Book Review: "All the Water in the World" by Eiren Caffall

I’m really late to the party in reading and reviewing this, but I’m so grateful to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the advance copy I received. Amazingly, this is the second piece of climate fiction I’ve read in the last few months, and it really made me think.

It’s a time after the glaciers have melted and the world is lashed by severe weather conditions, including floods. In what was once New York City, Nonie, her older sister Bix, and their father live in an encampment of sorts atop the American Museum of Natural History. The girls have been taught to hunt and grow their food in Central Park.

Their other responsibility is to try and save the museum’s collections so that work in human history and science are not lost. But Nonie has a heightened sense of when precipitation is incoming, and when a massive storm breaches the city’s flood walls, her family and their researcher friend must flee. They grab what they can from the museum, including a birchbark canoe, and travel north along the Hudson River.

The journey is a harrowing one, fraught with danger and potential disaster. Along the way they not only have to brave the elements, but they also have to face the fears and uncertainties of the people they encounter, survivors who have formed small communities. They don’t have any sense of whom to trust and whom to fear, which proves harrowing.

The characters are really beautifully drawn, particularly Nonie. She, like so many who must brave catastrophe, is wise beyond her years, but she is also tremendously kind and empathetic.

While this moved a bit slower than I was expecting, I found this to be a powerful, emotional, and eye-opening book. In addition to its depiction of a world ravaged by climate change, this is a book about grief, love, and survival. It’s also a powerful tribute to the value of museums and what they help us learn and remember, important messages given the dangers museums face in the U.S.

Book Review: "Run Away with Me" by Brian Selznick

Thanks so much to Scholastic and NetGalley for the advance copy of this book! This was a sweet and emotional read.

In the summer of 1986, Danny is 16 years old. He and his mother are spending the summer in Rome, as she has a job at a museum. Left to his own devices, he wanders the streets, visiting the sights, and waiting for something to happen to him.

And then he meets Angelo. Angelo seems to be following him through Rome—but once he steps out of the shadows, he has a powerful impact on Danny’s life. Angelo has stories about so many of the places and things they see, each of which focuses on love stories between men throughout history. Against this backdrop, the two boys’ attraction to one another quickly turns to love.

Of course, their relationship has an end date, since Danny will have to go back to the U.S. with his mother at the end of the summer. This only serves to intensify their feelings for one another and the emotions related to Danny’s impending departure.

As much as this is a love story between two young men, Brian Selznick has also written a gorgeous love letter to Rome. I’ve never been but Italy is very high on my bucket list. Selznick’s prose made me feel immersed in the sights and sounds of the city.

Having grown up in the 1980s, I love books set during that time. It’s always interesting to read a love story that takes place before the immediate connections that mobile phones and email could provide. The added bonus is the beautiful illustrations that Selznick drew. This book really packed a punch.

Book Review: "Again and Again" by Jonathan Evison

Eugene Miles lives in an elder-care facility, on the verge of turning 106 years old. Considering his age, his health isn’t horrible, but he’s pretty much ready to die. At this point, what’s left for him but spending time reading books he’s read countless times and doing elaborate puzzles in his room?

When another nursing assistant arrives, Eugene isn’t interested in building a relationship with someone else. But for some reason, this young man’s friendly manner taps into Eugene’s heart, and before long, he starts to look forward to Angel’s visits.

Angel shares stories about his relationship with his girlfriend and looks to “Geno” for advice, and the older man opens up about his life as well.

But Eugene’s reminiscences aren’t typical: he tells Angel that he has lived countless lives before this one: he was a thief in medieval Spain, a cat owned by Oscar Wilde, and many other iterations through the years.

And Eugene recounts meeting and losing the love of his life centuries ago in Spain, only to find her one more time in this life.

Angel is captivated by the man’s stories, but can they possibly be true, or are they just the ramblings of an elderly man? As the truth is revealed, and Eugene’s history becomes clearer, what we’re left with is the strength of stories and the power of love, and how we never can truly know all the multitudes that a person contains.

This is a beautifully told book, spanning between medieval Spain, England, and California in the 1930s and 1940s, and Jonathan Evison really made some excellent choices in how the plot unfolded, as I feared that it could veer into melodramatic and frustrating territory.

It’s a slow-moving story, but I was completely hooked.

Book Review: "The Very Long, Very Strange Life of Isaac Dahl" by Bart Yates

Isaac is 96 years old, a historian and journalist, who is writing his memoir. But how do you summarize a life? He decides to focus on 12 different days throughout his life, days which truly had an impact.

Isaac’s story begins in Utah in 1926, when eight-year-old Isaac and his twin sister Agnes are trapped in an avalanche. From that point on, the book focuses on a specific day every eight years. Sometimes the circumstances are dramatic, like when Isaac is aboard a warship during WWII, and sometimes they’re simpler and more joyous.

