If you haven’t read Ruth Ozeki then you’re in for a wild and wonderful ride; no one writes quite like Ozeki. Start with A Tale for the Time Being. The Book of Form and Emptiness is her latest novel. In it we follow 13 year old Benny Oh, who starts to hear ordinary objects talking to him after the death of his father. His mother is dealing with his father’s death in her own way and starts hoarding things, at…
Violeta is the new novel by Isabel Allende. Here she goes back to her roots in Chile. It is a sweeping saga of the century long life of Violeta De Valle, born during the Spanish flu pandemic and dying at the height of the Coronavirus pandemic. It is a story of family, love and loss, history, culture, politics, women’s rights and more. Although Allende is one of my favorite authors and undoubtedly a master story teller, this book left me…
The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak is historical fiction set in Cypress during the summer of ’74 when Civil War broke out, as well as in present day London. I didn’t know much about the fighting between Muslim Turkish Cypriots and Christian Greek Cypriots before reading this book. Shafak has crafted a novel that is both sad and hopeful, and told largely from the perspective of a Fig Tree. Magical, lyrical and beautiful written, Shafak explores love, family,…
Good Company by Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeny, author of The Nest, is a novel about a happy marriage suddenly thrown into chaos by an accidental discovery. Sweeny digs deep into the depths of marriage, family life, motherhood, friendship and what it means to be in relationships. The story centers around a theater group called Good Company and moves between LA and New York, but it is not so much the plot that is the main draw but the internal struggles of…
The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune is a modern day fairy tale about magical children living at an orphanage on a magical island. A buttoned-up, lonely caseworker from The Dept. in Charge of Magical Youth is sent to check on the orphanage and needless to say, his life is forever changed, Although highly predictable, Klune writes with such charm and wit and has created such wonderful characters, it’s impossible not to fall a little in love with…
Sankofa by Chibundi Onuzu is a novel about race, identity, family and what home means to each of us. Anna, born and raised in London by a single mom, never knew her father. Only after her mother’s death does she discover a diary her father wrote when he was a poor student living in London. He had a short affair with Anna’s mother, but never knew he had a daughter. Decades later, he is the president, some would say dictator,…
China Room by Sunjeev Sahota is a novel inspired in part by his own family history. In 1929 Punjab, three young girls are married to three brothers and move into their mother-in-laws home, not knowing the identity of their own husbands, they are only with them at night in a darkened room. Mehar is curious and tries to figure out which brother is her husband, leading to a series of events that put several lives in danger. In 1999 her…
The Chosen and the Beautiful by Nghi Vo is a retelling of the American Classic, The Great Gatsby. Set during the decadent Jazz Age in America in the 20’s, young, rich and beautiful Jordan Baker moves in the most elite circles; she also happens to be Vietnamese, adopted and bi-sexual. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this novel, but Vo’s gorgeous writing fills the book with magic, wit and wonder. A fresh take on this story that outshines the…
Anxious People is the newest book by Fredrik Backman. A failed bank robber runs into a nearby apartment where a showing is taking place and unwittingly takes a group of 9 strangers hostage. The media gathers outside as well as a father and son police duo. What ensues is a comedy of errors. Although this book is a clever and funny character driven story, much like Backman’s earlier novels, somehow it lacks the same wit and charm I’ve come to…
Dragon Springs Road by Janie Chang is a magical novel set in a once prosperous estate in Shanghai at the beginning of the 20th century. A young Eurasian girl is abandoned by her mother and becomes a bond servant to the estate’s new owners. Disliked by both Chinese and Europeans for her mixed blood, her only true friend is a fox spirit who has resided in the courtyard for centuries. Chang has written a novel full of myth and legend,…