4.5 A slow, quiet read, with little plot to speak of, but beautiful, descriptive writing that has stayed with me. Conley writes about his experience with such grace and honesty and compassion, both for the man he once was and the family and faith he was raised in.

3.5 A really sweet, quiet, satisfying read despite a slightly underwhelming ending.

Gritty, magical, disturbing, and unexpected. Allende’s work is a family saga of magical realism akin to 100 Years of Solitude but also totally distinct. A classic well worth the read.

I will officially read anything Celeste Ng writes. The main word that comes to mind when I think of her writing is INSIGHTFUL. She has a way of casually weaving universal truths about complex family and social relationships into her stories, putting words to feeling you didn’t even know you had. I find her characters, as well as the ways they interact with each other, utterly believable. The way they dance around each other, speaking in half-truths and holding secrets close, the way their stories weave in and out of each other, is just so real and breathtaking. This is true for both her novels, but I do personally prefer Everything I Never Told You just a bit more. I’m also curious if the word “every” will be a theme in her titles or just a coincidence. Either way, eagerly anticipating her next work.

Such a fun little book! Perfect to start off the reading year. My want to read list grew by several titles. I listened to the audio version, which was great but I may have to take a second go with the print version.

I can not get enough of this series, or Jemisin as a writer. More more more. More.

A new favorite. Starts quiet and slow, then soon becomes powerful and unputdownable. Perfect.

Stunning. She has such a unique vantage point to the unfolding of history and she writes about it all superbly. I especially loved hearing about her upbringing. And that engagement story! My main takeaway tho is that if FLOTUS Obama could take a weekend away with her girlfriends while some serious shit was going down at the White House what excuse do any of us have?