Reading, Writing, and Me

The Lodgers  by Holly Pester  The narrator is returning to her hometown to see her mother. Except, she gets a sublet that comes with a perpetually absent roommate and spends every day thinking about how she should go see her mother but finds herself unable to. She spends her days walking past without stopping. Or letting herself in the back door without making contact. In the other portion of the novel, the narrator imagines a "you" who is a lodger living in the place the narrator used to live with her former roommates, a mother and a child and eventually a professor. It is unclear how separate this "you" is from the narrator's own past experience, and the narrator seems to build this "you" and her personality and experiences as she goes.  This is a disorienting novel in plot, in language, in form—in every possible way. I read the first page and wondered if I was going to read the second, but I kept turning the pages, kept wanting to push forward. The ...

Sense and Sensibility  by Jane Austen Jane Austen loves to gossip. And I love that for her. And I also love it for classic literature, that we've canonized a book that comes through with a gasping, can you believe this happened?  tone. Like she's clamoring over herself to get to the next wild twist in the story of these two sisters and their complicated romantic entanglements. Once you strip away the regency language, this is just some lady telling you about the romantic pitfalls of two girls and some wildly audacious men. I haven't read Pride and Prejudice  in almost a decade (and have been meaning to read more Austen ever since), but in my recollection, it's a much more buttoned up narrative, much more shaped, and while still voicey, more precisely contained. I like both modes, but I'm not surprised Sense and Sensibility  was her first novel. I always find it funny that Austen, in some circles, is held up as a precursor to modern romance novelists, that i...

The Ten Year Affair  by Erin Somers The affair starts in a baby class where Sam and Cora bond over being the only sane parents in the room, or maybe the only sane parents in their New York town on the train line from the city. They've both recently moved from the city, they're young parents with fake-feeling, soulless corporate jobs. There's plenty to bond over, and Cora feels an immediate attraction. It doesn't take long to find out the feeling is mutual.  But maybe it's wrong to say the affair starts in the baby class. The emotional affair certainly does, but there's a long road of many years ahead before the thought of truly crossing the line calcifies. The book is titled The Ten Year Affair  for a reason. They both love their spouses, love their families, both love and loathe stability. There's a lot at stake for a rush of passionate feelings. Still, the idea that the other person is out there is often enough to cope with the respective pitfalls of their...

ARCs I Don't Have But Desperately Need/Books I'm Looking Forward To I Want You to Be Happy by Jem Calder - I've seen this all over bookstagram, plus there's the Rooney blurb of it all. I mean, navigating modern love between a copywriter and a barista full of "anxiety, listlessness, and precarity"... sign me up.  Please, please, please, please Faber. This is me begging for you to send me an ARC of this novel.  Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash- This one is out already, so the only thing standing between me and this book is all the other books I'm supposed to be reading and am already behind on. But I have competing holds on Libby and Dublin Libraries to see if I'll get there.  Vigil by George Saunders - I've never read a Saunders besides the craft book he wrote (that I bought recently to read again). But I fear it is time. I Could Be Famous  by Sydney Rende -  This is out now, and I have it downloaded on my Kindle from Libby. It's just a question of ...

Palaver by Bryan Washington Washington has created a real niche for himself in his growing body of work. His novels typically center, at their core, gay, male protagonists who have some kind of connection to Houston. Lately, to Japan as well. With Palaver , there's a much more central focus on familial relationships and patterns than in previous novels. While there are plenty of subplots for both "the mother" and "the son," as they are exclusively referred to in the novel, the central concept of the book is their relationship. Interestingly, though, this unfolds mostly in subtext, in the ways they move around each other. When the mother comes to Tokyo to stay with the sun, the first time they've seen each other in years, it isn't a joyous reunion. It's awkward, and they're constantly stepping on each other's toes. While they have some direct conversations, they speak to one another sparingly. Instead, the son continues to live his life and th...

This is the latest I've ever compiled my final bookish stats of the year. The old me would think that this practice would be totally irrelevant by now. I'd missed the window for end of the year content, so this post would be lost to time. But I'm trying to have a new outlook this year. I took some time genuinely off for the first time in ages. I didn't put pressure on myself to read or blog or write (most of the time), and I care about that more than the timeliness of this particular post. Really, more than anything, it's a personal record for me to look back on and remember my reading in 2025, so what does it matter? That's the kind of energy I want to bring into 2026. Leaving room to value rest, resetting, and imperfectly getting it done. Also, I've got a lot going on at the moment! So I hope you'll give me the grace I'm trying to extend to myself as well.  How many books did you read in 2025? Maybe part of the lateness is that I'm trying to de...