This is a book I will never forget. Rich with imagery, earthly and otherwise, and dynamic in every way, this is a mystery that explores and questions so much about life, politics, spirituality, and identity. The story feels expansive and personal, and the structure is brilliant.
If you liked "The Hidden" by Melanie Golding or "Spells for Forgetting" by Adrienne Young, you are going to want to read this book this summer! A touch of the possibility of magic, with the scrutiny of a great mystery/thriller, and a romance on Martha's Vineyard makes this a fascinating and gripping read. I also appreciate the off-season focus on the island and the coming of age journey and struggles of a young artist.
Hoffman is such a passionate storyteller, her language sweeps you away and gets straight to the heart of things. This story is a beautiful blend of prominent contemporary issues (from body autonomy to book banning) while also finding magic in the world. This is a story of struggling to find power in your life, and of longing for the world to be different than it is so that people can find true freedom. It's about the love of mothers and daughters, the love of books and literature, and love as a creative force. The balance of these elements is grounding as well as uplifting. This novel invites us to feel deeply, to empathize, and to look for the threads that bind us together.
I also very much appreciate her depiction of Nathaniel Hawthorne as a man who was a genius and also struggled. A man who suffered, loved, and felt deeply, all while keeping the narrative open enough that his character is not a fixed point but can hold multitudes. He's such a beloved and fascinating historical figure, and her depiction of him is not about defining him, but holding space for him.
Looking for cozy, "Tea Dragon Society" vibes but on Mars with robots? This graphic novel has all the feels, asks thoughtful questions about the ethics of AI, and celebrates life and love in all it's forms. A powerful STEM story with art that takes your breath away!
What a delight! This book is the perfect balance of whimsical magical realism, thoughtful introspection, processing grief, encouraging coming of age journey, and a romance that will whisk you away! I found myself giggling and smiling as well as moved. I will be recommending this to fans of Emily Henry and "One Last Stop"!
My heart opened, broke, and soared throughout reading this book. Each page is written with such love, you can't help but dream along with these passionate characters. This is a tale of becoming that invites us all to live and love so fully. It made me cry, ache, and audibly gasp, leaving me feeling like a missing piece of my heart was returned to me.
This is a must read! There is so much valuable, myth-busting information packed into this book, but does not feel overwhelming. It's a vital conversation that each one of us needs to talk about in every community in the United States, as it impacts each of us. Very grateful for this book and the language he provides for this conversation.
An illuminating book I could not put down! Following 3 characters whose lives are deeply impacted by their time at a school for the deaf, I was captivated by the characters journey's and struggles. I especially loved how the book has illustrations of ASL signs as the characters learn them and there are interludes that provide mini ASL lessons to help you understand deeper how ASL functions as a language and its difference from English. This is a powerful book about disability rights, coming of age, love, and family.
This is an immensely powerful and thoughtfully written story about 3 children: 1 living through the Ukrainian famine in the 1930's, 1 in Brooklyn in the 1930's, and 1 during the COVID 19 pandemic. This is a touching, multi-generational story of family, grief, courage, and the power of telling your story. I literally could not put it down until I finished it, crying multiple times throughout. Readers will learn so much from this story and reflecting on its timely themes.
Fans of the NPR podcast "Serial," as well as mysteries centering academia like "The Maidens" or New England-centric like "Locust Lane" will be hooked reading this twisty, topical mystery. The characters are so vivid, and you are taken into the mind of the main character so thoroughly, you'll find yourself swept up.
Wow, this is one of the most compelling and best executed books incorporating time travel I have ever read! The thoughtfulness infused throughout this story, as the characters navigate challenging moments is such a pleasure to read. In companion with "The Glass Hotel," it's such a fascinating expansion on that story and themes, I was blown away!
What a thoroughly enjoyable wintery read! Set in a very cold, northern Scandinavian-like village full of delightful towns folk, a pragmatic, brilliant scholar works on her book compiling information and folklore about the Fae. I fell in love with the idiosyncratic main characters, the tight spots they get in and out of, and the rich storytelling full of Fae-related folklore! I can't wait for more books in this series!
Through exquisite art and spacious, essential language, this story is told from the perspective of sibling sycamore seeds making their way in the world. It is as captivating, empowering, and impactful as Paulo Coelho's "The Alchemist;" written for a young audience and to be enjoyed by all.
Wow! This book made me feel like how I feel when I watch the Les Misérables musical (one of my favorites). This is an epic sweeping novel that gripped me from the first few pages, all the way to the end. It digs into the art of translation as well as so many challenging aspects of colonialism, racism, academia, and the industrial revolution through the eyes of dynamic characters that I could imagine as friends. Not for the faint of heart, be ready for heartbreak and fervor.
This graphic novel is a beautiful story about belonging and navigating the darkness (inside and out). The illustrations transport you to walk beside the moth keepers in the quiet darkness, in this magical, desert terrain. I fell in love with the world within pages.
