I didn’t make one of these lists last year and decided to do one this time, so here it is: My Top 10 of 2020! So, ok, I cheated a little. You’ll notice that I have here, more than 10 books (in result of two ties). I did better than I expected since I read…
Category: literary fiction
When looking for answers to life and its problems, do you turn to #God or #Science? Jee reviews ‘Transcendent Kingdom’ by #YaaGyasi #bookreview #TranscendentKingdom #literaryfiction @AAKnopf #science #religion #faith #booksbypoc #booksbyblackauthors
Title/Author: Transcendent Kingdom Publisher: Knopf Pages: 266 In a nutshell (Publisher): Gifty is a sixth-year PhD candidate in neuroscience at the Stanford University School of Medicine studying reward-seeking behavior in mice and the neural circuits of depression and addiction. Her brother, Nana, was a gifted high school athlete who died of a heroin overdose after…
Jee reviews ‘Betty by Tiffany McDaniel’ @AAKnopf #bookreview #betty #bettybook #eARC #TiffanyMcDaniel #racism #sexism #abuse #comingofage #poverty #fiction #basedontruestory
Title/Author: Betty by Tiffany McDaniel Publisher: Knopf In a nutshell (Publisher): A stunning, lyrical novel set in the rolling foothills of the Appalachians about a young girl and the family truths that will haunt her for the rest of her life “A girl comes of age against the knife.” So begins the story of Betty…
A story of love and loss, addiction and healing. Jee reviews ‘Long Bright River’ by Liz Moore @LizMooreBooks @RiverheadBooks #literaryfiction #thriller #addiction #Kensington #opioidepidemic
Title/Author: Long Bright Rivery by Liz Moore Publisher: Riverhead Books Pages: 492 In a nutshell: Two sisters travel the same streets, though their lives couldn’t be more different. Then one of them goes missing. In a Philadelphia neighborhood rocked by the opioid crisis, two once-inseparable sisters find themselves at odds. One, Kacey, lives on the…
Jee reviews a story of loss and survival, hope and humanity: #DearEdward by Ann Napolitano #NetGalley #eARC @RandomHouse #TheDialPress #literaryfiction #womenfiction
Title/Author: Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano Publisher: The Dial Press of Random House Publishing Group In a nutshell (Publisher): What does it mean not just to survive, but to truly live? One summer morning, twelve-year-old Edward Adler, his beloved older brother, his parents, and 183 other passengers board a flight in Newark headed for Los…
Jee reviews an immersive read: #TheDutchHouse by Ann Patchett @HarperBooks #siblingrelationship #familydrama #dysfunctionalfamily #forgiveness
Title/Author: The Dutch House by Ann Patchett Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers In a nutshell (Publisher): From the New York Times bestselling author of Commonwealth and State of Wonder, comes Ann Patchett’s most powerful novel to date: a richly moving story that explores the indelible bond between two siblings, the house of their childhood, and a past that will not let them…
Jee reviews #DisappearingEarth by Julia Phillips @AAKnopf @DBookFestival #dbf2019 #debutNovel #fiction
Title/Author: Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips Publisher: Knopf In a nutshell: One August afternoon, on the shoreline of the Kamchatka peninsula at the northeastern edge of Russia, two girls–sisters, eight and eleven–go missing. In the ensuing weeks, then months, the police investigation turns up nothing. Echoes of the disappearance reverberate across a tightly woven community,…
Jee reviews #FruitOfTheDrunkenTree by @ingrid_rojas_c @doubledaybooks @dBookFestival #doubledaybooks #dbf2019 #comingofage #HispanicAmericanLiterature #fiction #war #PabloEscobar #femaleEmpowerment
Title/Author: Fruit of the Drunken Tree by Ingrid Rojas Contreras Publisher: Doubleday Books In a nutshell (Publisher): Seven-year-old Chula and her older sister Cassandra enjoy carefree lives thanks to their gated community in Bogotá, but the threat of kidnappings, car bombs, and assassinations hover just outside the neighborhood walls, where the godlike drug lord Pablo…
A tiger’s wife, a deathless man, Punjabi women & a murder mystery case! Jee delves into two very different worlds with these #minireviews : #TheTigersWife by #TeaObreht #RandomHouse @randomhouse #magicalrealism #literaryfiction & #EroticStoriesForPunjabiWomen by #BalliKaurJaswal #AsianAmericanLiteratureFiction #WilliamMorrow @WMmorrowBooks
Title/Author: The Tiger’s Wife: A Novel by Tea Obreht Publisher: Random House Verdict: Read if you like magical realism! The death of her grandfather led Natalia to retrieve the items that he left behind. That journey took her mind back to her days spent with him and the stories he told her about his encounters…
Jee reviews #HowWeDisappeared by #JingJingLee @Hanover_Square #HistoricalWW2Fiction #literaryfiction #Singapore #eARC #NetGalley
Title/Author: How We Disappeared by Jing-Jing Lee Publisher: Hanover Square Press In a nutshell (Publisher): A mesmerizing novel of World War II Singapore, “a story about memory, trauma, and ultimately love” (New York Times)—for fans of Pachinko and We Were the Lucky Ones Singapore, 1942. As Japanese troops sweep down Malaysia and into Singapore, a village is ransacked,…