While some people appear in one vignette only to never be heard from again, the core characters are Isaac, Agnes, and Isaac’s best friend, Bo. Aggie is the fiery, opinionated one, who cares fiercely for her brother, and Bo is truly affable and loyal to both Dahl siblings.

“…few things on earth are more frightening than the possibility of love.”

I enjoyed how the story was told but at times it felt very Forrest Gump-like, with Isaac popping up at different points in history. And while I’ve always been a fan of Bart Yates’ writing, some of the events chronicled seemed very overdone, like the Dust Bowl and the Civil Rights Movement.

This was our book club pick for October. Some people were conflicted, some really found the book moving. I fell somewhere in the middle, although there were places that made me feel real emotion.

Book Review: "Given Our History" by Kristyn J. Miller

Clara has wanted to teach history for as long as she can remember. She’s finally achieved her goal, teaching at a private college in Maryland, and her department chair wants to submit her name for tenure.

When her boss asks if she’d be willing to share her office with a visiting scholar, she agrees without considering the consequences. And then she learns that the visitor is Theodore Harrison—Teddy—with whom she fell in love when they were teenagers. She’s not seen him apart from a very brief run-in since she broke his heart 10 years ago.

Teddy tries to stay out of Clara’s way, but both feel the pull of attraction and their mutual history. As they work together on a project and reminisce about their days attending a camp for homeschooled children, and think about the relationship that grew out of periodic phone calls and sharing CDs and history books, they can’t help but wonder whether they’re being given a second chance.

However, knowing how things turned out the first time has them both guarding their hearts this time. They’ve both gotten older, and Clara wonders if their past history will keep Teddy from fully trusting her, not to mention the fact that he’s only here for a semester.

The narrative shifts back and forth, between the present and the start of their relationship at camp, to when it fell apart. Along the way we get a glimpse of the challenges that each faced with their families, which also had an impact.

I enjoyed these characters as well as some of the supporting ones. I think the story would have benefited from getting Teddy’s perspective instead of seeing everything just through Clara’s eyes. And of course, far too much of their issues stemmed from miscommunication, which is my least favorite trope. But it was a fun and charming story.

Book Review: "Hi Honey, I'm Homo! Sitcoms, Specials, and the Queering of American Culture" by Matt Baume

While I watch very little television now, I was a television addict from the 1970s into the early 2000s. I still remember some episodes from my favorite sitcoms, and definitely had nights when we watched certain programs. (My Saturday nights growing up were ruled by The Love Boat and Fantasy Island.)

Although I didn’t fully come to terms with being gay until my late teens/early 20s, I definitely knew I was different earlier. (Case in point: constantly rewinding the swimming competitions in Battle of the Network Stars, which featured television actors in speedos.) But the way gay characters were portrayed on television (even when they weren’t explicitly labeled “gay”) fell into every bad stereotype there was. How could I be gay if I wasn’t like that?

Whether you’re a television savant like I am, a fan of reading about television and its impact on society, or just curious about how the portrayal of queer characters has changed over time, Matt Baume’s book is a fascinating and well-researched read. It looks at programs from All in the Family, Soap, The Golden Girls, and Ellen,” to Friends, Will & Grace, and Modern Family. It also briefly touches on celebrities like Paul Lynde, Charles Nelson Reilly, and Rip Taylor, their campiness and double entendres, which I absolutely did not understand back then.

Baume juxtaposes the changing tide of television relative to the portrayal of gay characters with the prevailing attitudes of society, as well as the movements toward and against equal rights. I learned some new things and some things definitely jogged my memory.

I don’t read a lot of nonfiction but this was a great read for Pride. Plus, I only caught one error, because I’m a savant!!

Book Review: "The Way They Were: How Epic Battles and Bruised Egos Brought a Classic Hollywood Love Story to the Screen" by Robert Hofler

This new book gives a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the classic love story.

Do you like to know the stories behind famous movies, the things that might have changed everything if they had come to fruition? I’m always fascinated by film history, so when Kensington Books offered me an advance copy of this book, which looks at the hard road to get The Way We Were onto the screen, I jumped at the chance.

Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, The Way We Were is a quintessential love story, about two completely different people in the 1930s—Katie, a Jewish activist who supports communism, and Hubbell, the handsome, privileged WASP—who fall in love and struggle with the world around them. The movie is on the American Film Institute’s list of top 10 movie romances.

While Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford seem tailor-made for their roles, the truth is, Redford didn’t want to make this movie. At first, he bristled against playing what he described as a “Ken doll” to Streisand, and he demanded that his role be expanded, so a bunch of screenwriters had to rework the script.