What a joy of a read! This fantasy novel for children is a wonderfully written coming of age story about tweens who are seen as different and their courage to stand up for what's right. It grapples with internal and external struggles with heart, warmth, and encouragement. Themes of navigating relationships with family, friendship, and the world around you, are accessible and also a pleasure to read. I will absolutely be recommending this book to young readers!
I loved this moody, magical mystery! It is the perfect blend of Jodi Picoult-style heartfelt, character-driven mysteries and Alice Hoffman-style passionate magical realism. Atmospheric and dynamic, this island and the lives of its inhabitants captivated me. This is the kind of book I'm always searching for and was so thrilled to discover it, and this author!
Every time I read Sharon Old's work I am struck. Her words punch your gut, wrench your heart, while tenderly holding you, so you know that she's taking you somewhere worthwhile.
This collection of poems are a snapshot of time, they brought me right into the moment with her. She writes about the experience of isolation and quarantine while aging, while grieving the loss of a loved one. Hers is a perspective I am so grateful to read. I so appreciate her wisdom, her brutal honesty, her anger, and her wonder.
As we all know, Stephen King is a master storyteller, and this book is a prime example of King's extraordinary ability to weave a story and create characters who are so compelling and complex. This is a modern classic, a self aware love letter to fairy tales and Lovecraftian lore, through King's own lens. At its heart, this is a retelling of Jack and the Beanstalk. Throughout, he is addressing the lineage of these classic stories and Campbell's "Hero's Journey" while somehow making it feel so fresh and raw. Don't get me wrong, the basic outline of the story is one we have all read before, over and over, but King brings a contemporary, gritty lens that pushes against the "perfect" veneer a lot of these stories have in our modern culture. The main character is constantly aware of the ways in which he fits the bill as this "perfect male hero" protagonist, yet straddles that with deeply confessional insights, revealing the darker nature he struggles with.
This is not as dark and gory of a story as many of his books, but still goes there at times. I love that this book feels like an offering, a bridge. It’s a story about a boy who loves his dog (it made me cry!) It’s a coming of age story that could be a great story for parents and teens to read and discuss together after reading. There are no perfect people and no perfect worlds. I can think of no better writer to investigate this in the collective unconscious than Stephen King, and boy was it wonderful.
Gorgeous illustrations with rich colors and a sweet, comforting story with repetition and rhyme. A perfect bedtime read aloud!
This sweet graphic novel is about teens in their final year of high school. The characters are so endearing and the art is wonderful and captivating. The story sweeps you away on their journey of falling in love, recognizing their own destructive habits, and helping each other through it.
This is a beautifully written LGBTQ coming of age story for young adults! There's so much tackled in this, with such passion and tenderness: navigating gender and sexuality, coming out, complicated friendships, heading to college, aging and grief, art making, and so much more. Readers will find their heartstrings being tugged and left with so much to reflect on after reading this novel.
What a sweet book! I will absolutely be recommending this to middle school and YA readers! It's perfect for the Halloween season (as it takes place in Salem and has witchy elements) but it's a great read any time of year. A story about teens navigating foster care and divorce, about grief and mental health, and about how there are no easy fixes. It's a story about finding home and finding those who love you.
A thoroughly enjoyable graphic novel that is full of color, movement, and expression! I love the illustrations depictions of the kids dancing and yoyoing while experiencing so much emotion while moving!
This is a perfect pick for kids in middle school going through friend struggles/school transitions. I love the message supporting kids learning to communicate with their peers, and celebrating the friends and passions they have!
Every word of this book is a delight. The language is so yummy and playful, the characters are so vivid and full, the handling of ancestral trauma and processing grief is so compassionate and deeply needed. This book made me laugh, made me cry, and my heart burst open in a way I have not felt in a long time. Open for connection and love, open for art and joy, open to grief and all the ways it shows up in our world. Thank you for this book. It is a treasure.
Fascinating history about the Dark Ages in London, after the Romans left, with wonderful characters. Historical fiction with hints of magic!
This second installment of "Six Crimson Cranes" is just as good as the first book! It picks up immediately where the first book leaves off and whisks you away as the main character tries to set things right. The storytelling is so luscious and well crafted. I love the journey of the characters, the sweet love story, and the recognition and exploration of the complexity of "good" and "evil." It brought me to tears at the end! These books are so beautiful, I have added them to the top of my list of favorite folklore retellings/fantasy books! Teens and adults alike will love this story!
Yay! I loved and devoured this book! This is a fun, heartfelt, heartwarming, spicy, fantasy romance with "zombies" and hints of "You've Got Mail" but so much better. It has everything I love in a fantasy/romance! I'm so excited to recommend this to readers!
Loved this book so much! It made me laugh and made me cry. It was so passionately, thoughtfully written, sensitive about grief and death, while also finding levity and humor throughout! Fans of Emily Henry as well as some magical realism will love this!
