About Book Marks
Recent Reviews
Rob Sheffield
Positive Booklist Die-hard Swifties will know the biographical details, but given their endless love for analyzing her music, there will be plenty here for long-time fans, newcomers, and those curious about Swift’s appeal in this accessible, thoughtful, and entertaining tour of Swift’s career, music, and impact.
Morgan Richter
Positive Booklist Richter’s absorbing debut is pure L.A. noir, though an SF-tinged twist might surprise some readers of this otherwise grounded mystery.
Eugenie Montague
Positive Booklist A meditative exploration of the disconnection and isolation of modern life as well as a compelling literary mystery.
Clare Pollard
Rave Booklist With hints of the coming revolution just starting to cast a shadow over France, Pollard vividly and powerfully evokes the tumult, passion, and creativity of this bygone era, crafting a tale that’s both timeless and timely.
Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones
Positive Booklist A fascinating look at myriad dynastic dramas that will appeal to readers who want to learn more about the ancient world.
Joanna Pearson
Rave Booklist Pearson deftly moves between time periods and perspectives ... Smart, assured, and absorbing.
Justin Taylor
Positive Booklist An introspective literary look at contemporary entertainment, families, culture, and the never-ending search for connection.
Clare Beams
Rave Booklist A taut, tense, absorbing Gothic tale that deftly explores the complexity of women’s inner lives and their varied relationships to motherhood.
Scarlett Thomas
Rave Booklist Their letters to each other contain shocking revelations, which Thomas unspools masterfully, expertly building tension and jolting the reader in equal measure. Fans of literary fiction and thrillers will find much to appreciate here, with the slow burn of the story’s beginning paying off exponentially once all the cards are turned over. A straight-up winner.
Alexandra Fuller
Rave Booklist \"Fuller\'s prose is raw, primal, and electric, pulling the reader into both her shock and her attempts to carry on with a heart cleaved in two. Readers who are experiencing their own grief will find solace here, while those who\'ve been following Fuller for years through her beautifully written memoirs will want to be with her as she recounts this tragedy.\
Helen Oyeyemi
Positive Booklist A loving and lively tribute to Prague of the present and the past as well as the complexities of both female friendship and storytelling.
Ed Zwick
Rave Booklist \"Filled with both behind-the-scenes anecdotes, including his difficulties with Matthew Broderick on Glory and his attempts to wrangle a young Julia Roberts for Shakespeare in Love, and his pointed and insightful tips for directing and writing and thoughtful meditations on making a life in the arts, there’s plenty to enjoy here for film buffs and aspiring creatives alike.\
Kelly Link
Rave Booklist Wholly absorbing ... Moving and deft.
Kiley Reid
Positive Booklist A deft exploration of how microaggressions can lead to macro consequences, Reid’s second outing will appeal to readers who enjoy slow-burn, character-driven novels.
Maria Hummel
Positive Booklist In this taut, tense, and layered novel, Hummel deftly examines the lives of two flawed women against the backdrop of the upheavals of the twentieth century.
Kate Brody
Rave Booklist Brody’s debut is visceral and at times gut-wrenching, exploring the ways grief and a need for answers can be exacerbated and exploited by a culture obsessed with true-crime stories. Powerful and unforgettable.
Kelly Weinersmith
Rave Booklist Despite their conclusion that humanity isn’t quite ready for life in space, the Weinersmiths’ passion and enthusiasm shine through every page of this absorbing, lively exploration.
Jessica Knoll
Rave Booklist Brilliant, blistering ... Writing with pulsepounding tension and urgency, Knoll expertly conjures an atmosphere of dread and anxiety while paying tribute to all the bright young women whose lives are cut short or forever changed by the craven actions of sociopaths. An utterly absorbing, disturbing, and absolutely essential read.
Sara Flannery Murphy
Rave Booklist Magical, moving, and gripping, this is a special book indeed.
Edan Lepucki
Positive Booklist \"Lepucki explores both the pain and the joy familial bonds and memory can bring in her inventive, engrossing third novel.\
Ruth Madievsky
Positive Booklist Tackling topics as wide-ranging as grooming, addiction to drugs and people, sexuality, and Shoah grief, Madievsky weaves a compelling coming-of-age yarn.
Deborah Willis
Rave Booklist Both satirical and sobering, Willis’ gimlet-eyed debut spares no one, skewering both apathy and misplaced ambition while keeping the pages turning at a furious pace.