This was a really interesting story, a battle of egos, machinations, and compromises. What I found most fascinating is that Arthur Laurents, the original screenwriter, actually based the story on his own romance with his partner. Laurents was essentially the Streisand character while his partner, Tom Hatcher, was Redford.

Definitely a great read for film buffs and fans of this movie.

Book Review: "The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America" by Erik Larson

It may be nonfiction, but boy, it reads like a thriller.

How have I gone this long without reading this book? I’ve thought about it so many times and read other Erik Larson books, but for some reason, this has been one I’ve never picked up. I got it a few weeks ago when my colleagues and I did a book swap—one friend had the unenviable task of picking a book out for me. He hit this one out of the park!

The subtitle of this book is “Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America.” It’s about the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, and Larson tells the story of two men, Daniel Hudson Burnham, the famed architect behind the Fair, and Henry Holmes, a doctor and serial killer who used the Fair as a way to lure women to their deaths.

This was such a fascinating read, and I’ve heard that they’re finally adapting it into a movie with Keanu Reeves as a star. If you’ve never read this, give it a shot!!

Book Review: "Greenland" by David Santos Donaldson

Greenland is creative, mesmerizing, and beautifully written.

Kip has dreamed of being a published author his entire life. His parents even named him Kipling (after the author), so how could that not be his destiny? But while his first manuscript had promise, it’s not ready to be published.

When an editor gives him the idea to shift the focus of his novel to tell the story of Mohammed El Adl, the Black Egyptian tram conductor who had an affair with famed British author E.M. Forster, Kip pounces on the idea, being Black and queer himself. But of course, there’s a catch: the editor is retiring in three weeks and the publishing house has been sold, so if he doesn’t finish in time, there’s no deal.

No matter. Kip has boarded himself in a basement study with “five boxes of Premium Saltine Crackers, three tins of Café Bustelo, and twenty-one one-gallon jugs of Poland Spring Water.” And a hammer. And a gun. And he won’t leave until he’s done, much to the worry of his ex-husband and his ex-best friend.

What ensues is a novel within a novel. We get Mohammed’s story, told while he was in prison, but we also get Kip’s story, and they intersect in many different ways. And as Kip’s mania drives him to finish this book, in essence, Mohammed is telling his story to Kip. It’s fascinating, a little confusing, and utterly dazzling.

This book is unlike any I’ve read. It’s a meditation on feeling like an outsider, a look at interracial relationships (particularly queer ones), and a portrait of the creative process. It’s definitely not a book for everyone but I’m so glad I finally read it.

Book Review: "Call Us What We Carry" by Amanda Gorman

Call Us What We Carry is a collection of powerfully soaring, inspiring, relevant poems by the National Youth Poet Laureate.

Like many across the world, I marveled at the incredible talent of Amanda Gorman during President Biden’s inauguration, when she became the youngest presidential inaugural poet in U.S. history. Her poem, “The Hill We Climb,” dazzled me, leaving me emotional, breathless, and endlessly replaying the video of her reading on YouTube.

This collection examines the pandemic and how it affected our collective consciousness. It looks at history, race, bigotry, despair, hope, rebuilding, and capturing the spirit of our country. It feels both immensely ambitious and yet so timely, viewing the world from a distance and yet close-up at the same time.

I don’t read a lot of poetry so this was a wonderful change of pace for me. The design of the book itself is incredible too—some poems are formatted into different shapes, the book needs to be turned in different ways to get to different parts—and it adds to the experience. Each poem is also uniquely told.

Wonderfully, “The Hill We Climb” is included in Call Us What We Carry, and I watched her once again on YouTube as I read that poem. It remains as mesmerizing today as it was over a year ago. I’d imagine the audio version of this book might be incredible. Gorman’s talent is truly a gift.

Book Review: "Gay Bar: Why We Went Out" by Jeremy Atherton Lin

Jeremy Atherton Lin's Gay Bar: Why We Went Out is an interesting juxtaposition of sociology and personal memoir focused on gay bars.

Pre-pandemic, did you go to bars or pubs often? Did you frequent them when you were younger?

At different points in my life I enjoyed hanging out with my friends at bars. There’s a camaraderie at bars that’s always fun to watch as an observer, as everyone goes to bars for different reasons, but the less enamored I became of crowds the less frequently I went.

In Gay Bar: Why We Went Out, Lin traces the history of the gay bar through time, from truly secret places where discovery could be deadly, to places where joy could reign unfettered, even for a few hours, from places where people gathered to mourn, to spots that have their own places in their neighborhoods.

Lin also touches on his own experiences at gay bars through his life, mainly in three cities—Los Angeles, London, and San Francisco—with a few others thrown in sporadically. He talks about what it’s like to feel like you belong in a space, the furtive and sometimes shocking discoveries and encounters he had, and the connections he made—one in particular which changed his life.

