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evergreensandbookishthings
Demon Copperhead didn’t really grab my attention with its description or cover, even though I love Kingsolver’s early work, and a hardcover first edition of The Poisonwood Bible sits on my all-time favorites shelf. I happened to win this copy from an @oprahsbookclub giveaway, and decided to dive in after seeing all of the glowing reviews. And, damn. Who would’ve thought a novel would make me want to read David Copperfield! It was bad enough having to read A Tale of Two Cities in high school. TBD if I would identify with David as much as Demon, though.
It’s interesting that a number of novels I’ve read recently center around a Gen X character, like myself, drawing me in with the nostalgia. There’s a fair amount of that in this book, but it’s not the focus. Demon’s first person voice is the overarching triumph of this story: utterly delightful, hilarious, insightful (but also charmingly unself-aware), heartbreaking, and so very real. Using his voice to illustrate the realities of Appalachian families that were sacrificial lambs to the opioid crisis was pitch perfect in forcing outsiders understand and empathize with this atrocity. I could not help rooting for him and the equally colorful cast of characters drawn into his orbit.
Demon Copperhead read like Kingsolver’s earlier fiction - it contains a powerful message, but not a redundant or didactic one. It made me think, made me angry, and pulled at my heartstrings. Just an excellent book!
“I’ve tried in this telling, time and again, to pinpoint the moment where everything starts to fall apart. Everything, meaning me. But there’s also the opposite, where some little nut cracks open inside you and a tree starts to grow. Even harder to nail. Because that thing’s going to be growing a long time before you notice. Years maybe. Then one day you say, huh, that little crack between my ears has turned into this whole damn tree of wonderful.”❤️
It’s interesting that a number of novels I’ve read recently center around a Gen X character, like myself, drawing me in with the nostalgia. There’s a fair amount of that in this book, but it’s not the focus. Demon’s first person voice is the overarching triumph of this story: utterly delightful, hilarious, insightful (but also charmingly unself-aware), heartbreaking, and so very real. Using his voice to illustrate the realities of Appalachian families that were sacrificial lambs to the opioid crisis was pitch perfect in forcing outsiders understand and empathize with this atrocity. I could not help rooting for him and the equally colorful cast of characters drawn into his orbit.
Demon Copperhead read like Kingsolver’s earlier fiction - it contains a powerful message, but not a redundant or didactic one. It made me think, made me angry, and pulled at my heartstrings. Just an excellent book!
“I’ve tried in this telling, time and again, to pinpoint the moment where everything starts to fall apart. Everything, meaning me. But there’s also the opposite, where some little nut cracks open inside you and a tree starts to grow. Even harder to nail. Because that thing’s going to be growing a long time before you notice. Years maybe. Then one day you say, huh, that little crack between my ears has turned into this whole damn tree of wonderful.”❤️
I have been stalling on my review for I Have Some Questions for You because I still can’t really decide if I enjoyed it or just appreciated the writing and the content. My expectations were sky high, after seeing so many glowing reviews, as well as going to the author event where Makkai read an indelible passage and talked about all of the things that inspired her writing.
I think it missed the mark for me because Bodie’s relationships only seemed to serve a purpose in highlighting a particular issue around racism, misogyny, true crime, power dynamics, etc. I understand what she was trying to do, and was successful, in highlighting all angles of what a crime means for everyone involved in the real world, not some lurid podcast or mystery novel. Most true crime or crime novels will gloss over what really happens to the convicted, their families, the victims families, witnesses - how it reverberates in our current cultural landscape. In so doing, I felt like Bodie was a prop or prism that you pick up to look at all the different facets of a story. That stripped her of flesh and blood, despite her very real and detailed traumas, because I was seeing her and her relationships through a lens. I would have liked the focus of the narrative to dive deeper into her connection with at least one of the other characters. Instead, the reader sees her interactions with a large cast of characters (all showing the different aspects of this horrible crime), but none of them (including her fascinatingly odd relationship with her husband) are the focus.
I absolutely would still recommend this novel. The writing was excellent (especially if you are a fan of zeitgeist commentary in your fiction), it took a number of unexpected turns, and the whodunnit was a tough nut to crack.
Ultimately for me, whodunnits don’t make for a page turner. I want more heart.
“For a teenager, being seen a certain way is as good as being that way - and soon your vision became part of my self-image.”