Guinevere Turner
Positive Booklist Often drawing on her diary entries, Turner keeps her memoir centered on her youthful perspective, making for a harrowing, emotional read as well as an invaluable chronicle of growing up in a cult.
Ivy Pochoda
Positive Booklist Visceral descriptions of everything from the proliferation of homeless encampments to the simmering emotions of her characters distinguish Pochoda’s latest, intense novel.
Michelle Min Sterling
Positive Booklist Sterling vividly renders a harrowing near-future world ravaged by climate change while still offering hope through human connection and perseverance.
Jaroslav Kalfar
Positive Booklist With piercing insights into human nature and the way we live now, Kalfar paints a compelling and convincing portrait of a near future rife with dangerous nationalism and perilous technological advances.
Julia Langbein
Rave Booklist Filled with wit and more than few laugh-out-loud moments, Langbein’s tale alternates between Penelope’s own adventures and chapters from her novel, making for a downright delightful debut novel.
Kelly Link
Positive Booklist This eclectic offering is bound to please Link’s many devotees.
Lynne Olson
Rave Booklist Olson provides a gripping account of an extraordinary life.
Allie Rowbottom
Positive Booklist Rowbottom’s tale offers a piercing look at the reality behind the glamorous life Instagram influencers allegedly lead.
Daphne Palmer Geanacopoulos
Positive Booklist Geanacopoulos offers a fascinating look at the golden age of piracy while rendering Sarah’s world and her plight in vibrant detail.
Ethan Chatagnier
Positive Booklist ... imaginative ... Blending mathematics, theoretical physics, philosophy, and passion, Chatagnier has concocted a compelling science fiction yarn that will also appeal to general fiction readers.
Samanta Schweblin, trans. by Megan McDowell
Positive Booklist Strange and surrounded by an aura of potential danger, Schweblin’s stories will appeal to lovers of unsettling, literary short stories.
Jodi Picoult, Jennifer Finney Boylan
Rave Booklist ... timely, gripping ... The courtroom drama makes for gripping reading; a reveal about Lily at the midway point adds another dimension to the case, and Olivia grapples with the possibility that her son could take after her ex-husband more than he does her. This timely and absorbing read will make readers glad these two powerful writers decided to collaborate.
Cai Emmons
Positive Booklist A family in crisis struggles with major change against the backdrop of the California wildfires in Emmons’ sixth novel...A late-in-the-game magical realism twist might displease some readers, though those familiar with Emmons’ recent works, including Sinking Islands (2021), will likely take the surprise in stride...There’s much to admire here in Emmons’ crisp, evocative prose and thoughtful character studies.
Clare Pollard
Positive Booklist A dreamy meditation ... Some readers may find Pollard’s focus on life during COVID-19 and stream-of-consciousness a bit off-putting, but lovers of literary fiction and classical mythology will find much to enjoy here, and two late-in-the-plot developments serve as sobering reminders that few escape the pandemic unscathed.
Isabel Kaplan
Rave Booklist Kaplan peels back the curtain to examine the culture of a television network in this sharply observed, completely absorbing debut novel...The unnamed narrator is a recent Harvard graduate newly returned to Los Angeles...Her well-connected but codependent mother helps her land a job at XBC, one of the major broadcast networks...As she starts to immerse herself in the day-to-day operations of the network, learning the lingo, and getting to know her fellow assistants, some more genuine than others, she also starts to see the cracks in the slick veneer, from projects of questionable quality to the TV-star who is protected by the network executives and even her own mother when he’s accused of rape by a production assistant...Kaplan’s authentic insider knowledge makes her piercing first outing a cut above the plethora of Hollywood-set novels.
Alison B Hart
Positive Booklist As the story builds and the women start to uncover secrets Ted has been keeping for decades, the suspense builds. Hart has created an engrossing, piercing look at the compromises and choices women make to succeed and thrive.
Leigh N Gallagher
Mixed Booklist Gallagher’s first novel follows several young teenagers who find trouble in disparate parts of America in the mid-1990s...Fourteen-year-old Judy, unmoored by the unwanted attentions of her new stepfather, impulsively decides to go to a party several hours away from her home in Los Angeles with her friend Meghan, who has connected with a slightly older girl named Cassie on the internet. But upon arriving at the address provided by Cassie, the girls find an unsettling older woman who imprisons them in Cassie’s room. The real Cassie is just 12, and has traveled to Nevada to visit her aloof mother following a horrific assault she’s kept secret...Some of these characters narrowly avoid tragedy, while others do not fare as well...An ambitious, if at times uneven, debut.
