The Real, Honest, Word on Books
By Charlotte McConaghy This book is about a woman, Franny Stone, who is obsessed with following the Arctic Tern on its annual migration from the North Pole to Antarctica. It takes place in the notsodistant future, where multiple species have gone extinct. There is one sanctuary in Scotland trying to save as many animals as…
By Rumaan Alam This book is about the apocalypse, and the reader focuses in on one family in New York, a couple of hours outside of the city. Amanda and Clay rent a luxurious house, complete with pool and amenities for their summer vacation with their two teenage children. Everything seems perfect initially…and then the…
By Laura Lippman This book is about want. We all do it. I want what she has. I want his life. I want better, more, other, everything. Want can drive people to perform evil with dreary repetition. Maddie Schwartz has the life she always wanted: wealthy, devoted husband, dutiful son, large house for entertaining –…
By Janella Angeles This book is about a female magician, Kallia, who is determined to change the accepted rules of society. In the land of Soltair, only men are allowed to do “Performance Magic”, women relegated to the more menial magic that assists in housekeeping and child-rearing. Men get to take center stage, dazzling with…
By Kristin Harmel This book is about the Holocaust. I think it is always ambitious to tackle a topic that is so broad, so visceral, and has already been told so many ways – but hats off to you, Kristin Harmel! The central conflict is about the Resistance in France against Nazi occupation. Eva, a…
By Kathryn Stockett This book is about the civil rights plight of black domestic staff in Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960’s. Black maids band together in their own form of protest extolling the misdeeds of their white employers in an anonymous book. Skeeter is a privileged, white debutante, recently graduated from Ole Miss and searching…
By Susan Wiggs This book is about Natalie Harper discovering herself. In a bookshop. That happens to have a really attractive repairman…Just a normal slice of life. Oh and the bookshop is rumored to contain buried treasure. Sometimes life is really difficult… Sometimes a reader needs an easy read that is just an escape, with…
By NK Jemisin This book is about a city’s components being personified and uniting to defeat an invading evil. It is a premise I have never encountered before, so, as always, Jemisin blew my mind! New York is comprised of five boroughs: Staten Island, Manhattan, Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn. Each of these have specific attributes…
Rachel Lynn Solomon This book is about a young lady, Rowan Roth, on her last day of senior year in high school. For the last four years she has been in an epic battle with her arch nemesis, Neil McNair, competing for academic glory, and chasing the laurel of Valedictorian. When she loses, albeit as…
By Kimberly McCreight This book is about a woman found dead in a pool of blood at the bottom of the stairs. It is a very similar situation to Michael Peterson and The Staircase. Did the husband do it? Zach Grayson, said husband, calls an old friend from college, Lizzy Kitsakis, to represent him after…