Gettin' nostalgic for...

The 2008 financial crisis?
The Futures by Anna Pitoniak is the ticket back to the financial crisis of '08 that nobody asked for. If you get misty for the days of fallen hedge fund heroes this should satisfy your inexplicable craving for that dismal period of recent memory. Meet Julia and Evan (*eyeroll*), young Yale graduates on the edge of the future. Scrappy small town Canadian Evan gets the privileged and perfect girl of his dreams / Julia is living a privileged and perfect life with her hedge fund manager boyfriend but she just can't figure herself out and *tiny violins* for real. It's a he said, she said-style narrative so of course there's gonna be cheating, which always makes for a good read, and I for one can't resist a good ol' marriage in crisis story. Read it if you're in the mood for a crumbling relationship with a side of crumbling economy!

BTW, Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue was the NYC-set book to read about this particular period, also with a marriage at the center, should you feel the sudden need to reminisce about that time when everybody lost their pensions.

Geeking out in the 80s?
Let's hear it for the nerds, am I right? The Impossible Fortress features kids that remind one of the beloved pack of misfits from Stranger Things. What's better than coming of age stories featuring great friendships? And set in the 80s too? The 80s had the best friends.
This book has it all: a geeky trio of misfit guy pals; an impossible quest for a much coveted issue of Playboy; lots of nerding out over programming video games on a Commodore 64; young love. It's funny, and clever, and lovable, and I want to read it again.

Speaking of great 80s kids and formative friendships, half of Swing Time by Zadie Smith is spot on! The other half a little less so--[spoiler alert] when the narrator grows up and goes to work for someone who seems an awful lot like Madonna, but after several eye-rolling chapters of asking yourself "and why do I care?" you'll be nostalgic for the beginning of the book when it was a pitch perfect tale of awesome 80s girlhood and best friends, and when you finish it you'll be nostalgic for On Beauty.

Read Harder 2017: One book to rule them all?

How's your challenge going? Struggling to find the time to read? (ME TOO.) So, looking to check off a few list items with just one book? We've got you covered!

Check out Lucky Boy by Shanthi Sekaran for four challenges in one book!
Those challenges are:
#2: Read a debut novel. (Sekaran's first!)
#4: Read a book set in Central or South America, written by a Central or South American author. (This is a bit of a stretch but a good portion of the narrative takes place in Oaxaca.)
#5: Read a book by an immigrant or with a central immigration narrative.
#24: Read a book wherein all point-of-view characters are people of color.

While admittedly it gets a teensy bit too sentimental for my liking (heart of stone over here), I think readers will totally fall in love with Sekaran's wonderfully real, flawed, and relatable characters, and the compelling narrative that springs from their (sometimes dubious) life choices.

Solimar, barely 18 and pregnant, has journeyed from rural Oaxaca to California to work for her aunt as a housekeeper. Her situation is tenuous and after a snowballing series of small disasters, seriously in peril. Meanwhile Kavya, a chef in Berkeley, is in her 30s and unable to get pregnant but desperately wants a child. Can you kind of guess where this is going? Their lives and families intersect after a surprising turn of events.

New's Year resolutions are tough. Here's what I'm reading right now:

The Gustav Sonata by Rose Tremain
Selection Day by Aravind Adiga
Guapa by Saleem Haddad
...Because I have to read multiple books at once.

What are YOU reading?

New York Times' Notable Books of 2016

In which I personally review as many of the Notables as possible*, in Gif form.

*There are still a handful of neglected notables on my to read pile (it's a big pile) so any books  missing from this list do not represent a non-endorsement--there are far too many "NOPE" gifs out there for me to resist including books I didn't like.

With the exception of a couple, themes of home and family really seem to dominate my list. Did any of the books on the list surprise you? Any grabbed your attention?

Without further ado:

Zero K. by Don DeLillo

This one completely lost my interest but I feel like giving it another chance.

War and Turpentine by Stefan Hertmans

Captivating multi-generational tale of fathers and sons, art and war.

The Vegetarian by Han Kang

Wonderfully, deeply, unsettling.

