Horns by Joe Hill
On a chilly summer morning, one year after the brutal murder of his girlfriend Merrin, Ig Parrish wakes up to find that two small horns have sprouted from his head. He is puzzled as to why they are there, but when he goes to ask people what to do about them they suddenly tell him their deepest, … [Read more]
Persuasion by Jane Austen
My favorite Jane Austen and my first one too. I also think that I might be teaching this book to AP students this year. It's not as funny as some of the others, but it's also not as long, but Anne Elliot is such a whole, wonderful character who goes through a trying, if fruitful, emotional journey … [Read more]
Everybody by Olivia Laing
This looks like a collection of essays, and in many ways it reads like one, but it's more of a kind of topography study of the life and work of Wilhelm Reich, the people who directly and indirectly influenced, how his ideas and life shaped the modern world, and the different areas that this leads us … [Read more]
The Trick is to Keep Breathing by Janice Galloway
I'd never heard of this novel or this novelist, but this book is very good. Our narrator is a 27 year old Scottish woman who works as a school teacher. I say works as a school teacher because she seems pretty sure she is not long for that job and is showing all the signs of burnout. She is spiraling … [Read more]
Securing Piper by Susan Stoker
After the orphanage that Piper was visiting is attacked by rebel forces, she barely escapes with her life - and three orphans. Determined to adopt the girls, she marries one of her rescuers, Ace. But it's not all smooth sailing from there... I remember sitting up and taking notice when I first … [Read more]
A Life Turned Upside Down: My Dad's an Alcoholic by Mariko Kikuchi
The translation of autobiographical manga has been a wonderful side effect of the overall boom in popularity of manga/anime. The original manga boom in the early 2000s overlooked memoir, but as the market has matured and the comics boom has entered a new phase, memoir is finally being translated in … [Read more]