I think it missed the mark for me because Bodie’s relationships only seemed to serve a purpose in highlighting a particular issue around racism, misogyny, true crime, power dynamics, etc. I understand what she was trying to do, and was successful, in highlighting all angles of what a crime means for everyone involved in the real world, not some lurid podcast or mystery novel. Most true crime or crime novels will gloss over what really happens to the convicted, their families, the victims families, witnesses - how it reverberates in our current cultural landscape. In so doing, I felt like Bodie was a prop or prism that you pick up to look at all the different facets of a story. That stripped her of flesh and blood, despite her very real and detailed traumas, because I was seeing her and her relationships through a lens. I would have liked the focus of the narrative to dive deeper into her connection with at least one of the other characters. Instead, the reader sees her interactions with a large cast of characters (all showing the different aspects of this horrible crime), but none of them (including her fascinatingly odd relationship with her husband) are the focus.
I absolutely would still recommend this novel. The writing was excellent (especially if you are a fan of zeitgeist commentary in your fiction), it took a number of unexpected turns, and the whodunnit was a tough nut to crack.
Ultimately for me, whodunnits don’t make for a page turner. I want more heart.
“For a teenager, being seen a certain way is as good as being that way - and soon your vision became part of my self-image.”
As someone who was an early member of the Oiselle team, and casual acquaintances with Lauren during those days when she signed on in 2013 - a time she covers extensively in the book, Good for a Girl was a fantastic and surreal audiobook experience! I laughed out loud when she illustrated the stark contrast in Nike’s zero support for pregnant female athletes, and Oiselle founder Sally’s response to Lauren and Jesse planning a family - “I’ll throw you a baby shower!” I attended that baby shower.😁
Even though I am obviously biased and continually impressed by Lauren’s many gifts, talented writer being only one of them, this book is outstanding and should be put into everyone’s hands - most importantly, coaches of all women’s sports, starting at the high school and collegiate level. Some stories I have already heard Lauren tell, like the 2007 5k championship where she stopped on the track, and a team favorite - the 2010 win wherein she blurts “That was just BALLS!” Yet so much of this thoroughly researched book was eye-opening. I appreciated the amount of data and science she interspersed with her compelling life story. This book is like the sports companion to ‘Invisible Women’ which outlines how data bias, with men being the default, negatively affects women in all areas of life. I also applaud her vulnerability in sharing unvarnished thoughts around her own hubris, towards other teammates, disordered eating, and how she continues to learn and adapt.
Even though I am obviously biased and continually impressed by Lauren’s many gifts, talented writer being only one of them, this book is outstanding and should be put into everyone’s hands - most importantly, coaches of all women’s sports, starting at the high school and collegiate level. Some stories I have already heard Lauren tell, like the 2007 5k championship where she stopped on the track, and a team favorite - the 2010 win wherein she blurts “That was just BALLS!” Yet so much of this thoroughly researched book was eye-opening. I appreciated the amount of data and science she interspersed with her compelling life story. This book is like the sports companion to ‘Invisible Women’ which outlines how data bias, with men being the default, negatively affects women in all areas of life. I also applaud her vulnerability in sharing unvarnished thoughts around her own hubris, towards other teammates, disordered eating, and how she continues to learn and adapt.
Thank you @algonquinbooks for the gifted copy of Dust Child by Nguyễn Phan Quế Mai! This novel came out on March 14 and has been getting a lot of buzz, deservedly so. I have not read her debut: The Mountains Sing, equally praised, but it is definitely now on my TBR.
I love a story that utilizes a multiple timeline, multiple narrator arc that comes together in unexpected ways. Learning more about a time in history I have very little understanding of, but now want to know more, is the best kind of historical fiction. (Turns out that seing Miss Saigon as a teenager didn’t give me that much perspective about children of GIs and Vietnamese women left behind after the War.)
Each character is carrying their trauma in such complex and heartbreaking ways, from Phong - the orphaned biracial child left behind in Vietnam, Dan - the American veteran, and Tran - a girl who worked in a bar during the war to help her family make ends meet. But there is hope and beauty and resilience amongst the heartbreak.
The writing was lovely, and very accessible as I absolutely flew through the pages. If you are a fan of historical fiction, this is a perfect book about a period in time not often touched upon, and one that is rife with stories that should be told.
I love a story that utilizes a multiple timeline, multiple narrator arc that comes together in unexpected ways. Learning more about a time in history I have very little understanding of, but now want to know more, is the best kind of historical fiction. (Turns out that seing Miss Saigon as a teenager didn’t give me that much perspective about children of GIs and Vietnamese women left behind after the War.)
Each character is carrying their trauma in such complex and heartbreaking ways, from Phong - the orphaned biracial child left behind in Vietnam, Dan - the American veteran, and Tran - a girl who worked in a bar during the war to help her family make ends meet. But there is hope and beauty and resilience amongst the heartbreak.
The writing was lovely, and very accessible as I absolutely flew through the pages. If you are a fan of historical fiction, this is a perfect book about a period in time not often touched upon, and one that is rife with stories that should be told.
