My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent
a bookclique pick by Lindsey Mead My Absolute Darling is a fever dream of a novel, as difficult to read as it is impossible to put down. I read it in two days, a couple of long, breathless gulps, and since I finished I haven’t been able to stop thinking of the world Gabriel Tallent created. My Absolute Darling traces the maturation and growth of a scrappy, formidable protagonist, 14 … Continue reading My Absolute Darling by Gabriel Tallent
The Unwomanly Face of War by Svetlana Alexievich
a bookclique pick by Cricket Mikheev “I write not about war, but about human beings in war. I write not the history of a war, but the history of feelings. I am a historian of the soul.” So writes Svetlana Alexievich, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2015 “for her polyphonic writings, a monument to suffering and courage in our time.” This … Continue reading The Unwomanly Face of War by Svetlana Alexievich
The Map of Salt and Stars by Jennifer Joukhadar
a bookclique pick from Katie Noah Gibson I’ve always loved maps. Since I was a child sitting in the backseat of my parents’ car, tracing our summer road-trip routes on the pages of my dad’s United States atlas, I’ve been fascinated by those collections of lines and space. They help us navigate the physical world, but they tell us so much more than where we’ve … Continue reading The Map of Salt and Stars by Jennifer Joukhadar
A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
a bookclique pick from Vicky Waldthausen Reading a book once doesn’t usually result in a character sticking with me, no matter how much I enjoy the story. Slowly the names fade, the descriptions become generic, and soon the characters are defined more by the plot of the book than anything else. There are anomalies, of course — characters who stay with me even though I … Continue reading A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
a bookclique pick by Tanya Boteju The most striking element of Cherie Dimaline’s young adult book, The Marrow Thieves, is perhaps its premise: the earth has been ravaged by global warming. While most humans have lost the ability to dream, the indigenous people of North America have not. As a result, they are hunted and harvested for their bone marrow, their ability to dream laced … Continue reading The Marrow Thieves by Cherie Dimaline
Educated by Tara Westover
a bookclique pick by Jessica Flaxman Since well before the publication of Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s 1762 treatise on education, Emile, people have wondered whether formally schooling children is more helpful or harmful to the development of free and critical thinkers. In Educated, a powerful memoir of growing up without any formal education until the age of seventeen, historian Tara Westover offers a nuanced picture of a … Continue reading Educated by Tara Westover
Hymn to the Reckless by Erin Fornoff
a bookclique pick by Mela Frye One of life’s greater hazards is befriending writers. One dreads the disappointment of art not equalling life, of having to lie — OR, to tell the truth. In some writerly friendships, however, one discovers a union of pleasure and relief. Such is the happy case with Erin Fornoff and her beautiful debut collection of poems, Hymn to the Reckless. … Continue reading Hymn to the Reckless by Erin Fornoff
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
a bookclique pick by Jessica Flaxman A young girl is seduced by an older man in fine clothing. A kind but sickly visitor to the girl’s mother’s boarding house marries the girl and raises her illegitimate son as his own. The spurned biological father haunts and protects the girl, now woman, and her family throughout their long lives. Set against the backdrop of the Japanese … Continue reading Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
The Austen Escape by Katherine Reay
a bookclique pick by Ari Pinkus You don’t have to be a Jane Austen fan to become enraptured in The Austen Escape. Katherine Reay’s latest women’s fiction novel is very much a classic coming-of-age story with historic and modern twists. Even the two settings are emblematic of old and new eras. The novel opens in Austin, Texas, a tech hub, where the main character, Mary … Continue reading The Austen Escape by Katherine Reay
I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O’Farrell
a bookclique pick by Katrina Smith I am, I am, I am… determined? Adventurous? Courageous? Or at least I intend to be more so after reading Maggie O’Farrell’s memoir I Am, I Am, I Am: Seventeen Brushes with Death. The acclaimed Northern Irish author of novels such as This Must Be the Place and After You’d Gone has spun together a series of autobiographical tales … Continue reading I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O’Farrell