Carlene Bauer
Positive Booklist A gimlet-eyed look at the complexities of the friendship between two women over decades ... Bauer’s second novel questions the choices women are forced to make as they age, and the way those decisions unite or divide them. Bauer offers no easy answers nor pat conclusions, and her layered tale is all the stronger for it.
Ashley Hutson
Positive Booklist Engaging ... The conclusion might not satisfy everyone, but there’s much to appreciate in Hutson’s deft exploration of the toll trauma takes as well as both the lure and dangers of disappearing into a fantasy world.
Marcy Dermansky
Positive Booklist Allison might be a hot mess, but she’s also eminently relatable in a world filled with pitfalls for women who try to figure out what they want for themselves.
Lucy Ward
Rave Booklist The skepticism and hesitancy about COVID-19 vaccines make Ward’s eminently readable history feel timely as she expertly examines the intersection of medicine and politics.
Erin Swan
Rave Booklist Grand in scope and jumping around in time, Swan’s first novel offers a unique multigenerational saga against the backdrop of our changing planet.
Sandra Newman
Mixed Booklist Readers might feel a bit let down by the denouement, but this layered, introspective tale will give them plenty to think about and discuss.
Caitlin Barasch
Rave Booklist Barasch peels back the layers of Naomi’s obsessive behavior and apparent emotional detachment to reveal a deeply damaged but utterly compelling young woman. Readers may cringe as Naomi crosses boundaries, but they won’t be able to look away. Barasch’s suspenseful puzzle-box tale should appeal to readers of the You series by Caroline Kepnes.
Antonia Fraser
Rave Booklist Esteemed historian Fraser...turns her eye to the lesser-known yet impactful Caroline Norton ... Drawing from Caroline’s letters and other contemporary texts, Fraser shines a light on the struggles Caroline endured in her efforts to reunite with her children and navigate her financial status within a system that granted control of all of her funds, even money she earned with her pen, to her estranged husband as she maintained a successful career as a writer. Enlightening and inspiring.
Jane Green
Positive Booklist An enticing exploration of a bygone era in a fabled city and some of its real-life luminaries.
Olivia Clare Friedman
Positive Booklist A beautifully told tale of grief and loss made bearable by the unexpected creation of a found family ... The friendship that grows between these two young women will engage teens.
Danielle J. Lindemann
Positive Booklist [A] deep dive into the most-talked about shows of the last three decades ... Lindemann lays bare the way the Kardashians, the Real Housewives, the contestants on Survivor, and the casts of many other shows are simply \'versions of ourselves who go too far\' ... An eye-opening and entertaining read.
Emily St. John Mandel
Rave Booklist Mandel spins a gripping and beautiful narrative that speaks to how we are all interconnected in great and small ways. With more than a few discoveries related to her previous novels, this will be a delight for longtime Mandel readers; but those new to her work won’t find themselves lost by any means, except in the sense that all readers will be subsumed by this gorgeously rendered, deeply intimate, conceptually rich, and affecting tale.
Jacquelyn Mitchard
Mixed Booklist Mitchard seizes upon a timely and sensitive topic in her latest outing ... Readers seeking a truly conflicted, thought-provoking exploration of penance and attempts at redemption might have to look elsewhere. Mitchard devotes more time to the mystery of Esme and Thea’s over-protectiveness of her son than she does to exploring guilt and punishment, but this is a compassionate tale with a gripping, ripped-from-the-headlines premise.
Jenny Pentland
Positive Booklist The daughter of comedian Roseanne Barr recounts her unusual childhood with humor and self-deprecation ... Though she often takes a comedic tone when describing the ups and downs of her time at many different reform schools and a survivalist camp, when Pentland grows up, marries, and has a family of her own, she finds that she has lingering PTSD from her experiences. This offers plenty of heart and laughs, especially for children of the 1980s and 1990s.
Sequoia Nagamatsu
Rave Booklist Both epic and deeply intimate, Nagamatsu’s debut novel is science fiction at its finest, rendered in gorgeous, evocative prose and offering hope in the face of tragedy through human connection.
Christina Dalcher
Positive Booklist While not as emotionally resonant as her previous novels, Dalcher’s latest is a cogent and timely exploration of the dangers of misandry and groupthink.
Jodi Picoult
Rave Booklist ... powerful ... Stealthily surprising and very moving, Picoult’s latest, written while she was confined at home during the pandemic, taps into the trauma and uncertainty of 2020’s global crisis. Absolutely a must-read.
