2022 was a challenging year for me when it came to reading. The DNFs were frequent but at least I got through my reading list faster because of them, and yay, ended up with a full ten books to include here. In order of how much I liked them, here ... more >
Janine: Jennie and I loved Station Eleven, Emily St. John Mandel’s breakout novel (Jennie even caught up on one or two earlier books by the author), so we reviewed her follow up, The Glass Hotel, together. When we heard she had a new book, Sea of Tranquility, we decided to ... more >
Jennie: Five years ago, I read and loved Mandel’s breakout novel, Station Eleven. It would probably have not come to my attention if not for Janine’s terrific review. I loved Station Eleven so much that I was inspired to read the author’s first novel, Last Night in Montreal, which wasn’t ... more >
Dear Ms. Mandel: After reading the excellent Station Eleven, prompted by Janine’s review, I was very happy to see that your debut novel was being reissued and was available for review. Like Station Eleven, Last Night in Montreal weaves back and forth in time, presenting the varying perspectives of interconnected ... more >
Dear Ms. Mandel, I first heard of Station Eleven, your post-apocalyptic literary novel, when my friend, author Meredith Duran, recommended it to me. I was a bit hesitant to read it — literary fiction can be emotionally hard on me — but it turned out that this novel, for all ... more >