This was an interesting read for Pride Month and it’s very well-written and well-researched. However, I felt like the book struggled with what it wanted to be. Was it a memoir or social commentary? I also wish Lin had touched on the role gay bars play in small communities—it’s much different than the meccas he touched on.

Book Review: "Masque of Honor" by Sharon Virts

Masque of Honor, Sharon Virts' new novel, is a truly fascinating and compelling historical novel full of action and drama.

On a cold, snowy February morning in 1819 (ironically 202 years and 1 day before I wrote this), two men stand ready to duel to the death. They are Armistead Mason and Jack Mason McCarty, second cousins, brothers-in-law, and descendants of American founding father George Mason IV. Only one man will survive. (Doesn't this almost sound a little Hamilton-esque?)

What brought these two family members to this point? They pursued different paths and have different ideas, but Armistead’s involvement in politics is what causes the rift. When Armistead’s bid for Congress is unsuccessful and his ego pushes Jack too far, a chain of events is set into motion that ego and bravado will not allow them to step back from.

Living in Northern Virginia like I do, you can’t escape the name of George Mason. A university in the area bears his name, as does a chain of banks and even a major road. That connection, as well as my familiarity with so many of the locations in the book, made this even more fascinating.

I don’t read much historical fiction, particularly about this time period, but Masque of Honor drew me in immediately. Virts gives such an impeccable, well-researched sense of time and place, yet the themes are still so relevant, particularly during such a fractured time in the U.S. as we're living in now.

Even if historical fiction isn't among your usual genres, this book feels more modern than you'd expect.

Sharon Virts provided me with a complimentary advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!

Masque of Honor releases 2/9!

Book Review: "Interior Chinatown" by Charles Yu

Charles Yu's National Book Award-winning Interior Chinatown is funny, sharply satirical, thought-provoking, and uniquely told.

Willis Wu doesn’t feel like his life makes much of an impact: he tends to think of himself as “Generic Asian Man.” As an actor, he has played roles as diverse as Disgraced Son, Delivery Guy, Silent Henchman, and Guy Who Runs In and Gets Kicked in the Face. But he dreams of reaching what he sees the pinnacle of success for Asian actors—becoming Kung Fu Guy.

He and his parents live a fairly unremarkable existence in small one-room apartments in Chinatown. Their building is above the Golden Palace restaurant, the hub of the community, where a police procedural called Black and White is in constant production. Willis and his parents and most of the community tend to drift in and out of the series, playing interchangeable parts and hoping their big break might someday come.

As Willis’ star appears to be rising, his consciousness about his role in the world grows. His family history is revealed and illustrates the challenges that Asians have faced since immigrating to America and other places in the world. Suddenly he begins to wonder if what he has dreamed of for so long—becoming Kung Fu Guy—is what he really wants. Is there more?

This is a fascinating, slightly trippy book at times. It’s really funny, as it skewers pop culture and the entertainment world’s treatment of Asians, but it’s also tremendously insightful and sensitive.

At times the book is written as a screenplay, at other times it's more narrative in structure. I’ll admit that there were parts I wasn’t sure were actually happening or if they were in Willis’ mind. But I couldn’t put Interior Chinatown down, and I can totally understand why it won the National Book Award.

Truly a book I’ll remember.

Book Review: "The Office of Historical Corrections" by Danielle Evans

Danielle Evans' The Office of Historical Corrections includes six beautifully written, powerful stories and a novella which move you and leave you thinking.

These are stories about race, racism, family, love, relationships, identity, history, and how we are perceived. In many cases they touch on complex, thorny subjects but they are never heavy-handed.

While not all of the six stories worked equally for me, my favorites included “Anything Could Disappear,” about a woman who finds herself in some unexpected roles; “Boys Go to Jupiter,” in which a woman inadvertently winds up in the middle of a furor when a photo of her wearing a Confederate flag bikini goes viral; "Happily Ever After," which followed a woman with a life-altering decision to make; and “Richard of York Gave Battle in Vain,” about a photojournalist in the midst of wedding drama (not her own).

The title novella is fantastic as well. It follows a former university professor now working for a federal agency committed to correcting historical inaccuracies. It’s particularly meaningful and powerful in a time when we’re plagued with claims of “fake news” and people worried about rewriting history when monuments and statues are taken down.

Danielle Evans is an amazing storyteller. The Office of Historical Corrections will stick in my mind for a while.

It has been a while since I’ve read short stories but a number of these really moved me and made me think. I know short stories don't appeal to everyone for various reasons, but if you’re thinking of giving them a shot, this book might be worth a try!

