I read Jia Tolentino’s Trick Mirror and then immediately read So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo, because, I guess I don’t want to feel happiness ever again. Let’s start with the book everyone has been telling you to read since the moment it was off the printing presses in 2018: So … More So You Want To Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
Image: Business Insider High-tech military equipment, a flesh eating disease, and ancient curses collide in this unapologetically modern twist on the gentleman-explorer narrative. Most books about white men exploring the jungle harken back to the grainy black-and-white days of Theodore Rosevelt or Queen Victoria but Douglas Preston’s trek in The Lost City of the Monkey … More The Lost City of the Monkey God by Douglas Preston
I’m in my twenties and I’m not an avid home chef, so it’s no surprise that I’d never heard of Ruth Reichl. When her latest memoir, Save Me the Plums was released last Spring, I wasn’t remotely interested in reading it. Then, as it happens sometimes when you’re browsing the “currently available audio books” on … More Save Me the Plums by Ruth Reichl
In a fantasy world where a divorcée from Texas with Mexican-American children wins the 2016 presidential election, the idea that her bisexual son might begin a lasting love affair with the Prince of England doesn’t seem so far-fetched. Casey McQuiston is a masterful storyteller: Red, White, and Royal Blue is pure bodice-ripping romantic fantasy set … More Red, White, and Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston
Moving, insightful, relevant: this novel from the perspective of one of Korea’s famous grandma free-divers, the haenyeo, took me by surprise. On the South Korean island of Jeju there is a tradition – nearly faded into myth – of female free divers who provide for and, in many senses are the heads of, their families. … More The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See
Leonardo da Vinci joins the ranks of Walter Isaacson’s other Great Men – Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein, Henry Kissinger, and Benjamin Franklin – in this meaty 2017 biography of the eponymous Renaissance Man. Isaacson’s core thesis is that Leonardo’s ability to combine imagination and science is what galvanized his genius. Like most other people in … More Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson
I read Marisa de los Santos for the first time when I was a young teenager. The book was You Belong To Me and I have distinctly fond memories of it, but authors you liked in your teens don’t always stand up under the cynical gaze of adulthood. … More I’ll Be Your Blue Sky by Marisa de los Santos
A book fire is just the hook. … More The Library Book by Susan Orlean
The Dinner List by Rebecca Serle had been popping up on the various screens in my life so I decided to give it a listen. It’s relatively short – only about 6 hours of audio – and was an easy, fast-paced read. Serle’s premise is unique and intriguing, a good introduction into romance for those who … More The Dinner Club by Rebecca Serle
There are two topics about which I often wish I knew more: feminism and capitalism. I read a lot and I want to start a book club with myself. I’m a feminist and have a grasp of feminist history, lite. I’m familiar with the names de Beauvoir, Lorde, and I know ‘bell hooks’ isn’t capitalized, … More A Book Club of One
The Ohioan 