An illustrated devotional for the natural world.52 tender essays following flora and fauna through the seasons. Sumptuous. Meditative. Necessary.
A compelling blend of history and fiction. This novel follows three families across 70 years: two forceful matriarchs flee the South in the Great Migration hoping to escape the overt racism. They arrive in Philadelphia only to discover the North holds its own versions and new challenges. An absolutely perfect book club book.
Goncourt finalist and a bestselling novel in France, this will strongly appeal to both literary and popular book club readers. Berest's mother actually received a postcard in 2003 from an unknown sender with the names of four members of her family who died in Auschwitz - nothing else, just the handwritten names. Berest, a writer and playwright, a Chanel ambassador, and great-granddaughter of Surrealist painter Francis Picabia, took up investigating who actually sent it, and this sweeping fictionalized family story is the result: by turns tragic and thrilling and always poignant, part mystery, part history, part memoir of five generations of women. Think Irène Némirosky, who is evoked several times in the story.
Based on the stories his mother told of growing up in southern India, Verghese has written an engrossing multi-generational story spanning the political and cultural upheaval of India in the 20th century. This reads with the liveliness and quick paced plot twists of Dickens, and is just as insightful on British and Indian class structures. This is a multi-generational story of a family and its matriarch, and the world that changes around them. Medicine is also at the heart of this story, both its long reach and ultimate limitation. Oprah has called this one of her three favorite books of all time, and I can see why. You'll be glad that it clocks in at over 700 pages, because you won't want to leave these fascinating, tender-hearted characters behind.
oof! this one had me at its title. More than just a parenting memoir, this is also what it is to be middle aged. Focused on the end of her sons' childhoods rather than their beginnings, these extraordinary essays tell of what it is to be in the space immediately before one's child launches into the world as an adult. As with the best writing, Kelly makes space for us to examine our own hearts as she tells of the story of hers. A perfect mother's day gift... for one's self!
I admit I went back to this after watching the Netflix show, but BOY! was I glad I did. Strayed's tender and wise advice is as relevant for someone in their 50s as it is for those at the beginning of adulthood. The show was great, yes but OH! the book is so much better.
An exquisite genre-bending memoirs fusing poetry with essay. Smith, an accomplished poet, chronicles the break-up of her marriage and the painful, enormous task of creating a new life for herself. Profound, exhilarating and deeply meaningful
Originally published in The New Yorker, this novella is one of my favorites of the year.
Hands down the loveliest picture book this year, Still This Love Goes On is a picture book for young and old alike. Julie Flett's gorgeous illustrations bring resonance and depth to Buff Sainte-Marie's iconic song- making it a tender and meaningful tribute to the endurance of love. The illustrations weave seasons, landscapes, families, animals together. Its palette is heartwarming, soft, earthy. Simply perfect.
Admittedly, I was predisposed to love this book because I adored his debut -and Booker award-winning- SHUGGIE BAIN. But Stuart's sophmore work exceeds itself. Five years in the making, this gripping, moving second novel by the Booker winner deftly balances the terror the reader feels for Mungo in his most vulnerable moments with his finding love and refuge with another boy from a different class and religion.
LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN FICTION • A spellbinding historical novel set in the eighteenth century: a hero’s quest, a love story, the story of a young artist coming of age, and an exuberant heist adventure that traces the bloody legacy of colonialism across two continents and fifty years.