Best for: People who enjoy stories told from multiple perspectives. In a nutshell: Roy Jr and his wife Celestial have been married for a year and a half and are visiting his folks when a chance encounter at a hotel leads to a woman falsely accusing him of rape. He is convicted and sent away. This is the story of what happens next. Worth quoting: “Is motherhood really optional when you’re a perfectly normal woman married to a perfectly normal man?” (This isn’t a huge […]

This book has been well read, well reviewed, and on every list for a reason – it is very very good. It is a beautifully written, horrifyingly tragic story that speaks as much about America as it does about the marriage at the novel’s core. It is stunning and it is sad. The short version is, a young couple, only married a year, are visiting his parents in small town Louisiana when the husband is arrested, tried, and convicted of a crime he absolutely did […]