Humans have been attempting to answer the question of what a good and virtuous life looks like since the beginning of time. In her sophomore novel, Virtue, Hermione Hoby takes on this very same concern, contextualized within the Trump era. The novel centers on Luca, a young man trying to distance himself from his middle… Continue reading Virtue by Hermione Hoby
Tag: bookblog
The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris
Marketed as “The Devil Wears Prada meets Get Out,” Zakiya Dalila Harris’ new thriller novel, The Other Black Girl, has been one of the publishing industry’s most talked-about and buzziest releases of 2021. Harris, who quit her job as an editorial assistant at the revered PRH imprint Knopf to write this book, has endeavored to… Continue reading The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris
Milk Blood Heat by Dantiel W. Moniz
Dantiel W. Moniz’s debut story collection Milk Blood Heat is the rare debut the strikes a perfect note with every story, all of which coalesce to an elemental and stunning symphony. The stories mostly center around black women and girls living in the Jacksonville area, and many stories integrate the three title images of milk,… Continue reading Milk Blood Heat by Dantiel W. Moniz
Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
Transcendent Kingdom is the second novel by Yaa Gyasi, who burst onto the scene a couple of years ago with her brilliant and celebrated historical fiction novel, Homegoing, which followed several generations of a Ghanian family experiencing slavery in Europe and America. Gyaasi’s sophomore novel has a narrower focus than Homegoing, which spanned decades and… Continue reading Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi
Daughter of Black Lake by Cathy Marie Buchanan
Cathy Marie Buchanan brings first century Britannia to life in her latest novel, Daughter of Black Lake, which follows the twin narrative arcs of a mother and daughter coming-of-age during troubled times as villagers of the remote tribe living on Black Lake. Thirteen year old Hobble (she gets her name from her affliction with a… Continue reading Daughter of Black Lake by Cathy Marie Buchanan
Lady Romeo by Tana Wojczuk
In a recent interview with them., writer Tana Wojczuk commented on her inspiration for her book Lady Romeo, explaining, “I grew up reading fairy tales and being really frustrated by the female characters in them and how powerless they seemed. They never got to have adventures, and [Charlotte] Cushman’s story is like an adventure story,… Continue reading Lady Romeo by Tana Wojczuk
Luster by Raven Leilani
Purchase a copy for yourself here! In an essay written for Vogue about her departure from her mother’s strict Seventh Day Adventist church, Raven Leilani writes, “It would take years for the questions to develop and still more time for me to admit that I had them: How could an omniscient being create animals capable… Continue reading Luster by Raven Leilani
This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga
Purchase a copy for yourself here! “You feel you are creeping up over the edge of a precipice and that this cliff beckons you; worse… that there is no way to stop that fall because you are the precipice”, writes Tsitsi Dangarembga in This Mournable Body, the final entry in her trilogy surrounding the life… Continue reading This Mournable Body by Tsitsi Dangarembga
The Guest List by Lucy Foley
Purchase a copy for yourself here! “Will Slater is not the man you think he is. He’s a cheat and a liar. Don’t marry him“, reads a foreboding note received by Jules Keegan, just a couple of weeks before her wedding. Jules is a highly organized and driven businesswoman, the founder and head of The… Continue reading The Guest List by Lucy Foley
How Much of These Hills is Gold by C Pam Zhang
Purchase a copy for yourself here! There is perhaps no subset of literature that feels more emblematic of the white male literary canon than the classic American western novel. In her Booker Prize nominated debut, How Much of These Hills is Gold, C Pam Zhang brings the western novel into a new century. The novel… Continue reading How Much of These Hills is Gold by C Pam Zhang