Book Review: "A Traveler at the Gates of Wisdom" by John Boyne

A Traveler at the Gates of Wisdom is a sweeping look at love, family, history, and destiny.

Have you ever read a book that you felt you couldn’t describe properly? That’s definitely the way I feel about John Boyne’s newest book. What I can say, however, is once again, his storytelling blew me away.

We start at the dawn of time, 1 AD. A baby is born to a warrior and his wife, amidst his father’s acts of violence. The baby has an older brother, who mostly resents him.

The story shifts as time passes, changing locations, names, certain facts, but the general thrust of the story remains the same, as if to say that what is destined will happen no matter who or where you are. We travel through history, getting glimpses of historical figures and events through time, all the way to the future.

At times this felt more like interconnected short stories than a cohesive novel. This was an interesting concept and I loved what Boyne has to say, that no event or emotion is unique to just one person. In the end, though, I don’t know that this worked for me as much as I hoped it would. But his storytelling transcended it all, so much like I felt about Fredrik Backman's Anxious People, the writing elevated the book, in my opinion.

If you’ve never read Boyne before, please read The Heart’s Invisible Furies, The Absolutist, and A Ladder to the Sky.

NetGalley and Hogarth Books provided me with a complimentary advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!!

Book Review: "Atonement Camp for Unrepentant Homophobes" by Evan J. Corbin

What would you expect from a book with a title like Atonement Camp for Unrepentant Homophobes? Evan J. Corbin delivers a quirky, moving, and tremendously thought-provoking read.

Imagine that the oldest translation of a Gospel is found in which Jesus explicitly condemns bigotry and homophobia. It changes the world quickly—the U.S. has elected its first lesbian president, the Pope has come out of the closet, and people treat the LGBTQIA+ community with respect and admiration.

Rick Harris, a pastor from North Carolina, is unmoved by these changes and continued to preach against the evils of homosexuality. When one sermon goes too far and offends the most influential family in the congregation, he is given a choice by the church elders: attend an atonement camp or get fired.

The atonement camp, run by drag queens, is utter torture for Rick and his fellow campers at first. Lots of alcohol, pedicures, and scantily clad pool boys loosen people up, but there are important lessons to be learned about the struggles of the LGBTQIA+ community as well as learning to understand the demons that we all carry.

“Binary gender subscribers. Trans deniers. Hypocrites, sinners, and fools. Honestly, I don’t care who you were before you came here. I only care about the people you’ll be when you leave. No one is hopeless. No one is beyond redemption.”

I found this to be funny and emotional, and it definitely made me think. Of course, the campers embodied all of the arguments you hear from those who criticize homosexuality, but you see that these characters are not without their flaws as well. And while at first it looks like the camp plays into all the typical stereotypes, there’s depth there beyond what you expect.

This is definitely a book I’ll remember!!

I was pleased to be part of the blog tour for this book. Thanks to Pride Book Tours and Evan J. Corbin for a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review!!

Book Review: "Here She Is: The Complicated Reign of the Beauty Pageant in America" by Hilary Levey Friedman

What do you think of when you hear the words "beauty pageant"? Do you think programs like Miss America, Miss USA, Miss Universe are relics of an earlier time and out of step with our current world, or do you think they're empowering and relevant to the women who participate? (Spoiler alert: While at times they may be a little of the former, there's still a lot of the latter to be found.)

In her new book, Here She Is: The Complicated Reign of the Beauty Pageant in America, Hilary Levey Friedman traces the origins of the beauty pageant, from the days of P.T. Barnum and his American Gallery of Female Beauty in the 1850s and early baby shows and bathing beauty revues, to the programs pageant fans know and love—Miss America, Miss USA, Miss Universe, and Distinguished Young Women (formerly America's Junior Miss). She looks at pageants that are racially or culturally based, as well as those focused on those with different abilities, different body types, even pageants for married women and senior citizens. It's a fascinating look at the mindset and the condition of the world when these pageants were created, and juxtaposing their initial purpose with where many stand today.

Friedman didn't just pick this topic at random. Her mother was Miss America 1970, she taught a course at Brown University called "Beauty Pageants in American Society," she served as a mentor to Miss America 2018, and she's judged some pageants here and there. This book is impeccably and thoroughly researched—she literally pored through national and state program books spanning a number of years for several different pageant systems, so she can understand the "typical" contestant in these pageants and see how far the reality strays from the public perception.

She spends a great deal of time looking at Miss America and the changes that program has made through the years, including those made in the wake of the #MeToo movement over the last several years, changes that have both been celebrated and criticized by long-time fans and former contestants. But she also looks at the genesis of the contestants and how they have changed, in terms of educational and career goals as well as demographics. This isn't a view through rose-colored glasses; she looks at the positives and negatives of the pageant and its effects on contestants.