Hayley Mills
Positive Booklist ... endearing ... A warmhearted peek behind the curtain at youthful fame and filmmaking in the 1960s.
Claire Heywood
Rave Booklist Engrossing ... Readers intimately familiar with the mythology and those new to this classic story alike will find themselves breathlessly turning the pages as Heywood unspools the tragic consequences of Helen’s actions and the horrific sacrifice Klytemnestra is forced to make. An utterly spellbinding historical yarn.
J. Michael Straczynski
Positive Booklist ... provocative ... It turns out to be far from a grim trip as they all find much-needed kinship, celebrate their lives, and even run afoul of the law. The plot may make Straczynski’s first novel controversial; certainly it’s a conversation starter, and there’s no denying that it is compulsively readable, replete with compelling characters, surprising twists, and heady themes.
David Grossman, tr. Jessica Cohen
Positive Booklist [A] powerful novel ... Grossman performs a deft exploration of how trauma impacts succeeding generations.
Emily Bass
Positive Booklist Bass delves into the painstaking details of the politics ... Massive in scope and detail, Bass’s crucial if at times dense tome could not be more timely.
Mariana Leky tr. Tess Lewis
Positive Booklist Populated by quirky characters who learn there is no way to truly prepare for death or grief, Leky’s novel is for those who enjoy laconic, introspective reads.
Helene Wecker
Positive Booklist Spanning more than a decade and touching on major early-twentieth-century events, such as the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, the sinking of the Titanic, and the beginning of WWI, Wecker’s second outing blends Jewish and Middle Eastern mythology within a vibrant historical setting.
Susan Choi
Rave Booklist With a sharp eye and piercing insights, Choi captures the heady romanticism that infuses a youthful love affair before the responsibilities and realities of adulthood set in. This is a masterful coming-of-age novel
Andrew McCarthy
Positive Booklist With a candid exploration of his feelings of isolation along with his battles with alcohol and drug addiction, McCarthy’s memoir will appeal to aspiring actors, fans of his work, and readers fascinated by the movie world.
Caroline Kepnes
Positive Booklist Kepnes’ series continues to be a sly, subversive exploration of what people choose to reveal and what they hide in their relationships, and just how difficult it is to truly know another person. That Kepnes manages to limn such heady subjects in such a compulsively readable way while serving up twists aplenty is the reason the series still feels fresh three books in.
Maria Kuznetsova
Rave Booklist ... lively ... An introspective look at the stages of life and what means the most at each phase, Kuznetsova’s second outing is an emotional powerhouse.
Kate Mosse
Positive Booklist The second entry in Mosse’s epic fictional chronicle of the conflict between the Huguenots and the Catholics in sixteenth-century France finds former Catholic Minou Joubert now married to Piet Reydon, the Huguenot man she fell in love with in the series’ first tale ... Mosse presents another absorbing historical yarn that mixes intrigue, action, and family drama with aplomb.
Helen Oyeyemi
Positive Booklist The train proves to be a feast of wonders, complete with elaborate cars boasting numerous delights, from a full library to a bountiful kitchen to an overflowing mail room ... Oyeyemi (Gingerbread, 2019) has once again crafted a layered modern-day fairy tale replete with interlinked stories and unexpected connections among its vibrant characters.
Jennifer Keishin Armstrong
Rave Booklist Armstrong deftly illustrates how this quartet of women battled skepticism, sexism, and even the infamous Cold War blacklist to become vital players in the burgeoning days of the small screen ... With crisp, electrifying prose, Armstrong recounts the hard work and struggles of four women trailblazers who shaped the dawn of television.
Takis Würger, Tr. Liesl Schillinger
Positive Booklist Based in part on the real Stella Goldschlag, Würger’s novel is a powerful, visceral portrait of individuals caught up in a pivotal year during Nazi rule.
Rebecca Sacks
Rave Booklist Vast in scope, Sacks’ stunning first novel takes place in the contemporary West Bank and follows a large cast of characters to explore the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict ... Sacks imbues her first novel with foreboding at every turn...And yet, through her vibrant characters, she paints a moving and powerful portrait of those who love the region passionately despite its many tensions and dangers.
Ben Montgomery
Rave Booklist A nuanced exploration of the horrors Southern racism inflicted on Black citizens, as well as the role complicated figures like Young, who fought for the Confederacy, then became a champion for the rights of Black people, played. Blending primary source material with compelling prose, Montgomery brings to light an important turning point in a grim chapter in American history.
