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Are You Happy Now by Hanna Jameson
“That this was the trade-off. The price of happiness. In order to feel happy he had to feel everything.” A quietly crushing yet devastatingly tender work scintillating with insight and emotional intelligence. With acuity and empathy Hanna Jameson presents her readers with a captivating narrative chronicling four people’s attempts at happiness despite a looming health…
3rd pov, 4.5 STARS, Adult, adulthood, age gap, ALIENATION, ambivalent mood, America, anxiety, Are You Happy Now, atmospheric, bad love, beautiful prose, belonging, BISEXUAL/PANSEXUAL, British author, contemporary malaise, dancers, DEATH, DEPRESSION, desire, divorce/separations, ennui, female authors, first love, gay, Hanna Jameson, heartbreak/breakups, i don’t think happiness is for me, identity, illness, introspective, it’s about the *yearning*, jealousy, journalism, lgbtq+, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, Longing, m/m, male friendships, melancholy, mental health, musicians, near future/alternate reality, NEW YORK, pandemic, psychological, published in 2023, queer, read in 2022, restrained prose, right person wrong time, ROMANCE, self-destructive, SEXUALITY, SPECULATIVE FICTION, strong sense of place, suicide, trauma, unrequited love, wedding drama, work culture -
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
Cloud-Atlas-esque novels seem to be all the rage in 2022… “This place is precarious, that’s the only word for it. It’s the lightest sketch of civilizations, caught between the forest and the sea. He doesn’t belong here” This is my third novel by Mandel and once again I have rather conflicting thoughts and feelings about…
1910s, 20th century, 3 STARS, Adult, America, ART/CREATIVITY, ARTISTS, beautiful prose, belonging, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, books about books, books about writers, canada, canadian author, Contemporary, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), dystopia, Emily St. John Mandel, f/f side, female authors, HISTORICAL FICTION, interconnected stories, interesting structure, lgbtq+ side, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, moon, morality, musicians, My reviews, pandemic, philosophical, published in 2022, queer side characters, read in 2022, reading, restrained prose, SCI-FI, Sea Of Tranquility, siblings, SPECULATIVE FICTION, time travel -
Monster in the Middle by Tiphanie Yanique
A week or so before reading Monster in the Middle I read Tiphanie Yanique’s debut short story collection, Land of Love and Drowning, which I rather enjoyed. I remember being struck by Yanique ’s atmospheric storytelling, by her subtle use of irony, and by her thoughtful meditations on death, love, and everything in between. So,…
1980s, 1990s, 2 STARS, 2000s, 2010s, Adult, affairs, America, American, belonging, bi side characters, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, Caribbean, caribbean author, cheating, Christianity, Contemporary, cultural dissonance, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), family, FAMILY SAGA, female authors, Ghana, illness, incest-y, interconnected stories, intergenerational, ISLAND, lgbtq+ side, MARRIAGE, mental health, Monster in the Middle, My reviews, NEW YORK, pandemic, published in 2022, read in 2022, reading, Religion, Saint Thomas, Saint Thomas authors, schizophrenia, sex, sexual assault/abuse/rape, social issues, Tiphanie Yanique, travel, U.S. Virgin Islands authors -
How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu
Lacklustre and monotonous, not only did How High We Go in the Dark fail to grip my attention but it also failed to elicit an emotional response on my part. It was a bland and repetitive affair, which is a pity given the hype around it. It didn’t help that a few weeks ago I…
2 STARS, Adult, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, apocalyptic, asian american, DEATH, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), doctors, dystopia, environmental, existentialism, family, GRIEF, illness, interconnected stories, japan, male authors, pandemic, parenting, post-apocalyptic, published in 2022, read in 2022, SCI-FI, SPACE, spaceships, SPECULATIVE FICTION, weak prose, weak worldbuilding -
Joan Is Okay by Weike Wang
Studying so much had its consequences. It caused me to wonder, for instance, if I might be a genius. Bursting with wry humor and insight Joan Is Okay makes for a quick and quirky read about a woman who doesn’t want to change to fit in with society’s standards. In spite of what the people…
1st pov, 3.25 stars, Adult, America, American, American dream, asian american, China, chinese american author, Contemporary, cultural dissonance, doctors, family, female authors, GRIEF, HOSPITAL, HUMOR, intergenerational, introspective, Joan Is Okay, LITERARY FICTION, loneliness, medical, mental health, migration/immigration, Neurodiversity, NEW YORK, pandemic, published in 2022, quirky reads, read in 2022, sardonic humor, siblings, SLICE OF LIFE, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, weike wang, work culture -
