The Beekeeper of Aleppo

I have realized over the last few years that the fairly new Aspen Words Prize, focused exclusively on fiction with a social impact, is one of my favorite literary prizes. I am by no means an expert in literary prizes, but what I can say is that their long and short lists are wonderfully diverse…

How We Fight For Lives

I’d seen a couple reviews for this memoir that said it was very powerful, and I was interested in reading it, but I can’t necessarily say it was super high on my TBR, objectively. However, it was one of the books I managed to grab in my last library haul before the closures for COVID-19.…

The Little Paris Bookshop

I picked this novel up at a used bookstore a few years ago and never got around to reading it. It just sounded sweet and the cover is super cozy looking, but for some reason it never called out to me as my “next read.” During the last meeting for my long-distance book club, I…

On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous

This first novel by Ocean Vuong (who has previously published a collection of poetry that has been on my TBR for years) is the most recent book that I’ve seen sweeping the reading community. I’ve seen nothing but amazing reviews and recommendations and so I knew that, eventually, I’d want to read it. But I…

Whiskey & Ribbons

I had really never heard of this book before seeing one of the main characters mentioned in a post on bookstagram. As always, I need to be better about writing these things down, because I totally don’t remember who made the original post, but the question was something about book boyfriends. And more than one…

Home Fire

This one has been on my TBR for a little while now. I’ve seen great reviews and had it personally recommended, but of course (as things go) it took something else to tip the scale for me. That tip came when it won this year’s Women’s Prize for Fiction. I knew I couldn’t put it…

I’ll Give You the Sun

I’ve had this book on my TBR for some time, and had heard nothing but great reviews of it. Then, about two weeks after I found it at used bookstore (and decided to grab it), it was chosen as the June book for my long distance book club. Sometimes, timing is everything. I'll Give You…

The Astonishing Color of After

I don’t usually get to books this soon after publication (my TBR backlog is ridiculous), but based on the description (and that title!) this is one that I actually almost pre-ordered. I decided at the last minute not to, but still wanted to get to it as soon as possible. And I have to say,…