A Window Opens by Elisabeth Egan
★★★★☆ A Window Opens is a stellar example of what can be done with a genre novel, a model of the “working mom” genre. While it will never be viewed as classic literature, Elisabeth...
Author: Jessica Gribble
The Girl Who Slept with God by Val Brelinski
★★★★☆ The Girl Who Slept with God is Val Brelinski’s extraordinary debut novel, so perfectly formed that it feels like the work of a seasoned author in the prime of her career. It’s no...
The Art of Memoir by Mary Karr
★★★☆☆ It was inevitable that Mary Karr write The Art of Memoir. Inevitable because Karr is the author of such acclaimed memoirs as The Liar’s Club and Lit, and also because the title recalls...
The Marriage of Opposites by Alice Hoffman
★★★★☆ Alice Hoffman is the author of 25 adult novels and a handful of young adult and children’s books. Her voluminous body work is sometimes critiqued as being uneven, but a reader beginning with...
Saint Monkey by Jacinda Townsend
I scrawled a note in the front cover of Saint Monkey: “Makes me feel like my love is precarious.” That doesn’t sound so good, except that it perfectly encapsulates the author’s abilities. Jacinda Townsend...
The Seven Good Years by Etgar Keret
Etgar Keret’s memoir, The Seven Good Years, is worth reading more than once. Keret has written a perfectly balanced book, both thoughtful and funny. The book is organized by years, with several essays to...
Girl in the Moonlight by Charles Dubow
Some novels start with a clichéd concept and turn it into something out of the ordinary. Unfortunately, in Girl in the Moonlight, Charles Dubow starts with a clichéd concept (a boy falls in love...
Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper
Etta and Otto and Russell and James has taught me that not enough books take elderly people seriously, that I might have to give magical realism a second chance, and that author Emma Hooper...
Expo 58 by Jonathan Coe
Described by the publisher as “a comic spy caper and international love story,” Expo 58 is just that—and it’s terrific. Jonathan Coe effortlessly combines a Kafka-esque sense of dread and futility with a lighthearted,...