These Precious Days: Essays by Ann Patchett
“As it turned out, Sooki and I needed the same thing: to find someone who could see us as our best and most complete selves. Astonishing to come across such a friendship at this point in life. At any point in life.” Ann Patchett is easily one of my favourite authors of all time. The…
1st pov, 4.5 STARS, Adult, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, ANN PATCHETT, ART/CREATIVITY, beautiful prose, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, books about books, books about writers, BOOKS ON WRITING, California, Contemporary, DEATH, ESSAYS, fathers & daughters, favourite authors, female authors, female friendships, friendships, GRIEF, introspective, MEMOIR, MEMORY, My reviews, Nonfiction, pandemic, published in 2021, read in 2021, reading, tennessee, These Precious Days, These Precious Days: Essays -
The Sentence by Louise Erdrich
“I was Tookie, always too much Tookie. For better or worse, that’s a fact.” I feel quite conflicted over The Sentence. Although I loved the first half of this novel I found the latter to be boring and somewhat disjointed. While I’m sure many will be able to love everything about this book I wish…
3.5 STARS, Adult, America, American, bi side characters, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, books about books, bookshops, Contemporary, DEATH, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), family, female authors, ghosts/spirits, hauntings, history, illness, indigenous, indigenous author, lgbtq+ side, libraries/bookshops, LITERARY FICTION, Louise Erdrich, MAGICAL REALISM, minnesota, My reviews, native american & first nation, Native American & First Nation authors, netgalley, Ojibwe/Chippewa, Ojibwe/Chippewa author, pandemic, PARANORMAL, prison, published in 2021, read in 2021, reading, social issues, The Sentence -
To Paradise by Hanya Yanagihara
My disappointment is immeasurable, and my day is ruined. If you’ve read my review for A Little Life you know how much that novel means to me. Just looking at my hardback copy makes me feel all sorts of intense feelings. So, naturally, my expectations were high for To Paradise. At first, the Cloud Atlas-esque…
1890s, 1990s, 19TH CENTURY, 3 STARS, Adult, age gap, alternate history, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, arc, beautiful prose, big books, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, cheating, chronic pain, class, cultural dissonance, DEATH, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), dystopia, f/f side, family, fathers & sons, favourite authors, female authors, gay, hawaii, illness, interconnected stories, lesbian side characters, lgbtq+, LITERARY FICTION, Longing, m/m, MARRIAGE, mental health, My reviews, netgalley, pandemic, PRIVILEGE, published in 2022, queer, read in 2021, reading, social issues, SPECULATIVE FICTION, style over character, to paradise -
Today a Woman Went Mad in the Supermarket: Stories by Hilma Wolitzer
Today a Woman Went Mad in the Supermarket is a fairly amusing collection of short stories. While many of the stories were written and initially published during the 1960s and 1970s, Hilma Wolitzer’s style and humour struck me as modern. The issues she touches up also felt surprisingly relevant. The stories read like vignettes and…
1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 20th century, 3 STARS, Adult, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, arc, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, collection of short stories, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), female authors, Hilma Wolitzer, HISTORICAL FICTION, HUMOR, interconnected stories, MARRIAGE, mental health, motherhood, My reviews, netgalley, pandemic, pregnancy, published in 2021, reading, short stories, SLICE OF LIFE, SOCIAL COMMENTARY, Today a Woman Went Mad in the Supermarket -
The Ones Who Don’t Say They Love You: Stories by Maurice Carlos Ruffin
The Ones Who Don’t Say They Love You: Stories is a humorous yet unsparing ode to New Orleans. In this polyphonic collection Maurice Carlos Ruffin presents his readers with an unforgettable portrayal of New Orleans, from its unique culture that separates it from other American cities to its people. These stories tap into contemporary issues…
3 STARS, Adult, America, American, AMERICAN AUTHOR, Black & Black heritage authors, BOOK REVIEW, BOOK REVIEWS, Booklr, collection of short stories, Contemporary, conversational style, different styles (1st/2nd/3rd povs), f/f side, lesbian side characters, lgbtq+, LITERARY FICTION, male authors, Maurice Carlos Ruffin, morality, My reviews, New Orleans, pandemic, published in 2021, RACE, read in 2021, reading, short stories, social issues, strong sense of place, The Ones Who Don't Say They Love You: Stories, trans side characters
luce [is reading] 