I’ve moved! (and favorite reads of the summer)

Hey readers of books and readers of my oft-neglected blog, I’m not really posting here any more. (You may have noticed.) You can find new book reviews and bits of ephemera from my attempts at life on my main blog: Bookshelf Pirate. Most recently I posted a list of my favorite reads of the summer.

Books I Want To Read Before The Summer’s Over

It’s nearly the end of August but Summer’s not over yet, despite what the Halloween candy in the grocery store has been screaming at me. (If I, an autumn-obsessed witch, say it’s too early… it’s way too early.) I was reading a stack of New York Times Book Reviews from the past few weeks, and

Audiobook review: There’s A Word For That by Sloane Tanen

Star Ratings: Story: 4/5 Writing: 3/5 Characters: 5/5 Audio recording: 4/5 Overall: 4 out of 5 stars I listened to There’s A Word For That via Libro.fm, which I recommend enthusiastically. A percentage of all purchases helps out indie bookshops! Please go check them out. This was very much an impulse download; I needed something

Staff Pick: The Changeling by Victore Lavalle

My most recent staff pick at the bookshop: Victor Lavalle mixes family drama, horror, folklore, and vivid realism in this absolutely gripping novel about parenthood and American culture. Appollo Kagwa is a “book man” and a father, devoted to his wife Emma and their newborn baby. But Emma’s postpartum depression soon turns into something far

Currently Reading: Courting Darkness by Robin LaFevers

Remember how much I liked Grave Mercy? It was years ago, and I never wrote reviews for the other two books in Robin LaFever’s excellent His Fair Assassin trilogy, but the stories of Ismae, Sybella, and Annith have stuck with me for ages and have, quite honestly, made other historical fantasies pale in comparison. So

Review: Normal People by Sally Rooney

Sally Rooney’s novels have away of finding me right when I need them most, and they always hurt my feelings.  There’s not much I can say about Normal People that other reviewers haven’t already said, so I’ll be brief. I liked Conversations With Friends quite a lot when I read it this time last year,

Book Review: The Secret Place by Tana French

Star Ratings: Characters: ***** (5 stars) Writing:**** (4 stars) Plot: ***** (5 stars) Overall: ***** (5 stars) Tana French said in an interview: “You can be a perfectly healthy person without having kids or having a romantic relationship – you can live a full, happy, healthy life. I’m not sure you can do that without

YA Books To Buy For Your Graduation Gifts

I’m away from the Somewhat United States at the moment, ceilidh dancing in Edinburgh and haunting my old haunts in St Andrews, but high school students all over America are getting ready to graduate within the next few weeks.  Congratulations to you all, especially to the young adults who are regulars at my bookshop.  I’m

Unhappy Women Being Mysterious In Paris part II: Unbecoming

Earlier this month I noticed that my reading habits had taken on a brief trend: books about secretive young woman hiding from their problems in Paris.  Patrick Modiano’s In The Café Of Lost Youth introduced me to the inscrutable, magnetic, restless Louki.  The book’s three other narrators found themselves consumed with interest in Louki’s past, her

Unhappy Women Being Mysterious In Paris Part I : In The Café Of Lost Youth

In The Café Of Lost Youth by Patrick Modiano Star Rating: Characters: **** (4 stars) Plot: *** (3 stars) Writing: ***** (5 stars) Overall: **** (4 stars) When one of my favorite regulars at the Bookshop recently asked me what I’d been reading, the only thing I could think to say was, “Mostly novels about