When the Tides Held the Moon
When the Tides Held the Moon was a fun, queer, found-family historical fantasy. I had a few quibbles with it, but ultimately I had a good time and would recommend it to anyone who felt drawn by the premise.
The Antidote
Karen Russell writes exactly my flavor of weird literary magical realism, so it’s no surprise that I loved The Antidote. But it’s not the presence of those elements that does it here — it’s the way she weaves them together.
This Strange Eventful History
This Strange Eventful History was longlisted for the 2024 Booker Prize. Parts of it were more engaging for me than others, but overall, I enjoyed it. Audio is definitely the way to go here, IMO!
Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil
I savored this book over the course of a month, sinking in every time I opened it. Prose, pacing, plot, character — Schwab truly does it all and does it better than most.
Our Evenings
Our Evenings has a lot of things going for it, in terms of being a winner for me: It follows a character across their entire life, it depicts that life with tenderness and care, it has a strong first-person voice. And while it didn’t land with me 100%, I netted out on liking it.
The Safekeep
I’d owned a copy of The Safekeep since before it was published (thanks, Avid Reader Press!), but for whatever reason it just never bubbled up to the top of my TBR — until it was nominated (and then shortlisted) for the Booker Prize. And WOW, am I glad for it. I loved this one.
My Friends
My Friends had been on my TBR for months, so I was especially excited when it was nominated for both the Booker Prize and the National Book Award. I had a ton of friends who had loved it, so it was no surprise that I loved it too.
There Are Rivers in the Sky
Elif Shafak is one of my favorite authors writing today — she combines lush, gorgeous storytelling with incredible research and a drop of the fantastic to give us a reading experience like no one else. And There Are Rivers in the Sky is no exception. In fact, it’s my favorite of her novels to date.
The Heart in Winter
I absolutely LOVED Night Boat to Tangier, so imagine my excitement to hear that Irish powerhouse Kevin Barry had written not only an American western, but a LOVE STORY. Did it live up to the hype? You bet your bookloving butt it did.
The Road to the Country
There’s no denying that Chigozie Obioma is one of the best to ever do it. With The Road to the Country, he proves it once again — enough this time to finally win him the Booker Prize, IMO. He deserves it.
The House of Doors
I didn’t go into The House of Doors with any expectations outside of those that go with its Booker Prize nomination, and yet I still found myself pleasantly surprised. It had a lot of momentum — I was invested and really enjoyed it.
The Bullet Swallower
What a genre-mashup delight this book was! Part antihero western, part dual-timeline family saga, with a sprinkling of magical realism (including a very mysterious book), The Bullet Swallower has something for everyone.
The Familiar
Our queen has blessed us once again. Boy, does Leigh Bardugo know how to sweep us away, how to write a love story, and how to knock an ENDING (!) out of the park.
The Unmaking of June Farrow
The Unmaking of June Farrow is part sweeping time-travel, part love story, part murder mystery, and fully unputdownable. It’s the perfect book if you’re looking for a fast, immersive read that you’ll want to gobble up in one day.
North Woods
See, now this is what I want every literary historical fiction novel to be for the rest of time. More books like this please!!
Night Watch
Night Watch is written with lovely prose, but unfortunately, it was just not my cup of tea. Stomach-turning scenes and an unsatisfying ending left me unhappy with it.
Let Us Descend
Sensory and immersive, brutal and beautiful, Let Us Descend is another masterpiece from our queen Jesmyn Ward.
The End of Drum-Time
Quiet, immersive, and culturally rich, Drum-Time gives us a heartbreaking look at the intersections of both modernity and tradition and faith and identity.