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Friday April 12, 2024

In 'Like Happiness,' a woman struggles to define a past, destructive relationship

Celadon Books

Review

Book Reviews

In 'Like Happiness,' a woman struggles to define a past, destructive relationship

April 12, 2024 • Ursula Villarreal-Moura's debut novel movingly portrays its protagonist coming to terms with an imbalanced, difficult, and sometimes harmful friendship that was also a key part of her life for years.

Friday March 8, 2024

'The Extinction of Irena Rey' asks: Can anything be truly individual and independent?

Cover of The Extinction of Irena Rey Bloomsbury Publishing hide caption

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Bloomsbury Publishing

Review

Books

'The Extinction of Irena Rey' asks: Can anything be truly individual and independent?

March 8, 2024 • Jennifer Croft's novel, centered on a group of translators working on a book, is surprising at every turn, moving from profound observations about nature, art, and communication — to surreal events.

Tuesday February 20, 2024

'Splinters' is a tribute to the love of a mother for a daughter

Little, Brown & Company

Review

Book Reviews

'Splinters' is a tribute to the love of a mother for a daughter

February 20, 2024 • In different variations of her signature, beautifully frank language, Leslie Jamison writes about her fantasy of stability and her uncertainty as to whether it's a dream she actually wants fulfilled.

Monday February 12, 2024

'Fourteen Days' is a time capsule of people's efforts to connect during the pandemic

Harper

Review

Book Reviews

'Fourteen Days' is a time capsule of people's efforts to connect during the pandemic

February 12, 2024 • The novel is an ambitious project, written by 36 authors yet achieving a unified voice of sorts, as every character narrates their story simply, casually, allowing themselves digressions and asides.

Wednesday November 29, 2023

Generations of mothers are at the center of 'A Grandmother Begins The Story'

Algonquin Books

Review

Book Reviews

Generations of mothers are at the center of 'A Grandmother Begins The Story'

November 29, 2023 • Métis writer Michelle Porter has created beauty from the ugliness of colonization, loss, addiction, abandonment, and grief in her debut novel that finds motherhood at its heart.

Tuesday September 26, 2023

'People Collide' is a 'Freaky Friday'-type exploration of the self and persona

Harper Via

Review

Book Reviews

'People Collide' is a 'Freaky Friday'-type exploration of the self and persona

September 26, 2023 • Isle McElroy's novel covers a deep exploration of marriage, love, and the ways we know one another — while also touching on how so much of how we navigate the world depends on how it sees us.

Tuesday July 11, 2023

'When Crack Was King' follows four people who lived through the drug epidemic

One World

Review

Book Reviews

'When Crack Was King' follows four people who lived through the drug epidemic

July 11, 2023 • An excellent work of people-first journalism, Donovan X. Ramsey's book offers a vivid and frank history and highlights how communities tend to save themselves even as they're being targeted.

Thursday July 6, 2023

A complex immigrant family story lies beneath the breezy veneer of 'Sunshine Nails'

Sunshine Nails by Mai Nguyen Atria Books hide caption

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Atria Books

Review

Book Reviews

A complex immigrant family story lies beneath the breezy veneer of 'Sunshine Nails'

July 6, 2023 • Mai Nguyen's debut novel centers on the family of Tuyet and Xuan Tran, Vietnamese refugees who settle in Toronto. It simmers with questions about work, class and generational divides.

Friday June 9, 2023

Relationships are the true heart of 1940s dystopian novel 'Kallocain'

Penguin Classics

Review

Book Reviews

Relationships are the true heart of 1940s dystopian novel 'Kallocain'

June 9, 2023 • Karin Boye's novel is an outlier in that it was authored by a woman and, though narrated by a man, still expresses interest in women's inner life and acknowledges the subtleties of sexism.

Wednesday May 17, 2023

Stories in 'Sidle Creek' offer an insider look at Appalachia

Melville House

Review

Books

Stories in 'Sidle Creek' offer an insider look at Appalachia

May 17, 2023 • The 22 stories in Sidle Creek charm, surprise, and convey a deep love of the people and place — the Appalachian plateau of western Pennsylvania — that author Jolene McIlwain has long called home.

Thursday May 4, 2023

'Gone to the Wolves' masterfully portrays the heavy metal scene of the '80s and '90s

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Review

Book Reviews

'Gone to the Wolves' masterfully portrays the heavy metal scene of the '80s and '90s

May 4, 2023 • John Wray's latest novel is a powerful and juicy story about a particular time, subculture, and the ways people can find themselves in — or can deliberately disappear into — fandom.

Wednesday April 26, 2023

'The Skin and Its Girl' ponders truths, half-truths, and lies passed down in families

Ballantine Books

Review

Book Reviews

'The Skin and Its Girl' ponders truths, half-truths, and lies passed down in families

April 26, 2023 • Sarah Cypher's debut novel ponders how stories can unite or divide as narrator Betty considers a big decision with her great-aunt Nuha's own mysterious life — and the tales she told — in mind.

Saturday October 29, 2022

Talking to strangers might make you happier, a study on 'relational diversity' finds

A recent study found that adding strangers to the mix of people we speak with might increase our happiness. Gpointstudio/Getty Images/Image Source hide caption

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Gpointstudio/Getty Images/Image Source

Science

Talking to strangers might make you happier, a study on 'relational diversity' finds

October 29, 2022 • A study finds that we are happier the more we talk with different categories of people — colleagues, family, strangers — and the more evenly our conversations are spread out among those groups.

Talking to strangers might make you happier, a study on 'relational diversity' finds

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