Cazzie David
Positive Booklist Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm creator Larry David has made a career out of turning neuroses into humor, and his eldest daughter, Cazzie, follows in his footsteps in her first essay collection ... Though David’s privilege (which she readily acknowledges) is frequently evident, her frankness about her struggles with anxiety and depression will make many who suffer from the same conditions feel less alone. With a show in development for Amazon, David will be a draw.
Sarah Moss
Positive Booklist Rather than being a respite from the troubles of their lives, the isolation and seemingly never-ending rain only serve to give the characters little else to do but to ruminate on their lives, and obsess over the occupants of one cabin who dare to break the quiet solitude with loud music and revelry every night. The foreboding atmosphere and myriad frustrations among the dissatisfied characters come to a head in the final pages. Readers who enjoy stream-of-consciousness narratives and careful characterization will find much to appreciate here, but those seeking a more cohesive story and engaging action should look elsewhere.
Jerry Seinfeld
Positive Booklist Admirers of Seinfeld’s stream-of-consciousness observations about the minutiae of daily life will find much to enjoy here ... Seinfeld remains immensely popular and fans seeking fresh entertainment will be thrilled to see him in book form.
Jodi Picoult
Mixed Booklist icoult plays with the novel’s narrative structure, this time potentially leaving readers feeling perplexed or even tricked. Nonetheless, they will find heady themes to consider.
Aimee Bender
Positive Booklist Francie’s exhaustive but significant journey of self-examination will likely have a very specific literary appeal, but Bender fans will be glad to find her trademark combination of magic realism and quirky but relatable characters.
Sarah Stewart Johnson
Positive Booklist Johnson details her call to science as a girl, her experiences as a female scientist, and how her involvement with Mars began in 2004 when, as a graduate student, she went to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California to observe the rovers Curiosity and Opportunity as they roamed the Martian terrain. A heady and thoughtful history for space and science buffs.
Amanda Brainerd
Positive Booklist Three teenage girls bereft of parental guidance navigate the intoxicating world of New York City in the early 1980s ... Heady and atmospheric, Brainerd’s debut weaves the energy of glamorous, arty, and treacherous Manhattan into the coming-of-age dramas of her three adventurous heroes.
Ivy Pochoda
Positive Booklist Pochoda’s fourth novel...takes place in 2014 in South Los Angeles, where several prostitutes have been found murdered ... With raw, visceral prose, Pochoda vividly evokes L.A.’s distinctive cityscape and the burdens and threats women face there as female bodies are commodified and where women are the targets of horrific violence.
Samanta Schweblin, trans. by Megan McDowell
Positive Booklist The internationally acclaimed author...posits the launch of a new fad in this daring and original speculative novel ... Schweblin deftly explores both the loneliness and casual cruelty that can inform our attempts to connect in this modern world.
Dalia Sofer
Rave Booklist ... powerful ... A gorgeously written character study that examines, with sensitivity and pathos, the small steps that lead a man down an unexpected and ultimately isolating path.
Sarah Ramey
Positive Booklist In her agony, Ramey deduced that the problem went far beyond women being disbelieved; it stemmed from humanity’s rejection of the feminine as valid ... A visceral, scathing, erudite read that digs deep into how modern medicine continues to fail women and what can be done about it.
Sebastian Barry
Rave Booklist Irish writer Barry continues the story begun in Days Without End...revisiting Civil War vets Thomas McNulty and John Cole and their adopted Sioux daughter, Winona, a decade later. Narrated by Winona, this beautifully rendered historical bildungsroman is equal parts thrilling and meditative.
Barry Sonnenfeld
Positive Booklist Sonnenfeld views all of this with an unflinching eye, going into stark detail about everything from his first professional shoots on nine pornography films to his adventures with the Coen brothers to the sexual abuse he suffered at the hands of his mother’s cousin. A candid, sometimes dark, entertaining, anecdotal trip down memory lane from a Hollywood icon.
A.D. Miller
Positive Booklist Readers with a keen interest in political fiction will find much to savor in the complex machinations Miller expertly creates.
Jennifer S. Hirsch and Shamus Khan
Positive Booklist Taking into account gender, sexuality, and race, Hirsch and Khan do an excellent job of exploring the complexities of sexual assault and how to make campuses safer for all students.
Donna Rifkind
Positive Booklist \"Rifkind brings a forgotten female figure of Hollywood’s Golden Age back into the spotlight in this expansive, engaging biography ... a detailed, vibrant, invaluable portrait of Viertel’s life and the remarkable community of European exiles to whom she offered refuge and friendship.\
Temple Drake
Positive Booklist An atmospheric and evocative tale buoyed by a sensual affair, Drake’s debut is a compelling read that might leave some readers, like Zhang, craving more details about Naemi and her supernatural existence.
