A Word About Awards

JAMES by Percival Everett   Awards: BookTube Winner 2025, Carnegie Winner 2025, Kirkus Winner 2024, National Book Winner 2024, Pulitzer Winner 2025   Nominations: Aspen Words Finalist 2025, Booker Finalist 2024, Dayton Literary Peace Finalist 2025, Dublin Finalist 2025, Goodreads Finalist 2024, LA Times Finalist 2024, National Book Critics Circle Finalist 2024, NY Times Finalist 2024, PEN/Faulkner Finalist 2025, PEN/Jean Stein Longlist 2025   Date Read: March 19, 2025   From Kirkus Reviews: “ Mark Twain's  Adventures of Huckleberry Finn  as told from the perspective of a more resourceful and contemplative Jim than the one you remember. This isn’t the first novel to reimagine Twain’s 1885 masterpiece, but the audacious and prolific Everett dives into the very heart of Twain’s epochal odyssey, shifting the central viewpoint from that of the unschooled, often credulous, but basically good-hearted Huck to the more enigmatic and heroic Jim, the Black slave with ...

CLOUD CUCKOO LAND by Anthony Doerr   Nominations: Carnegie Longlist 2022, Dayton Literary Peace Finalist 2022, Dublin Finalist 2023, Goodreads Finalist 2021, National Book Finalist 2021   Date Read: February 20, 2025   From Kirkus Reviews: “ An ancient Greek manuscript connects humanity's past, present, and future. “ Stranger, whoever you are, open this to learn what will amaze you ” wrote Antonius Diogenes at the end of the first century C.E.—and millennia later, Pulitzer Prize winner Doerr is his fitting heir. Around Diogenes' manuscript, "Cloud Cuckoo Land"—the author did exist, but the text is invented—Doerr builds a community of readers and nature lovers that transcends the boundaries of time and space. The protagonist of the original story is Aethon, a shepherd whose dream of escaping to a paradise in the sky leads to a wild series of adventures in the bodies of beast, fish, and fowl. Aethon's story is first found by Anna in 15th-century Constantinople; thou...

MY SISTER, THE SERIAL KILLER by Oyinkan Braithwaite   Award: LA Times Winner 2018   Nominations: Booker Longlist 209, Dublin Longlist 2020, Goodreads Finalist 2020, Women’s Prize Finalist 2019   Date Read: February 15, 2025   From Kirkus Reviews: “ From the hospital rooms and living spaces of Lagos, Nigeria, comes a dryly funny and wickedly crafty exercise in psychological suspense. Introverted, sensitive Korede is a nurse, a very good one from what we see of her at work. She feels such a connection with her patients that she finds herself taking a coma victim named Muhtar into her confidence. There’s one secret in particular that pours out of Korede like scalding liquid: Her flamboyantly beautiful younger sister, Ayoola, has this habit of killing the men she dates. (Three, so far.) She hasn’t been caught yet because Korede cleans up after her. They both disposed of the most recent victim, a poet named Femi, so efficiently that nobody in his family or with the police...

THE TATTOOIST OF AUSCHWITZ by Heather Morris   Nominations: Dublin Longlist 2020, Goodreads Finalist 2018   Date Read: February 14, 2025   From Kirkus Reviews: “ An unlikely love story set amid the horrors of a Nazi death camp. Based on real people and events, this debut novel follows Lale Sokolov, a young Slovakian Jew sent to Auschwitz in 1942. There, he assumes the heinous task of tattooing incoming Jewish prisoners with the dehumanizing numbers their SS captors use to identify them. When the Tätowierer, as he is called, meets fellow prisoner Gita Furman, 17, he is immediately smitten. Eventually, the attraction becomes mutual. Lale proves himself an operator, at once cagey and courageous: As the Tätowierer, he is granted special privileges and manages to smuggle food to starving prisoners. Through female prisoners who catalog the belongings confiscated from fellow inmates, Lale gains access to jewels, which he trades to a pair of local villagers for chocolate, medicin...

