Lizzy Goodman opens Meet Me in the Bathroom with this quote from NME writer Conor McNicholas: “Everybody is living through their own golden age, but you only realize it afterward, so start living it now.” Get to the end of this book, read the first chapter again, and that quote makes perfect sense. MMITB is Goodman’s wistful love letter to her New York City. What I mean by her New York City is that, as she establishes early in the book, people move to NYC because it’s […]
There is Great Consolation in Simply Doing Something You Love
I would categorize the British author, Jojo Moyes, as my literary snack food. I tend to inhale each book like a bag of potato chips—not particularly nutritious but just what I’m looking for at the time. I read this book in one day during my spring vacation back in March and it was a perfectly good way to spend a long afternoon. I’ve enjoyed getting to know Louisa (Lou) Clark over three novels: Me Before You, After You, and now Still Me and truthfully, I’ve found her […]
What Did I Just Read?
The Changeling by Victor Lavalle
This wasn’t a bad book. The writing was good enough that I blew through it in about 3 sittings and I wanted to keep reading, so there’s that. But I was disappointed. And I feel guilty that I was disappointed, especially since Lavalle is a talented writer and a lot of things in this story worked really, really well. But there was also a lot that didn’t, at least for me. I can’t appropriately talk about this book without spoilers, so stop reading here if […]
Werewolves in New York? It’s more likely than you think!
A Canadian mystery writer lives in New York city and gets involved in some supernatural/criminal hijinx. Also, he’s a werewolf (which is kind of obvious right from the cover, so, like, not a spoiler). This book started life as a stand-alone short story called “This Time Around”. I read that and totally loved it. The author has a nice touch and a good sense of humor so I was interested to see how the whole story played out. The short story serves as the start […]
Yes, yes! All of the Yes!
I ended up reading this book by accident. I thought I’d requested a book with the same title written by Victer Lavelle, but this is what showed up at the library when I went to pick it up. Since I was already there I figured I’d give it ago. And I’m glad I did as this was one of the most adorable, wonderful books I’ve read in a while. First, every single major player in this book is female. And not a whiny, incapable cipher […]
The Longest Life
My second five-star book of the year! “Forever” follows Cormac O’Conner, an Irishman from the 1730s, who becomes gifted with long life through a series of spectacular and semi-magical events after he immigrates to New York. There’s one catch to his near-immortality, though: he can never leave Manhattan Isle. He becomes penned into the island’s boundaries where he watches the dank little Hudson River town turn into the roiling metropolis of the modern era. He lives through British soldiers fighting Washington’s troops in the forests around […]