Clare Beams
Rave Booklist ... luminous ... This suspenseful and vividly evocative tale expertly explores women’s oppression as well as their sexuality through the eyes of a heroine who is sometimes maddening, at other times sympathetic, and always wholly compelling and beautifully rendered.
Scarlett Thomas
Positive Booklist Thomas has penned a sharp-eyed novel about the pressure society, adults, and peers put on girls to look and behave a certain way. When Natasha isn’t at school, she’s in the company of her aunt, who tells her over and over that she must hang on to her beauty at all costs. Thomas deftly explores exactly what those cost are, and the toll they take on young women.
Nicolas Giacobone
Positive Booklist A smart, introspective, and gripping examination of the burdens and joys of the writing life.
Joanna Kavenna
Positive Booklist Kavenna’s scathing indictment of the dangers of technology gone awry, tech conglomerates left unchecked, and the silencing of the free press is a smart and timely work of cautionary speculative fiction.
John Hodgman
Positive Booklist Hodgman offers thoughtful musings about human nature and our drive for status. An entertaining and endearing entry.
James Verini
Positive Booklist Journalist Verini offers up a searing account of the battle against the Islamic State in Mosul in 2016 and 2017, focusing not just on the clashes with the jihadi fighters but also on the plight of the people caught in the middle of the battling forces ... Verini presents with sensitivity the bloody and complicated history of the area, the fraught feelings Iraqis have towards America and its involvement in their country, and the way conflict with the Islamic State has ripped families apart. A must-read for anyone who wants to understand this ongoing and tragic conflict.
Michael Crummey
Positive Booklist their relationship in ways they can’t quite grasp. A gorgeous portrait of remote Newfoundland of yesterday with a remarkable story of human resilience at its core.
Alexandra Fuller
Rave Booklist Fuller is deeply saddened by her father dying so far from the land that he loved, but most of this gorgeously written reminiscence is comprised of vignettes from the beautiful life her vivacious parents shared together ... After four memoirs that chronicle, in whole or in part, Fuller and her family’s lives in Africa, her family remains endlessly fascinating and delightful companions for long-time readers and new ones alike. When Fuller reveals an even more devastating loss in the final pages, it’s a gut-punch that will leave readers aching for her. A gorgeously written tribute to a life well lived and the resilience of the human spirit in the face of unimaginable loss and grief.
Charles King
Rave Booklist ... takes a sweeping look at the rise of cultural anthropology under Franz Boas ... King’s engrossing look at these extraordinary trailblazers deftly illustrates how crucial their research and work remains today.
Katherine Center
Rave Booklist The follow-up to Center’s breakout hit, How to Walk Away (2018), in which Cassie had a brief cameo, has all the hallmarks that made readers fall in love with the previous book: an appealing (if guarded, in this case) heroine, a compelling love story, a tear-jerking twist, and a thoroughly absorbing story. Another winner from Center.
Lauren Willig
Positive Booklist Though Emily’s story is much slower to start and initially far less compelling than Charles’, Willig masterfully brings the two together in this evocative, engaging epic.
Piper Kerman
Positive Booklist An absorbing, meditative look at life behind bars.
Kevin Morris
Positive Booklist Producer Morris’s entertaining second novel...zeros in on a particular male fantasy, and acknowledges the importance of entertainment and honoring the past, both personal and historic.
Caite Dolan-Leach
Positive Booklist Dolan-Leach has crafted a compelling tale about the passions and folly of young people trying to carve out meaning and purpose in their lives.
J. Michael Straczynski
Rave Booklist The creator of iconic sf series Babylon 5 and Sense8 bares his soul in this raw, utterly compelling memoir ... at times shocking, at times difficult to read, and ultimately inspiring account of his determination and triumph against all odds.
Jo Baker
Rave Booklist With an unflinching eye, Baker deftly explores the pressure, judgment, and dangers women are subjected to on a daily basis simply because they are female. Her brilliant novel is a scathing indictment of the many ways society excoriates women while excusing violent men. A must read.
Deb Spera
Rave Booklist Richly rendered and engrossing, Spera’s debut is a powerful look at the lives of women in the early twentieth-century Deep South.
Carlos Eire
Positive Booklist ... complex, introspective ... In this open, honest, and at times angry memoir, Eire bares his soul completely and captivates the reader in the process.
