The Great Believers is split into two storylines with alternating chapters between them. The first follows Yale, an art museum curator and gay man living in Chicago during the height of the AIDS crisis. AIDS is rippling through his community killing off his friends and loved ones, including his good friend Nico. At the same time, he's trying to secure a large art deal that could be career making from Nico's aunt for the museum. The second storyline follows Nico's sister Fiona in the present day as she tries to find her estranged daughter in Paris while reflecting on how the AIDS crisis deeply affected her life.

I found both storylines compelling and enjoyed reading about both Yale and Fiona. Yale was a truly likable character and I was rooting for him so much. I just wanted things to work out for him, but his storyline fills you with a sense of dread as AIDS hits closer and closer to home. Fiona felt a little uneven - I felt like her character as seen by people like Yale was precocious and quite different than who she seemed to be in the present day, but I still found it believable enough.

I have heard this book compared to A Little Life and The Heart's Invisible Furies. For me, it was closer to The Heart's Invisible Furies, which I rated four stars. (ALL is one of my all time faves and basically nothing can compare.) This book started off a bit slow, but I was immediately drawn to Yale. I found Yale's story moving and I definitely shed some tears while reading this. If you liked ALL or THIF, I think it's worth giving this one a read. 

I know, I know, I'm late to the party on this one. It's been out for awhile and it took me a long time to pick it up but I'm really glad I did. It's about a family with five sons, except the youngest son, Claude, wants to be a girl from the time he is very young. It's about how the family deals with the challenges of raising a transgender child and the trials and tribulations they go through.

I don't have too much to say about this one, except that it is poignant and insightful and felt very honest and real. It will tug at your heartstrings and maybe even help you understand a different perspective. It also got the seal of approval from Brenda, my mom, and we don't have super overlapping favorite books, so that's a good sign that it should have wide appeal. If you like heartwarming family stories that teach you something, definitely pick this one up.

This book is weird. The plot is kind of weird, it's set in a cult (apparently a theme in my recent reading life) that is weird, and the writing is a little weird. The book is divided into three sections. The first is narrated by Pony Fontaine, daughter of Billie Jean Fontaine and "The Heavy". The family lives in "the territory" somewhere very far north and totally detached from the rest of society except for occasional supply shipments paid for by the blood of the territory's teens. Yeah. Billie Jean was an outsider who showed up alone and nearly dead to the territory 17 years ago. When she suddenly takes off and disappears, the residents of the territory look for her. Pony reflects on life up to this point.

The second part of the book is narrated by the family dog, who could apparently communicate with Billie Jean. See what I mean by weird? I actually started liking the writing more in this section. I found the writing in Pony's section to be unnecessarily confusing. Somehow it was more clear when narrated by a dog. The third section is narrated by a boy in the territory, Supernatural. Well, I guess he is a bit older than a boy. He's somewhere between the ages of 17 and 19, I think. I can't remember exactly. 

The book eventually reveals why Billie Jean left. It's a slow build up. I quite liked how everything came together in the end, but again, the whole thing was a weird experience. In a kind of good way? I rated this at three stars in the end. I actually really liked how it all came together. But it was still weird.  If you like cults or writing that is a little out of the ordinary, and stories that aren't entirely straightforward out of the gate, I'd recommend giving this a go. It's certainly unique.

I fell for Groff’s writing when I read Fates & Furies earlier this year. I thought Florida was equally beautifully written. The stories are all related to Florida in some way, with most of them set there. Groff’s writing has a haunting, atmospheric quality. These are stories about normal women living their everyday lives, but they somehow left me with feelings of dread and unease.

I’m not a huge fan of short story collections in general, and typically have a hard time connecting with characters. Groff drops you right in to a character’s life, and was somehow able to be affecting with each and every story. Almost all of them stuck with me. I was super impressed, and I feel like she is a master of the craft. I’ll be hard pressed to find a story collection I like more - this is my favorite I’ve ever read. Highly recommend if you want to read stories that have a bit of a foreboding vibe, are centered on women, and are beautifully written.

How to Love a Jamaican by Alexia Arthurs is the first collection I finished during #storyseptember. Overall, this collection is pretty solid.

As with all story collections, there were some hits and some misses for me. I think Arthurs really shines when she’s writing about young women and their experiences in America as immigrants. My favorites were the first and last stories. The last story, about a Jamaican girl who became an American pop star and never could have thought she’d become so famous, especially felt Zadie Smith-esque, but to be fair I’ve only ever read Swing Time by her. The stories where she wrote about older Jamaican men felt to me less engaging and more uncomfortable, especially because in some stories men are just cheating on their wives like it’s not a big deal. Idk, that just always bugs me, and I don’t want to think it’s just a cultural difference because that feels like stereotyping but it felt like that in more than one story, like it wasn’t a big deal or like Jamaican men weren’t loyal. I just didn’t like that aspect as much, although I’m sure that’s a true experience for some.

I think this is a pretty easy reading story collection. Nothing was too experimental, the stories all related to a central theme of the Jamaican experience, and the stories mostly kept my attention. I also always appreciate learning about different cultures, and reading about experiences of people different than myself.

This was my first Emily Giffin somehow. I read it super fast in one night. I’ve been drawn to quicker books lately, and I figured from her reputation, this one would be an easy read. It definitely was - very effortless to get through.

This book follows two families after Nina’s son Finch takes an unfortunate photo with a racist caption of Tom’s daughter Lyla at a party. It’s told from multiple perspectives. Nina’s family is Nashville elite - they are super rich. Tom is a working class single dad.

The plot made this book compellingly readable, and I did enjoy the time I spent on it. Unfortunately, it was quite cliched and the overall message wasn’t great.

This book played up a lot of stereotypes about rich people, privilege, and about people who grew up less well off as being more moral. I think you were supposed to feel bad for Nina as she struggled with the consequences of raising her son in such luxury, especially once some of her backstory was revealed. Unfortunately she just came off as kind of a jerk of a mom to me - she never took any real responsibility for anything.

Overall, this book delivers a quick escape, some family drama with some real issues intertwined, a few twisty moments, and page-turner qualities. It just didn’t pack the emotional punch for me that I would have hoped from the description. I’d recommend it as a good beach read but if you’re looking for a deep exploration into some hard topics, this probably isn’t it.

I wish I had connected with this one better. It has things I usually like - a slowly unraveling mystery, a setting that functions almost like a character, and unreliable storytellers. Unfortunately I just couldn’t fully connect. Although the writing was lovely, I struggled to picture the house in my mind or to care about the characters. The friendship between the characters in the house didn’t make sense to me and didn’t feel real, and I felt bored reading this at times.

I do know of many people who really enjoyed this one, so don’t just take my word for it if this one sounds like something you’d like. Everyone has different tastes. If you have read this one, let me know what you thought!