AMERICAN DIRT by Jeanine Cummins   Nominations: Goodreads Finalist 2020, Oprah Book Club 2020   Date Read: March 28, 2024   From Kirkus Reviews: “This terrifying and tender novel is a blunt answer to the question of why immigrants from Latin America cross the U.S. border—and a testimony to the courage it takes to do it.   Cummins (The Crooked Branch, 2013, etc.) opens this propulsive novel with a massacre. In a pleasant Acapulco neighborhood, gunmen slaughter 16 people at a family barbecue, from a grandmother to the girl whose quinceañera they are celebrating. The only survivors are Lydia, a young mother, and her 8-year-old son, Luca. She knows they must escape, fast and far. Lydia’s husband, Sebastián, is among the dead; he was a fearless journalist whose coverage of the local cartel, Los Jardineros, is the reason los sicarios were sent, as the sign fastened to his dead chest makes clear. Lydia knows there is more to it, that her friendship with a courtly older man ...

MY DARK VANESSA by Kate Elizabeth Russell   Nominations: BookTube Finalist 2021, Center For Fiction Longlist 2020, Goodreads Finalist 2020   Date Read: April 14, 2023   Wow. Just wow. Russell explores the complicated relationship of a teenager preyed upon by a teacher – the grooming, the desire, the guilt, the confusion – all twisted together into a complicated and ugly reality. Russell walks this crooked line so well, conveying how devastating this type of relationship can be for a teenage girl unsure of her own power and place in the world. As is so often the case, the attention from an authority figure is like a drug, both exciting and abhorrent.   Strane is an English teacher at a boarding school. He instantly zeroes in on Veronica and slowly begins grooming her, making the smallest and subtlest of gestures to make her wonder if he is attracted to her. As their relationship quickly progresses, he rests his head in her lap and confesses he is going to ruin her. An...

MY NOT SO PERFECT LIFE by Sophie Kinsella   Nomination: Goodreads Finalist 2017   Date Read: July 15, 2022   I can’t remember when I’ve picked up a book for a good “trash” read and been impressed at the quality of trash. I found My Not So Perfect life witty, intelligent, honest and entertaining. A winning combo! And, of course, a good reminder that no matter how privileged someone’s life may seem, everyone is struggling with their own demons, their own past, their own pain. That reminder is even more prescient in a world where we put our lives on social media, but only the good stuff.   Katie Brenner has always wanted to make it big in London. Hailing from the country, she changes her hair, her accent, even her name (“Cat”) to put forth her perfect big city persona. But it’s all crap – her flat, her commute, her finances, her job. It’s made even more crap when she compares her life to that of her “perfect” boss, Demeter. She has the family, the career, the house, eve...

BEARTOWN by Fredrik Backman   Nominations: Dublin Longlist 2019, Goodreads Finalist 2017   Date Read: June 27, 2022   “… the best way to prepare mentally for becoming a parent is to stay in a tent at a weeklong rock festival with a load of fat friends who are smoking hash. You blunder about in a permanent state of acute sleep deprivation wearing clothes covered with stains from food that is only very rarely your own, you suffer from tinnitus, you can’t go near a puddle without some giggling fool jumping in it, you can’t go to the bathroom without someone standing outside banging on the door, you get woken up in the middle of the night because someone was “just thinking about something,” and you get woken up the next morning to find someone pissing on you.” No truer words were ever written. But, of course, it leaves out the wonder and beauty that comes along with all of that.   Beartown is the story of a small hockey town that is torn apart by a rape. Beartown is actu...

THE NEST by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney   Nomination: Goodreads Finalist 2016   Date Read: April 12, 2022   All four Plumb siblings are in dire straits. Each have found themselves in precarious financial predicaments that only the Nest can remedy. The Nest is a trust fund that their father established for Jack, Leo, Bea and Melody (the baby) with those funds being distributed when Melody turned 40. Leo Sr. never intended for the Nest to become as large as it has but with time and prudent investing by their attorney, what once was a modest helping hand has become millions.   Knowing those funds were out there has caused all of the siblings, with the exclusion of Bea, to live a more financially reckless life. Jack owns an antiques store that continually runs at a loss. He has taken an equity loan against his and his husband’s summer house to keep his store afloat and to make capital improvements. All of this will be wiped clean when Jack gets his share of the Nest and his ...

ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE by Gail Honeyman   Nominations: Dublin Longlist 2019, Goodreads Finalist 2017, Women's Prize Longlist 2018   Date Read: July 2, 2021   Upon diving into this unexpected novel, I began thinking that Eleanor was most likely on the spectrum. And weird? Most definitely. As the story unfolds, not only do I respect her way of understanding the world and herself but I am in awe of her ability to function at such a high level as she does. She has managed to create and hold together a life better than most normal people can.   The way her personality has developed allows her a freedom others of us just don’t have. For example, how many women wished they could say: “I don’t want to accept a drink from you, because then I would be obliged to purchase one for you in return, and I’m afraid I’m simply not interested in spending two drinks’ worth of time with you.” Brilliant!   As with most things in life, her carefully constructed life begin...

THE SISTERS BROTHERS by Patrick deWitt   Nominations: Booker Finalist 2011, Carnegie Longlist 2012, Dublin Longlist 2013, Goodreads Finalist 2011   Date Read: April 1, 2021   I generally don’t go in for “Westerns” but this book was captivating, charming and sad in a way that was surprising and delightful. The Sisters brothers, Charlie and Eli, are two mercenaries that stumble through an odyssey in order to fulfill their boss, the Commodore’s, request to murder a man named Warm. Warm has developed a chemical concoction that can highlight any gold in a stream at night.   During their trip from Oregon to San Francisco to find Warm, Charlie and Eli encounter a multitude of challenges that highlights not only their murderous renown, but also their frailty. I found their journey at times humorous, scary and tiring. They encounter a witch, a bear, a dead Indian, a parlor of sporting women, and a gang of fur trappers hell-bent on killing them. And in the end, they find Warm ...

AN AMERICAN MARRIAGE by Tayari Jones Award: Aspen Words Prize Winner 2019, Women's Prize Winner 2019   Nominations: BookTube Longlist 2019, Carnegie Longlist 2019, Dublin Finalist 2020, Goodreads Finalist 2018, LA Times Finalist 2018, National Book Longlist 2018, Oprah Book Club 2018   Date Read: February 26, 2021   This entire novel has beauty and sorrow, wisdom and ignorance and brief but profound glimpses of the American black experience. Roy and Celestial have only been married for a year and a half before Roy is incarcerated for a crime he didn’t commit. As Celestial says, before their marriage could really take route.   During the entire time of Roy’s imprisonment, he holds the thought of reclaiming the one thing that he still can: his marriage. His career and family, specifically his mother, are irretrievably lost, but he knows Celestial is still waiting. For him, time is standing still.   But for Celestial, time is definitely marching forward until Roy h...

THE NICKEL BOYS by Colson Whitehead   Awards: Kirkus Winner 2019, Pulitzer Winner 2020   Nominations: Aspen Words Longlist 2020, Carnegie Longlist 2020, Dayton Literary Peace Finalist 2020, Dublin Finalist 2021, Goodreads Finalist 2019, LA Times Finalist 2019, National Book Longlist 2019, National Book Critics Circle Finalist 2019, Rathbones Folio Longlist 2020   Date Read: November 14, 2020   I would love to say that Nickel Boys is heartbreaking, which it indeed is, but brutal seems a more appropriate word. This latest from Whitehead follows the boys of a reform school in Florida and the ways in which they coped with and survived the violent, sadistic and impossible environment they were thrust into.   Elwood is a smart kid with a bright future. In his 15 brief years he proves himself to be trustworthy, intellectually curious and ambitious. His one fatal flaw, however, is that his skin has more melanin. In other words, Elwood is black. I still cannot understand...

A LITTLE LIFE by Hanya Yanagihara Award: Kirkus Winner 2015 Nominations: Booker Finalist 2015, Carnegie Finalist 2016, Dublin Finalist 2017, Goodreads Finalist 2015, National Book Finalist 2015, Women's Prize Finalist 2016 Date Read: May 24, 2020 I just finished this tome and I cannot recall the last time a book made me cry so much at the end. It's been a minute. But I do love when I care so much about the characters that what happens to them matters and this is definitely a character driven novel where the characters absolutely matter. A Little Life is fascinating for many reasons, but the two that stand out for me are the range of human experience and self love. This novel centers on four friends who have just graduated from college and are trying to make it in their respective professions in New York City. The fact that all four find professional success seems wildly unrealistic to me, but I digress. JB is an artist, Malcolm is an architect, Jude is an at...