Maria Kuznetsova
Positive Booklist Oksana gets older and perhaps wiser, but her choices don’t necessarily improve. And yet despite this, she is an utterly compelling, deeply flawed, and completely endearing character. \'I was nobody’s first choice, the Ross Perot of real life,\' she laments in high school. Kuznetsova has created a heroine for the ages in her sparkling, piercingly insightful debut.
Domenica Ruta
Positive Booklist ... inventive ... The plights of some characters resonate more than others, but Ruta’s first novel is an entertaining and clever speculative tale.
Erika Swyler
Rave Booklist ... an introspective, thrilling yarn ... Swyler uses this inventive premise of a failed attempt to control the flow of time to limn the depths of grief and love in a strikingly fresh way that resonates long after the final page has been turned. This tale’s originality brings to mind the quintessential pioneering writer who used science to explore the human condition, Mary Shelley.
Jennifer L. Eberhardt
Positive Booklist Though there’s no easy answer, Eberhardt posits the key to change is confronting bias head-on rather than trying to pretend it doesn’t exist, and to question and challenge our own snap judgments and their sources. This is a seminal work on a topic that necessitates wide and frank discussion.
Sarah Blake
Positive Booklist Blake transports readers to biblical times ... Blake’s tale is a powerful exploration of the trauma of change and the reckoning required to move on from unimaginable loss.
Mallory O'Meara
Rave Booklist \"...[an] engaging, conversational, passionate biography ... Fans of traditional biographies might balk at O’Meara’s candid style and observations, but there’s never a dull moment in this beautiful, heartfelt tribute to a pioneering special-effects designer and animator and passionate call for change in the industry that forgot her.\
Helen Oyeyemi
Positive Booklist ...a clever subversion of fairy tale tropes ... Both a scathing indictment of capitalism and a tribute to the maddeningly inescapable endurance of family bonds, this enchanting tale will resonate with literary fiction lovers.
Jamil Jan Kochai
Positive Booklist Kochai captures the joys and the sorrows of life in Afghanistan, offering readers a glimpse into everyday life in a country whose people have grown so used to constant bombardment that they can differentiate between various types of IEDs by sound alone.
Sophie Kinsella
Positive Booklist Teen rom com lovers will empathize with Fixie\'s sibling drama and romantic fumblings ... Kinsella again provides a delightful, irresistible romp.
Tatiana De Rosnay
Positive Booklist The author of the best-selling WWII-era novel Sarah’s Key (2007) offers up an equally emotional contemporary tale... Rosnay’s many fans, and all who embrace tearful tales, will enjoy the slow unraveling of the complex troubles and secrets of the Malegarde family.
Sarah Moss
Positive Booklist \"The story builds to a primitive ritual teasingly foreshadowed in the opening pages that lays bare Sylvie’s vulnerability and oppression at the hands of her father. Tackling issues such as misogyny and class divides, Moss... packs a lot into her brief but powerful narrative.\
Tessa Hadley
Positive Booklist Hadley...brings readers into the world of a complicated quartet of friends and lovers ... Hadley traces the friends’ relationships through the decades, not only revealing the evolution of their friendships and romances but also the rise and fall of their youthful ambitions and artistic passions. A layered and compelling read.
Chris Womersley
Positive Booklist Womersley offers a richly imagined historical adventure with a truly shocking finish.
Hugh Ambrose
Mixed Booklist A deep dive into the politics surrounding the Eighteenth Amendment ... readers might hunger for more biographical details about Sabin and Willebrandt, but those looking for the political history of Prohibition will value this comprehensive accounting.
Laura Adamczyk
Positive Booklist \"Adamczyk’s first collection revolves around youthful characters thrust into difficult situations and uncertain of how to move forward or adequately communicate their needs and desires ...Though occasionally veering into MFA pretension, Adamczyk’s confident, quirky first outing is bound to find admirers in fans of Aimee Bender and Karen Russell. \
Alyson Hagy
Rave Booklist Taut and tense, with both a dreamlike quality and a strong sense of place, Hagy’s brief but powerful tale will indelibly haunt readers long after the final page is turned.
Soraya Chemaly
Positive Booklist The examples and statistics Chemaly cites are enough to get one’s blood boiling, but, as she notes, anger isn’t intrinsically bad so long as it’s not repressed. She points out that the 2016 election has spurred many women to seek political office themselves. Chemaly finishes with a helpful list of suggestions for channeling that anger into something positive, including letting go of \'niceness\' and trusting other women. An essential and timely read.