This is a book that immerses you in the life of the author, whose reflections on his life and Thoreau's life are honest, raw, contemplative, at times funny, and always a welcome voice throughout many tides of life. It is a meditation on so many things: time passing, our human relationship to nature and walking, grief, friendships, and love. I especially appreciate how he considers the ways we can and cannot relate to Thoreau in our modern times. I recommend this book to those who are interested in Thoreau and his life, and are looking for a thoughtful book to connect to place and the self.
What a ride! This is book is gorey and powerful, vivid and angry. It's got body horror and romance, grapples with spiritual questions, and celebrates the experiences of LGBTQ and neurodivergent folks. It felt like watching a friend play a video game (which I enjoy), but better! It has fast paced action, a cast of characters that you really root for despite knowing that the post apocalyptic environment is brutal and unforgiving. I was moved by this story and will definitely be recommending it to YA and adult readers!
I could not put this book down! It was a tender, passionate, and captivating YA novel that utterly transports you to Prague. It wove Jewish history, folklore, and the present day beautifully. The language is beautiful as well, the whole book is in verse!
This collection of vulnerable poems of love, loss, grief, addiction, and trauma digs into deeply intimate terrain. His words shed bright, clear light into these places with tenderness and sweeping generosity. What a gift to this world.
This whirlwind novel is an action-packed YA sci-fi full of bloodthirst and justice! There is electric feminist energy, beautiful queer themes, and thoughtful commentary on disability all while weaving in aspects of chinese culture that utterly whisk you into their world. I 100% agree with this review by E.K. Johnston and couldn't say it better: "A primal scream of a book!"
This book was so powerful! A fantastic science fiction novel geared towards children 8 and up, I think would be great for middle school and high school ages as well. The story follows a girl as her and her family flee Earth on a spaceship of scientists to find a new planet to live on. It was heartbreaking as well as heart-warming, a story about love, loss, reverence of science and nature, as well as the power and healing nature of storytelling. I fell in love with the characters and there were a few scenes that brought me to tears. This would be a great choice for kids/teens who liked The Hunger Games and other dystopian novels, and could spark thoughtful family conversations.
This collection is such a moving read. The meditations on family, history, nature, grief, deafness, and love are heart-wrenching and poignant. The poems are visceral and deeply sensory experiences, with powerful usage of the idea of closed captioning that invite the reader to consider - what does sound truly mean to us? I highly recommend this collection to poetry lovers.
This sequel to "Show Me a Sign" was just as riveting as the first one! The urgency of the story and the narrator's fervent drive, always following her heart and her ethics, captivated me from start to finish. This is such a beautifully written, powerful book for young people and adults alike. I hope there will be more books in the series!
This book is one poem. My experience of this poem was through the lense of embodiment. After the experiences of 2020, of isolation and immobilization -- the flight, falling, and awe inspiring dynamicism of this piece was so liberating. This is also an incredibly personal piece, one that draws the reader into moments of despair and elation, and ultimately of justice.
Goldenrod reads like a drive through your hometown, past land and houses you once knew, catching glimpses of people you love. Her poems ring with such truth and clarity they bring me to tears. This is a collection for mothers, for those yearning, struggling, and caring for our world. I highly recommend this book for those who love poets like Mary Oliver and Kate Baer.
This collection is such a balm for weary hearts. It is clear that the editor has lovingly selected each poem, and that passion for poetry is seeped into every page. The forward is a gorgeous meditation ushering the reader into the perfect headspace for poetry, asking us "how we witness makes our world." And in this collection this witnessing of the world is studied through gratitude and hope.
This is one of my very favorite poetry collections. Ross Gay is such a loving, powerful, masterful poet, and this collection of poems bring the reader right to the heart of it all. I highly reccommend this collection for fans of Mary Oliver.
I am drawn to retellings of myths and legends but tend to struggle with Greek mythology with its vastness and complicated relationships. This book captured me in way I haven't felt with Greek mythology before! It fleshes out these timeless characters with such grace and depth. The story beautifully weaves through so many eras of that cannon, and I felt like I could finally connect to the characters, dramas, and intricacies of this vast world. I love the world created here through the lens of the character Circe, who is a wonderfully complex, passionate, and caring witch and herbalist.
I was immediately drawn to this book by the mysterious foggy cover, which turned out to be very fitting for this story. Part mystery, part ghost story, part coming of age story in the subculture of 2000's Toronto, it spans diverse and fascinating topics with compassion and intrigue. I was thoroughly enthralled by how it all threads together.
I love time travel stories. In this one, I was genuinely amused by the "rules," quotidian nature of the characters, and unapologetically casual pacing. This book took a touching look at relationships and our universal desire for understanding and closure. A perfect book for a rainy day with a cup of coffee.