There's also been no shortage of scandal in the pageant world, and she touches on those as well, from Donald Trump's former ownership of the Miss Universe Organization and the criticism of child and "glitz" pageants, to the recent controversies around Miss America. All the while, she examines the evolving nature of pageants and their relationship with Third Wave Feminism, and what they may need to do to remain relevant.

I've been a fan of the Miss America Pageant since I first watched in 1982 and as many of you know, I was a volunteer in the Miss America Organization for just short of 15 years. I'm also a fan of Miss USA, Miss Universe, and Miss Teen USA, and certainly understand the differences and similarities between the two systems. Because of that, I loved this book. While I knew some of the history and scandal, there were things that surprised me and things I learned for the first time. But more than that, I've never really stopped to think of the pageants and their relationship to feminism (I'm such a guy sometimes), so that was an eye-opening experience.

Pageant fans should love this, but I think those who might have seen a pageant once or twice or just like to read about different aspects of American culture will enjoy this as well. As Miss America celebrates its 100th anniversary next year, Here She Is is a great look at that American tradition.

The author provided me a complimentary advance copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making it available!

Here She Is publishes August 25.

My Favorite Books of the Decade...

I know that many subscribe to the philosophy that the decade technically doesn't end until the close of 2020, with the new decade starting in 2021, but I'm following along with conventional wisdom on this one like the sheep that I am...

Between 2010 and 2019, I read a total of 1,404 books. (That's not including books I didn't enjoy enough to finish.) I'm pretty pleased with that achievement. Of course, I don't necessarily remember everything about every book I've read, but there definitely have been books through the years which have remained in my mind and my heart, books that come to mind when people ask the inevitable question, "Any recommendations on what book I should read?"

I decided to pull together a list of my favorite books from the last decade. Since I've been keeping lists of the best books I've read each year, that made this task slightly easier, but still, culling this list down to a manageable side was nearly impossible! So what I did was narrowed my list to 40 books. I ranked my top 10 (no mean feat there) and then the rest I'll list randomly. The title of each book will be hyperlinked to my original review.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on these choices, as always. I hope you can find a great book or two on this list!

Best of the Decade

1. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara (2015): When I read this 700+-page book several years ago, I realized two things: it is one of the most dazzlingly brilliant, emotionally moving books I've ever read, and it is a difficult and painful one to read at times. This was hands-down the best book I've read in the last 10 years, if not longer.


2. The Absolutist by John Boyne (2012): To say that this book devastated me is an understatement. It is easily one of the most beautifully written, emotionally gripping books I've read this past decade. This is a book about relationships, betrayal, courage, and standing up for yourself and your beliefs.


3. 11/22/63 by Stephen King (2011): A man is enlisted in the ultimate heroic mission—stopping Lee Harvey Oswald from assassinating John F. Kennedy. There have been thousands of books written about time travel and the idea of righting past wrongs, but in Stephen King's tremendously capable hands, this concept seems fresh and unique.


4. I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson (2014): This is beautiful, breathtaking, bewildering, and a little bizarre. It's a book about the half-truths we tell ourselves and our reluctance to see what is in front of us and say what we truly feel. It's also a book about how simple it is to hurt those closest to us, and how the simplest actions can cause so much pain. I read a lot of YA this decade, and this was truly the best.


5. An Exaltation of Larks (2018), A Charm of Finches (2018), and A Scarcity of Condors by Suanne Laqueur (2019): I considered all three books in this trilogy as one unit. Laqueur's ability to pull you into her books so completely, to feel such attachment to her characters that you can't stop thinking about them when you're finished reading, is absolutely dazzling. These books are gorgeous, sensitive, sexy, and emotional, full of moments that made me smile, made me blush, horrified me, and made me full-on ugly cry at times.


6. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz (2013): How can a person determined never to need anyone let themselves actually need someone? How can you tell the difference between friendship and love? Benjamin Alire Saenz's novel is so beautifully poetic, so emotional—it's funny, heartbreaking, frustrating, and rewarding. Just like life is. I loved this so much.


7. The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach (2011): It has been said that "baseball is life." Whether or not you agree with this statement, for the characters in Chad Harbach's fantastic novel, baseball may not be life, but it certainly is at the crux of their lives. Amazon named this the best book of 2011. It certainly was among my favorites from that year. Harbach is a terrific writer and at times, a sentence or two would make me pause and read it again, just to marvel at his word choices.


8. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green (2012): This book hooked me so hard I stayed up until 2:00 a.m. to finish it, and there I was, sobbing, on my couch in the middle of the night. Clearly, a book about teenagers who meet in a cancer support group is headed in a direction you don't want it to, but even the journey Green takes you on is worth the sadness.


