I want Kate Racculia’s Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts to be a movie. I want to see the characters in the flesh – they were each so totally distinct and full and fun. And I want to see Boston come alive on the screen as a love letter to the city plays out in this fantastic book.
Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library is a case of the right book coming to me at the right time; it might be my favorite read this year. Although there are content warnings for death, grief, addiction, depression/anxiety, and suicide, this somehow manages to be an endearing, funny, inspiring, philosophical, and ultimately redeeming book.
I loved Jennifer Donnelly’s Poisoned for many of the same reasons I enjoyed her book Stepsister – it’s a heartfelt, feminist retelling of a classic fairytale, with a strong female lead and enjoyable, fleshed-out side characters.
Fact: I had a terrible time getting through A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik. Reading it felt like being dropped into the middle of a conversation that’s in a language I don’t know. Disorienting is the only word I can think of to describe the feel and pace of this book. And yet…there are some great thematic pay-offs: coming-of-age, embrace-your-power, find-your-friends kind of stuff. And the last line? Perfection!
Jordan Ifueko’s Raybearer is a full, robust reading experience. Excellent world-building and satisfying character arcs. I loved many of the themes, including a “found family,” the difference between uniform/unified, an individual’s purpose, and the notion of justice.
BOOK:30 