Christina Dalcher
Positive Booklist ...[a] chilling dystopian tale ... With its focus on the vitality of communication and human interactions, Dalcher’s tale is a fresh and terrifying contribution to the burgeoning subgenre about women-focused dystopias spearheaded by Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale.
Jodi Picoult
Rave Booklist \"Picoult delivers another riveting yarn about a hot-button issue ... Even though she’s rewinding the story, Picoult manages to keep the tension high as we learn about the characters’ personalities and situations. And there’s a surprising reveal in the final pages that readers will likely find provocative. Picoult explores both sides of the abortion debate in this carefully crafted, utterly gripping tale, which acknowledges that there are no easy answers.\
Kate Walbert
Rave Booklist Walbert’s...latest is a sharp look back at school days that are anything but idyllic ... Jo finds herself saddled with an unpopular roommate and quickly gaining the attention of Master Aikens, a beloved, pompous, charismatic literature instructor ... her rage over the blind eye the school turned toward Master and his transgressions is palpable. Walbert’s slim, impactful novel, distinguished as all her work is by beautiful writing and a wealth of literary allusions, could not be more timely.
Thea Lim
Positive Booklist At first blush, the premise of Lim’s dystopian novel is a familiar one: a deadly flu pandemic sweeps across the world in the early 1980s. But the solution is inventive ... An intriguing and unique entry in the crowded dystopian landscape.
J.E. Smyth
Positive Booklist For every recognizable name, such as legendary costume designer Edith Head, there are numerous mentions of women whose contributions have been neglected by historians, such as Mary C. McCall, Jr., a gifted writer and two-time president of the Screen Writers Guild, who saw her career snuffed out by the persecution of Communists, despite the fact that she was a political moderate. Aimed at readers with a knowledge of and keen interest in Hollywood of yesteryear, Smyth’s enlightening tome reveals the power and influence women wielded in Tinseltown during the Great Depression, WWII, and the postwar era.
Eliza Kennedy
Rave Booklist Raney Moore thinks her decade-and-a-half-long marriage to entomologist Aaron is on solid ground until she discovers he slept with a colleague on a work trip ... Kennedy tackles gender relations at home and in the workplace in this frank, compulsively readable examination of how one woman balances her exploration of her sexual identity with her career and motherhood.
Tatjana Soli
Positive Booklist Soli’s fourth novel is an epic, enthralling look at the American West in the mid-1800s... With visceral, vibrant language, Soli paints a stark portrait of the violence, hardship, and struggles that characterized the American West.
Katie Williams
Positive Booklist \"Daring, inventive, and moving, Williams’ novel deftly illustrates that when it comes to happiness, there are no easy answers.\
A.D. Jameson
Rave Booklist Jameson makes a passionate argument for the depth of these no-longer-fringe entertainments, pointing out the realism within the fantasy and how sf, fantasy, and superhero tales tackle issues personal and political ... A thoroughly engaging and enjoyable look at the evolution of geek culture over the past four decades.
Jay Duplass and Mark Duplass
Rave Booklist A thoroughly enjoyable peek into the brothers’ creative process, filled with tips and guidance for those who want to follow in their footsteps
Alma Katsu
Rave Booklist Online \"There’s plenty of interpersonal drama among the group ... A suspenseful and imaginative take on a famous tragedy.\
Lisa Genova
Rave Booklist Online Genova expertly details the devastation ALS wreaks on Richard, and though her latest is a sometimes difficult read, she finds hope in the opportunities Richard has to repair his relationships with his daughter and brothers before it’s too late.
Joy Press
Rave Booklist Between interviews with the showrunners themselves as well as the writers and actors they employ, and even a set visit to Jill Soloway’s seminal Amazon dramedy, Transparent, Press gives television lovers an inspiring, eye-opening look into the way women are creating groundbreaking, original content.
Kristin Hannah
Positive Booklist Though smaller in scope than her previous blockbuster, in this tightly focused drama, Hannah vividly evokes the natural beauty and danger of Alaska and paints a compelling portrait of a family in crisis and a community on the brink of change.
Naomi Alderman
Rave Booklist \"Alderman wrestles with some heady questions: What happens when the balance of power shifts? Would women be kinder, gentler rulers, or would they be just as ruthless as their male counterparts? That Alderman is able to explore these provocative themes in a novel that is both wildly entertaining and utterly absorbing makes for an instant classic, bound to elicit discussion and admiration in equal measure.\