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

A little light on the promised steam punk but overall a powerful narrative.

Today Will be Different by Maria Semple

Quirky!

Reputations by Juan Gabriel Vásquez

Really good, really short. Kudos!

The Nix by Nathan Hill

This book is so right on it's a little scary.

The Mortifications by Derek Palacio

That ending, though. :(

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

It's that good.

Here I Am by Jonathan Safran Foer

Seriously, the audiobook version is EVERYthing

Here Comes the Sun by Nicole Dennis-Benn

The use of patois achieves stunning results.

Don't Let My Baby Do Rodeo by Boris Fishman

Unexpected, enigmatic, and engrossing.

Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue

Love letter to home.

Before The Fall by Noah Hawley

Kind of surprised this made the notable list over some other books but it was a solidly enjoyable read.

The Association of Small Bombs by Karan Mahajan

Haunting.

When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi

Featured in our "Books for an Ugly Cry" post earlier this year.
Hug all your loved ones!

Weekend Rx:Take two and call us in the morning...

...because you're going to need more.

The critically acclaimed debut novel, Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi is completely, totally, indisputably perfect--a must-read for absolutely EVERYONE. This is a compulsively readable, gorgeously crafted story of two families separated by centuries, oceans, and slavery. It's an epic American story with roots in 18th century Ghana, a sweeping multi-generational family saga that will get into your soul and stay with you forever.

Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue

Set in 2007, this must-read is the tale of a young family from Cameroon who find their immigration status tenuous after Lehman Brothers collapses and Jende loses his job. His heart pulled in two directions, back to his home in Limbe or to stay in New York with his wife and children, Jende and Neni must decide where they belong.

When I say prescription, I say it as a professional book-prescriber. Trust me, your heart needs these books.

Long weekend forecast? Rain and lots of reading.

While I grumble and pace, waiting for my copy of Underground Railroad to come in, I decided to give Underground Airlines a go because, themes?  Holy moly you guys, this is one intensely thrilling read. I walked past it a few times at first, intrigued by the cover and the premise but doubtful the author would pull it off. Maybe I found it too disturbing? I know what you're thinking--too disturbing... for me? I finally picked it up to read the first chapter and could barely put it down. Winters takes us into a sort of uncanny valley with his disturbingly plausible landscape of an alternate present day in which the Civil War never happened, and slavery was never abolished.

Slavery still exists in "the hard four"--four southern states with heavily guarded borders and economies supported by slave labor. A government agency now hunts and captures slaves who escape. "Victor", the mysterious and haunted former slave at the center of the novel, is a skilled hunter. This engrossing narrative of a secretive, lonesome man with a despicable job--ostensibly free but still enslaved--will keep readers up late, frantically turning the page to find out what happens.
Fans of science fiction will especially appreciate Winters' skillful world building in this grim alternate history.

Don't be jealous but I got my hands on Nathan Hill's debut novel, The Nix, just in time for the long weekend. If anyone needs me I'll be enjoying the cooler weather and this allegedly wickedly funny political satire the New York Times declared "The love child of Thomas Pynchon and David Foster Wallace".

Have a safe and book-filled Labor Day weekend!

Hot August Reads

I just finished Dave Eggers' latest, Heroes of the Frontier, and I was inspired, both by the book and by the current temperature, to post about other novels featuring fire. That theme swiftly fell apart when I couldn't think of any fiery novels I hadn't already written about (see Bill Clegg's Did You Ever Have a Family, Joe Hill's latest, that one by Evie Wyld, etc), except for Jesse Ball's How to Set a Fire and Why (which is super good so far but I haven't finished it yet). Anyway, I still want to tell you about Heroes of the Frontier, so theme-schmeme. The family at the center of the story is on the run from a lot of things, one of which is a wildfire sweeping across Alaska. Not gonna lie--Eggers is one of my top ten favorite authors and I'll read everything he comes out with, ignoring all reviews to the contrary. Josie and her two children, Paul and Ana, are spending the summer fleeing Josie's life--her dental practice, her failed marriage to loser Carl, bad memories of her parents--by driving all over Alaska in a used RV with her kids. They encounter the sort of oddballs one generally encounters in the Alaska of novels (perhaps Alaska is really an oddball magnet, but I've only experienced the state through books), as Josie runs into, and then quickly away from, mostly self-inflicted trouble and also a raging wildfire.