9. Tin Man by Sarah Winman (2018): When the blurb on the cover reads, "This is an astoundingly beautiful book. It drips with tenderness. It breaks your heart and warms it all at once," how can you resist? This is an immensely memorable story about friendship, love, and longing, and the blurred lines between those things.


10. Beartown (2017) and Us Against You by Fredrick Backman (2018): These two books are about a Swedish town that is literally obsessed with hockey, and which faces a crisis (or two) that will practically tear the town apart. These books are utterly phenomenal, full of heart, memorable characters you root for, and, at least for me, situations to make you cry.

The Best Books I Read in 2019...

Well, another year (and another decade, amazingly) has passed us by. It's crazy to believe we're in 2020 now!

This past year, I read a record 211 books. This very well may be the most I've ever read in a year, although I don't know how many books I read when I was working at a bookstore in college and could read during slow times. Suffice it to say, if this isn't the most I've ever read in a year, it's the most in nearly 30 years!! (Egads.)

Lots of times people ask me, "How do you read so much?" Reading is my single favorite leisure activity and it's one of the primary ways I decompress. If I don't get to read a little each day, I feel somewhat off-balance. I've traveled a lot again this year, so lots of time in airports, on airplanes, and alone in hotel rooms gives me lots of reading time. I also don't watch television (which you may consider good or bad), so I read when I could be watching TV.

I didn't love every book I read; in fact, there were more than a few I stopped reading so I didn't bother to write reviews, and there were also more than a few (sadly) that petered out before the end, so I wound up skimming through the remainder of the book. I hope that's not a continuing trend!! And here's a funny thing: I have a to-be-read list (TBR) that is gigantic, yet there are times when I finish a book I have no idea what to read next. Go figure.

As I've done for the last 10 years, I went back through all of the books I've read and come up with a list of my favorites. Culling 211 books down to a finite number was really, really difficult, so what I've done is come up with a list of 26 (one is two volumes of the same book), along with a number of others which just fell short of the very best but they're still too good to miss.

I've linked to my original review of each so you can read more about each one. I'd love to hear your thoughts, and know which books you'd count among your favorites! I ranked my top 10 this year and then the remainder of the books will be in random order—ranking those would be far too complicated!!

The Best of the Best

1. Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

: Imagine if the First Son of the United States (his mother is finishing her first term as president, his father is a U.S. Congressman) has a love affair with Prince Henry of Wales, an heir to the throne (well, the "spare," actually). I read this sweet, sexy, emotional, truly special book last January and it never left my mind.

Daisy Jones & The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid: This book, written as an oral history of the (fictional) legendary band Daisy Jones & The Six, reads as if you were watching an episode of VH1's "Behind the Music" crossed with the amazing movie Almost Famous. One of two books by Reid on this list, and one of her books made my best-of-2018 list as well. She's one hell of a writer.

A Scarcity of Condors by Suanne Laqueur: This is the third book in a trilogy by Laqueur—the first two books, An Exaltation of Larks and A Charm of Finches—made my top 5 in 2018. This is a gorgeous, sensitive, sexy, emotional book, full of moments that made me smile, made me blush, horrified me, and made me full-on ugly cry at times. The characters are simply gorgeous, fully drawn, and complex. It's a book about survival, about finding strength where there should be none, and about how love can help pull us through.

We Contain Multitudes by Sarah Henstra: This is a gorgeously moving, beautifully told, thought-provoking story of friendship, love, truth, and secrets. The entire book is narrated in letters between two boys—Adam "Kurl" Kurlansky, a football player repeating his senior year of high school, and Jonathan Hopkirk, a quirky, fiercely intelligent sophomore with a passion for Walt Whitman's poetry, who is bullied nearly every day at school because of his sexuality. This book, to borrow a phrase from one of the main characters, utterly undid me.

The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall: How is this a debut novel? This one sneaks up on you with its gorgeous, contemplative story which grabs hold of your mind and your heart. It's the story of two men who meet in 1963 when they are hired as co-ministers an historic church in Greenwich Village. They couldn’t be more opposite from one another. It’s not a book that requires any knowledge of religion or faith—it’s more an exploration of how faith means different things to different people, and how it appears and disappears at different times in our lives.

Find Me by Andre Aciman: While this is, in essence, a sequel to Call Me By Your Name, for the most part it’s more a book that follows some of the characters. If you go in expecting another whole book about Oliver and Elio you’ll be disappointed. This is a book about love, longing, all-consuming desire and the fear it might suddenly disappear. It’s also a book about what the heart wants and how strongly it clings to some people and some memories despite the passage of time.

