want by Lynn Steager Strong is not a happy book. Its unnamed narrator, a mother of two young daughters in her thirties, lives with her husband in their cramped Brooklyn apartment. She works two jobs to make ends meet, wakes up at 4:30 AM to run miles in the cold, and spends her afternoons skipping out of work and sitting in bars, obsessing over her estranged childhood best friend, Sasha. She and her husband have

THE PEOPLE WE KEEP by Allison Larkin

Ok, another unpopular opinion to follow… The People We Keep by Allison Larkin is about a teenager named April who lives in upstate New York in an old motor home. Her mom abandoned her and her father, who lives nearby with a new woman and her young son, comes by the motor home every now and again but has basically left April on her own. A singer/guitarist, April is not interested in school and has

WE ARE THE BRENNANS by Tracey Lange

After a really strong reading month in August, September has been a lot weaker. I’ve picked up a few BOTM picks that I’ve been pretty meh about. The first was We Are The Brennans by Tracey Lange. It sounded like a book I would like – a family drama full of siblings and secrets. But it fell short for me in the end, in large part because the author spent more time telling me what

THIS LIFE by Quntos KunQuest

Amidst the hubbub this week around big new September releases, I finished a book that’s unlikely to attract nearly as much attention, but should. It’s called This Life by Quntos KunQuest, and it’s a debut novel from an author who is currently incarcerated at Angola Penitentiary in Louisiana. This Life follows a newly imprisoned man named Lil’ Chris as he ages through the system. KunQuest, a poet and a rapper himself, intersperses verse throughout the

THE PLOT by Jean Hanff Korelitz

You guys, this book. The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz came out last spring, and I saw the buzz build for it almost immediately. A friend lent it to me right before my vacation, and I started it on the plane ride home. From that minute on, I could not put it down. Maybe the most addictive book I’ve read all year! The Plot opens with Jake Bonner, an author with one well-reviewed but obscure

THE IDEA OF YOU by Robinne Lee

I gave into the hype and got The Idea Of You by Robinne Lee from the library for my recent vacation. This book has been around for a few years but I still see it everywhere, and it has a lot of ardent fans. For the unaware, it’s what my daughter calls “Harry Styles fanfic”: the story of a 39 year-old woman named Soléne who accompanies her tween to a meet and greet for her

THE PAPER PALACE by Miranda Cowley Heller

I was really excited to read The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller, a book I picked up earlier this summer, because so many people I know had highly recommended it. It’s a story told in flashbacks about a woman named Elle whose family owns a ramshackle compound in Cape Cod where she has always spent her summers. In the present day, she has just slept with her best friend, Jonas, while their respective spouses

EARLY MORNING RISER by Katherine Heiny

I went into Katherine Heiny’s Early Morning Riser knowing that it had gotten a mixed reception when it came out earlier this summer. Not really a surprise – I myself have had mixed success with Heiny’s earlier books. I loved her collection of stories, Single, Carefree, Mellow, which I found entertaining and very perceptive about relationships. I wasn’t as crazy about her second book, Standard Deviation, which had some over-the-top characters and implausible pairings and

WHAT COULD BE SAVED by Liese O’Halloran Schwarz

Second five star book of the year! I’ve had What Could Be Saved by Liese O’Halloran Schwarz checked out of the library for a while. I tried it a month or two ago and it didn’t grab me right away. But with the pressure of my book club meeting a few days from now, I picked it back up about a week ago and – wow! – it sucked me in. After a slow start,

GOD SPARE THE GIRLS by Kelsey McKinney

God Spare The Girls, a debut novel from Kelsey McKinney, is about loyalty, power and faith among a Texas family. Luke Nolan is an evangelical paster whose wife Ruthie and daughters Abigail and Carolinenhave always fallen in line around him, supporting his role as the leader of their congregation and serving as perfect examples of dutiful, Christian women. But the seams are starting to show signs of stress; Caroline and Abigail have moved out of

ALL TOGETHER NOW by Matthew Norman

All Together Now by Matthew Norman is a twist on the usual four-best-friends-from-high-school novel: Robbie, a gazillionaire, has summoned Wade, Blair and Cat to his fancy beach house in Delaware because he is dying (not a spoiler) and he needs to tell them. In their late thirties, none of them are living the life they expected. Cat has just been broken up with; Blair is frustrated with her inattentive husband and her stalled art career;