Josie is the best kind of protagonist--and one that Eggers excels at creating: self-effacing, flawed, honest, and my new literary best friend. I really and truly want to join Josie with a bottle (or three) of wine and hang out for hours. When one meets a new LBF, it's hard to part with them at the end of the book. There was a moment there when I got hung up on the last 4 pages, afraid to finish the book and let go.

I'll miss you Josie, you and your weird, funny kids.

Speaking of weirdness and besties...Don't you just love quirky horror novelist Grady Hendrix? Well, you should. If his cheeky, and unusually scary, Horrorstor, done in the style of an Ikea catalog, didn't ring your bell, then the cheeky yearbook-style 80s teen horror parody, My Best Friend's Exorcism, maybe won't be your thing either. If "cheeky, yearbook-style 80s teen horror parody" makes your mouth water, than you are probably me, and you will enjoy the heck out of it. Especially enjoyable: the Teen Magazine style personality quiz snippets. Also, P.S. for you fans of adult coloring books--there are coloring pages to download over at the Quirk Books site. You're welcome, world.

And speaking of "too much fun"--you need The Regional Office is Under Attack by Manuel Gonzales in your life. Chock full of awesomely witty, tough, fighting female characters who may or may not have robotic arms, and non-stop action, The Regional Office may not be the best book you've ever read, but I promise you won't regret it*.

*I can't promise that.

"U mad, bro?"

Who knows you better than YOU?

A few days ago I stumbled upon a book called Love Louder: 33 ways to amplify your life by Preston Smiles. Being the self-help fanatic that I am, I indulged. Now I'm only about half of the way through the book but I already feel myself being lifted into a new. I've done some research on this guy Preston and he seems like someone I should know personally. He's an advocate of taking control of your life, challenging yourself and building a better you. As I was reading I definitely could relate to many situations. If you need a wake up call check this book out it will have you reevaluating things!

The ever so popular TV producer, Shonda Rhimes wrote Year of Yes which is a fun read. I grabbed the audio book version, narrated by Ms. Rhimes herself and she is hilarious! It's a bio about her life and trials as mother, sister, friend and powerful black woman in the world of television. She has fears and makes mistakes just like the rest of us. She states sometimes we need wine more than food. She unapologetically puts herself out there and I respect her for it. Instead of being what you think people want you to be, why not I don't know, BE YOURSELF. I've never watched Grey's Anatomy or could keep up with the many seasons of Scandal or How To Get Away With Murder, but she is definitely owning Thursday night TV. 

Summer binge-reading time is here!

The Girls by Emma Cline imagines the lives of the young women who, in the summer of 1969, joined the cult of a charismatic figure known only as "Russell" (who bears an uncanny resemblance to Charles Manson).

Get. On. This. Book! It's Go Ask Alice meets Helter Skelter.

Before the Fall, Noah Hawley's summer blockbuster, leads with a pulse-pounding plane crash followed by a dramatic survival scenario that will suck you in and hold you under. This is the perfect thriller for people who like that kind of thing.



(People like us, am I right?)

The Fireman by Joe Hill, the latest from the author of Horns and NOS4A2, is here to scare you into replacing the batteries in your smoke detectors (It's a public service!) with a chilling tale of spontaneous human combustion.

Is it a little...hot in here?

Sweetbitter by Stephanie Danler: Young woman from the village meets New York City, is never the same again. Do you really need more than that?



No.

Grunt by Mary Roach, because, Mary Roach, you guys. The author of Gulp, Stiff, and Bonk is the undisputed best ever at delivering the curious science of stuff in an entertaining, humorous, and informative way. Her latest book explains the curious science of humans at war. Check it out and learn a little something this summer, huh?

***Hey! Adults! You too can participate in summer reading! Log five books between June 18th-August 13th and be entered to win a 3 month family pass to the YMCA! ***