The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez: You might be tempted to write this off as fluffy "chick-lit," but you'd be wrong. Sure, there is romance, humor, hot sex, talk of soulmates and futures, but there is also an extra layer of emotional complexity in this book. The story of a couple who meet-cute when he rear-ends her car, who want to be together despite numerous obstacles in their way, is utterly put-downable. Even when the book took a surprisingly emotional turn, the characters remained utterly true to themselves and the story, and I became even more invested.

This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger: Two brothers are forced to escape the school they've been left in, a school that treats students with violence and cruelty, and they go on the run with their friend, a Native American boy who cannot speak, and an orphan girl, in 1930s Minnesota. Such a beautiful, thought-provoking, emotional book, this is the story of a harrowing journey, children forced to find the bravery of adults, with a little of the mystical thrown in for good measure.

Lie with Me by Philippe Besson: Can we ever forget the raw emotions, the intensity, the longing of our first true love? How does that relationship affect the rest of our lives? Besson poignantly captures those feelings, the way every fiber of your being is affected, the way you want nothing more than that person and cannot bear the thought of being apart. And how you mourn the end of that relationship, how it feels like no pain you've ever experienced, so much more than your heart can bear.

The Last True Poets of the Sea by Julia Drake: There’s so much to this story—the need to be loved and understood, family dysfunction, emotional issues, sexuality—and Drake did such a terrific job with it. Her writing is imbued with such rich emotion, her prose is poetic at times, and her characters are fascinating—they're layered, complex, and not entirely sympathetic. This book mesmerized me with its power, left me emotional, and touched my heart in an unforgettable way.

Book Review: "A Scarcity of Condors" by Suanne Laqueur

I'm not sure who it was that first told me about Suanne Laqueur's book An Exaltation of Larks, but they said it was one of the best books they had ever read. When I picked it up, I was utterly blown away by it, and I quickly dove into the second book in this series, A Charm of Finches. That one may have been even better, and I remember falling to pieces on a plane as I finished the book, which isn't a good position to be in. (Luckily it was dark.)

You can check out my review of An Exaltation of Larks here; my review of A Charm of Finches is here.

I just read the third book in this series, A Scarcity of Condors, and once again, Laqueur has slayed me. As I said in my last review, her ability to pull you into her books so completely, to feel such attachment to her characters that you can't stop thinking about them when you're finished reading, is absolutely dazzling. I can unequivocally say that these three books are among my favorites of the decade.

Juleón "Jude" Tholet knows how to fight to survive—it's ingrained in his genetics. His father Cleon was imprisoned and brutally tortured during Pinochet's military coup in Chile; his mother Penny fought tooth and nail to get him released, and after one last horrible round of torture left him hospitalized for some time, the two, along with their infant son, fled the country and moved to Canada.

But life in Canada isn't much easier for the family, as Cleon and Penny deal with the aftermath of their life in Chile, and then Jude, a closeted gay teenager, becomes the target of a neighborhood bully who discovers his relationship with his childhood best friend. Jude becomes the victim of a hate crime and their community subsequently turns on the Tholets, forcing them to once again flee their country, this time for America.

Over time, Jude is able to carve out a life for himself in Seattle, becoming a pianist for a professional ballet company. While he has had relationships, he's never let down his guard with someone the way he did with his friend in high school. One night, he and his parents, as well as his younger sister and her boyfriend, take a genetic test for fun. The results, however, are far from funny: Jude discovers that he is not genetically related to his parents.

Penny remembers waking up in the hospital in Chile after giving birth to Jude, following an attack by a soldier. Whose child is Jude, really? Was he switched at birth? Did something else occur? In that case, what happened to their actual child? These questions force Cleon and Penny to revisit those horrible days in Chile to try and uncover the truth, while Jude has to deal with the upheaval of everything he's known his entire life. How can he not be a Tholet?

A Scarcity of Condors looks at the brutal days of Pinochet's terrible reign over Chile—the way lives were brutalized, utterly changed, and, in many, cases, ended. It's a book about how the ties of our chosen family can be stronger than blood, and how much our families can mean to us. It's a book about survival, about finding strength where there should be none, and about how love can help pull us through. More than that, this is a book about new beginnings, about realizing we're worthy of love and happiness, and how one can embrace the past without dooming themselves to live it every day.

This is a gorgeous, sensitive, sexy, emotional book, full of moments that made me smile, made me blush, horrified me, and made me full-on ugly cry at times. The characters are simply gorgeous, fully drawn and complex, and this book sees the return of two pivotal characters from the last two books. (Boy, I hadn't realized how much I'd missed them.) Laqueur has done her research on the Pinochet days and it shows, yet the book never feels too mired in history, because her storytelling is so superb.

I'll end my review the way I ended my review of Laqueur's last book: Read these books. You've simply got to.

The author provided me a copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review. Thanks for making this available!