Thank you, Partner @bibliolifestyle @williammorrowbooks for the gifted copy of Marvelous by Molly Greely! This book is kind of a sleeper - it just published February 28th and I haven’t enough of this gorgeous cover on the ‘gram, which I’d love to rectify.
It’s been a very long time since I read Renaissance or Age of Enlightenment era novels about royal court intrigue. Back during the height of The Other Boleyn Girl, I was inhaling every single Philippa Gregory, and similar novelists, I could get my hands on. Reading Marvelous felt like a fun revisit to this genre, and I also learned some fascinating stuff about the court of Catherine de Medici.
I love a book has me Googling, and doing a deep dive on what is considered the origin story of Beauty and the Beast was not at ALL what I expected. This fictional account of Petrus Gonsalvus is captivating, heartbreaking, compassionate and morally thought provoking. It’s a story about survival, being human, love and family.
“Her majesty is a woman—just a woman. A woman whose desire for little hairy children saved Catherine from the nunnery-or worse. Whose desire led Catherine to Petrus, to Madeleine.”
It’s a bit of a slow burn, and I would advise not going into it expecting a Disney-esque love story. But I found it completely engrossing!
It’s been a very long time since I read Renaissance or Age of Enlightenment era novels about royal court intrigue. Back during the height of The Other Boleyn Girl, I was inhaling every single Philippa Gregory, and similar novelists, I could get my hands on. Reading Marvelous felt like a fun revisit to this genre, and I also learned some fascinating stuff about the court of Catherine de Medici.
I love a book has me Googling, and doing a deep dive on what is considered the origin story of Beauty and the Beast was not at ALL what I expected. This fictional account of Petrus Gonsalvus is captivating, heartbreaking, compassionate and morally thought provoking. It’s a story about survival, being human, love and family.
“Her majesty is a woman—just a woman. A woman whose desire for little hairy children saved Catherine from the nunnery-or worse. Whose desire led Catherine to Petrus, to Madeleine.”
It’s a bit of a slow burn, and I would advise not going into it expecting a Disney-esque love story. But I found it completely engrossing!
This the first YA novel I’ve read of Emily Henry’s and I can see the similarities and style to her adult novels. She writes the most excellent banter, and the feelings of falling in love. Some bits felt slightly overdone (“At the sound of my name, whole forests grow from saplings into moonlight redwoods beneath my collarbones.”) but fitting to the big feelings of youth. I also enjoyed the magical realism, but it seemed too nebulous for me to fully understand.
Adding my thoughts to the pile! Spare seems to be a Rorschach test of one’s opinion on the royals. My investment in them is low, especially as an American. I watched the Oprah interview, but not the documentary on Netflix. I think it’s possible to be sympathetic to their plight, while also feeling like ‘enough already.’ Harry has every right to speak his truth, though, and I love a memoir on audiobook.
What struck me most, as someone who lost a parent as a young child (and can remember the same scenario of one parent telling me the other had died), you cannot know what that will do to a person. It obviously shapes every aspect of the rest of your life. Not that my life mirrors Harry’s, but I found his account completely understandable, engrossing, and so so sad. The magical thinking of children is heartbreaking in the face of trauma. There was so much that I identified with, in the way that he spent much of his life telling himself his mother went into hiding, or the mindset that if you move on, somehow that diminishes your loved one’s space in your heart.
I feel like I am constantly referencing the book “What Happened to You?” - but it is excellent and explains so much about trauma and the brain. Clearly, the press and paparazzi are ingrained trauma for him. And it is not at all surprising the way that he is trying to protect his family, especially given the heightened racist vitriol that is harmful to EVERYONE.
I also bought this book to directly support Harry and Megan. Those who are STILL trying to drag him down, nitpicking at his account by combing through dates and times trying to catch him in a gotcha moment, are vile. People like Piers Morgan or author Emily Giffin make me so ragey with their judgment of peoples lives as a pastime. Everyone’s brains process information differently and sometimes we might get the details wrong, especially when confronted with PTSD. So anyone who judges can sit the hell down and do some reading, and deep reflection.
I would absolutely recommend this book, especially on audio from @librofm and support independent bookstores!
What struck me most, as someone who lost a parent as a young child (and can remember the same scenario of one parent telling me the other had died), you cannot know what that will do to a person. It obviously shapes every aspect of the rest of your life. Not that my life mirrors Harry’s, but I found his account completely understandable, engrossing, and so so sad. The magical thinking of children is heartbreaking in the face of trauma. There was so much that I identified with, in the way that he spent much of his life telling himself his mother went into hiding, or the mindset that if you move on, somehow that diminishes your loved one’s space in your heart.
