B+ Reviews / Book Reviews / Recommended Reads1910s / Emily St. John Mandel / future / investigation / joint review / Literary fiction / lunar colony / moon / mystery / New York City / nonlinear timeline / Pandemic / Speculative-Fiction / Time-Travel / Vancouver Island17 Comments
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 >
B Reviews / B Reviews Category / Book ReviewsHistorical fiction / Literary fiction / Russia / Russian character16 Comments
From the New York Times bestselling author of Rules of Civility—a transporting novel about a man who is ordered to spend the rest of his life inside a luxury hotel With his breakout debut novel, Rules of Civility, Amor Towles established himself as a master of absorbing, sophisticated fiction, bringing ... more >
Book Reviews / D Reviews / F Reviews18th-century / accountant / Dark / Japan / Literary fiction / midwife / Netherlands / POC / shipping / unrequited-love8 Comments
Trigger warning: Dear David Mitchell, Your literary novel, The Thousand Autumns of Jacob De Zoet, caught my attention because of its setting, the environs of Nagasaki in 1799-1800. I heard of the book through great word-of-mouth from people whose opinions I generally trust so I was excited to read it. ... more >
A Reviews / A- Reviews / Book Reviews / Recommended Reads#ownvoices / being true to oneself / bestsellers / bigotry / black MC / colorism / family / Literary fiction / Los Angeles / mothers and daughters / New York City / passing / POC / POC author / racism / Small-Town / twins4 Comments
Trigger warnings: Content warnings: Dear Brit Bennett, I can’t name any one reason why I picked up your novel, The Vanishing Half. Part of it was surely its omnipresence on my Goodreads stream. Part of it was all the praise it’s garnered, which includes appearing on the National Book Award’s ... more >
Book Reviews / Recommended Reads / Top Ten ListsAgent/Spies/Undercover / Best of 2020 / best of list / boarding school / Cold War / disabled hero / found family / genius loci / historical romance / king / Literary fiction / loner / m/m / magic users / one day courtship / passing / SF / thief / twins / UF / voting / war / YA / YA fantasy14 Comments
I spent much of 2020 grateful to books and authors for giving me a way to visit other times and places while stuck at home because of Covid. Below, listed in alphabetical order by author, are my top eight favorite books of 2020. Some grades have been adjusted since my ... more >
B Reviews / B+ Reviews / B- Reviews / Book ReviewsCanada / contemporary fiction / joint review / Literary fiction / Ponzi scheme10 Comments
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 >