LINCOLN IN THE BARDO by George Saunders Award: Booker Winner 2017 Nomination: Carnegie Finalist 2018, Center For Fiction Longlist 2017, Dublin Finalist 2019, Goodreads Finalist 2017 Date Read: March 7, 2020 Lincoln In The Bardo is written in a unique style, with a multitude of voices pondering the significance of death. Based on a historical fact, President Lincoln loses his son Willie to an illness, Saunders uses this historical moment to convey the varying responses to the permanence of losing someone dear to you. Instead of wandering away after the funeral, Lincoln returns to the crypt to hold his boy again and again, unable to let go. These scenes are heart wrenching. Behind the scenes, the cemetery is made up of a host of characters, some good, some bad, that are forced to co-exist (yes, I understand the humor in this word choice) for eternity. These souls believe they are sent to this place to recuperate from their varying illnesses and must live i...

BRING UP THE BODIES by Hilary Mantel Award: Booker Winner 2012 Nominations: Carnegie Longlist 2013, Dublin Longlist 2014, Goodreads Finalist 2012, NY Times Finalist 2012, Women's Prize Finalist 2013 Date Read: March 21, 2019 Bring Up The Bodies is a sequel to Wolf Hall and continues the story of Thomas Cromwell, the poor son of an abusive blacksmith who rises to become a prominent figure in King Henry VIII's court. Due to Cromwell's machinations in this novel, he visits retributions on those who either mocked Wolsey's demise or played an instrumental part in it. Bring Up The Bodies focuses on the undoing of Anne Boleyn and the gentlemen in her court. I couldn't help but marvel at the capriciousness of one's fate, particularly women, in these times - one moment a queen, the next a Dowager under house arrest. One minute a prominent member of the court, the next beheaded for dubious treason charges.  "But a young married gentlewoman has no way to he...

A GENTLEMAN IN MOSCOW by Amor Towles   Nominations: Dublin Longlist 2018, Goodreads Finalist 2016, Kirkus Finalist 2016   Date Read: February 24, 2017   From Kirkus Reviews:   “Sentenced to house arrest in Moscow's Metropol Hotel by a Bolshevik tribunal for writing a poem deemed to encourage revolt, Count Alexander Rostov nonetheless lives the fullest of lives, discovering the depths of his humanity.   Inside the elegant Metropol, located near the Kremlin and the Bolshoi, the Count slowly adjusts to circumstances as a "Former Person." He makes do with the attic room, to which he is banished after residing for years in a posh third-floor suite. A man of refined taste in wine, food, and literature, he strives to maintain a daily routine, exploring the nooks and crannies of the hotel, bonding with staff, accepting the advances of attractive women, and forming what proves to be a deeply meaningful relationship with a spirited young girl, Nina. "We are bound to find ...

THE GOLDFINCH by Donna Tartt Awards: Carnegie Winner 2014,  Pulitzer Winner 2014 Nominations: Dublin Longlist 2015, Goodreads Finalist 2013, National Book Critics Circle Finalist 2013, NY Times Finalist 2013, Women's Prize Finalist 2014 Date Read: January 18, 2014 The Goldfinch is one of those odd books that I picked up and read before it became an award winner. I was both shocked that it won the Pulitzer and fascinated by the drama that ensued once it won. The Goldfinch was a fun read and I enjoyed getting to know these characters page after page. After surviving a terrorist bombing in a museum, the protagonist, Theodore Decker, steals a painting called The Goldfinch which he carries with him throughout the novel - from the streets of New York, to Las Vegas and back again. A friend Theo makes in Vegas, Boris, actually steals the painting and since Theo is too scared to ever open the packaging, he never knows until Boris confesses almost a decade la...

DEFENDING JACOB By William Landay   Nomination: Goodreads Finalist 2012   Date Read: April 22, 2012   From Kirkus Reviews: “Landay does the seemingly impossible by coming up with a new wrinkle in the crowded subgenre of courtroom thrillers.   Assistant District Attorney Andy Barber is called to a gruesome crime scene after Ben Rifkin, a 14-year-old boy, has been brutally stabbed in a city park. One suspect seems likely, a pedophile who lives nearby and is known to frequent the park, but suspicion turns quickly to another, much more unlikely, suspect—Andy’s son Jacob, one of Ben’s classmates. It seems Ben was not the paragon of virtue he was made out to be, for he had a mean streak and had been harassing Jacob...but is this a sufficient motive for a 14-year-old to commit murder? Some of Jacob’s fellow students post messages on Facebook suggesting he’s guilty of the crime, and Jacob also admits to having shown a “cool” knife to his friends. When Andy finds the knife, h...