I feel like I am constantly referencing the book “What Happened to You?” - but it is excellent and explains so much about trauma and the brain. Clearly, the press and paparazzi are ingrained trauma for him. And it is not at all surprising the way that he is trying to protect his family, especially given the heightened racist vitriol that is harmful to EVERYONE.
I also bought this book to directly support Harry and Megan. Those who are STILL trying to drag him down, nitpicking at his account by combing through dates and times trying to catch him in a gotcha moment, are vile. People like Piers Morgan or author Emily Giffin make me so ragey with their judgment of peoples lives as a pastime. Everyone’s brains process information differently and sometimes we might get the details wrong, especially when confronted with PTSD. So anyone who judges can sit the hell down and do some reading, and deep reflection.
I would absolutely recommend this book, especially on audio from @librofm and support independent bookstores!
Foster is another slim novella from Claire Keegan that packs a punch, and I loved it even more than Small Things Like These. A simple story about a girl who is sent to live with relatives for a summer, it just hit me in the feels: the longing and yearning of the young girl, the melancholy of her caretakers, and the family secrets subtly dropped like breadcrumbs.
Keegan’s writing reminds me of the adage about telling a story in six words, “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” (Attributed to Hemingway, but unlikely.) The kind of prose that is accessible, restrained and powerful is my favorite. Along with Keegan’s other work, I highly recommend Zorrie by Laird Hunt for a similar read.
“You don’t ever have to say anything,’ he says. ‘Always remember that as a thing you need never do. Many’s the man lost much just because he missed a perfect opportunity to say nothing.”
Keegan’s writing reminds me of the adage about telling a story in six words, “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” (Attributed to Hemingway, but unlikely.) The kind of prose that is accessible, restrained and powerful is my favorite. Along with Keegan’s other work, I highly recommend Zorrie by Laird Hunt for a similar read.
“You don’t ever have to say anything,’ he says. ‘Always remember that as a thing you need never do. Many’s the man lost much just because he missed a perfect opportunity to say nothing.”
Kevin Wilson does it again, creating another wholly weird and poignant story. Now is Not the Time to Panic is SUCH a vibe.
The immersive atmosphere of this small town in which a lazy summer goes awry is tangible. Perhaps it’s because I vividly remember those latchkey days of the 80s/90s, grew up with a single mother, older brother, and spent every single day at the community pool.
Despite the palpable GenX of it all, anyone can relate to that awkward teen stage of life that is so perfectly captured by the singular voice of Frances (Frankie) Budge.
“But I was 16. I lived inside of myself way more than I lived inside of this town.”
The intensity of her feelings, rash (but understandable) choices, hilarious dynamic with her older brothers, and obsession with the awkward new boy in town make her leap off the page. The structure of the story being told from her adult perspective heightens the tension of wanting to know how ‘the panic of Coalfield’ unfolds. The ‘panic’ storyline is so utterly bizarre, but SO BELIEVABLE. It is absolutely something that could happen, and is a keen observation on how our society reacts to things we don’t understand.
“We’d created meaning where there was none, but, I don’t know, isn’t that art?”
My favorite book of Wilson’s by a mile - highly recommend!
The immersive atmosphere of this small town in which a lazy summer goes awry is tangible. Perhaps it’s because I vividly remember those latchkey days of the 80s/90s, grew up with a single mother, older brother, and spent every single day at the community pool.
Despite the palpable GenX of it all, anyone can relate to that awkward teen stage of life that is so perfectly captured by the singular voice of Frances (Frankie) Budge.
“But I was 16. I lived inside of myself way more than I lived inside of this town.”
The intensity of her feelings, rash (but understandable) choices, hilarious dynamic with her older brothers, and obsession with the awkward new boy in town make her leap off the page. The structure of the story being told from her adult perspective heightens the tension of wanting to know how ‘the panic of Coalfield’ unfolds. The ‘panic’ storyline is so utterly bizarre, but SO BELIEVABLE. It is absolutely something that could happen, and is a keen observation on how our society reacts to things we don’t understand.
“We’d created meaning where there was none, but, I don’t know, isn’t that art?”
My favorite book of Wilson’s by a mile - highly recommend!
When it comes to thrillers, I guess sci-fi ones are my jam. I will read anything Blake Crouch writes. Not literary masterpieces, but his novels are always immersive, fast paced and fun. His writing is so cinematic, understandably, as he is also a film writer. I just love how I immediately become immersed in his stories and can see everything in my minds eye. And there’s something about his writing style that’s just flows and I burn through his books in what feels like seconds.
Upgrade wasn’t my favorite of his, but still recommend.
Upgrade wasn’t my favorite of his, but still recommend.