James by Perceval Everett

Writing: 5/5 Characters: 5/5 Plot: 4/5

A beautifully written reimagining of Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, told from the perspective of “Big Jim,” the slave with whom Huckleberry Finn escapes down the river. While Finn is escaping an abusive father, Jim is running from the rumor that he will be sold away from his family. This aligns with the original work. However, in this version of the story, Jim is presented as an intelligent, educated, and feeling man with a rich interior life and a strong sense of responsibility. He is the narrator of the tale and we hear the story from his perspective — drastically different than that of the Twain’s narrator Huckleberry Finn.
The key mechanism of the storytelling (for me) is the code-switching that all the slaves use when in the presence of white people — adopting an unsophisticated patois along with ignorant and superstitious behaviors. Among themselves they speak with good grammar and have a rational (if somewhat resigned) outlook. It’s fascinating what (often inaccurate) signals we receive simply by the way someone talks and behaves.

I enjoyed the writing, the deep characterization, and the (somewhat uplifting) end, although I didn’t particularly enjoy the “adventures.” Starting with the same plot lines as Huck Finn, the book expanded to include plot elements that supported Jim’s drive to free himself and his family. The story was full of realistically depicted attitudes and behaviors towards slaves. While I had read many fictionalized accounts of slavery, I thought this was one of the best for highlighting the varying attitudes of whites, as well as adding depth to the experiences of the slave himself. White characters ranged from cruel men who took pleasure in their cruelty, to those who didn’t believe in slavery but didn’t take any steps to stop it, to those who were actually kind and yet still considered Black people to be subhuman. Everett managed to convey the intense tension present in every moment for a person who is enslaved — the constant worry and lack of any kind of control, the constant tamping down of anger, the constant need for vigilance lest anyone notice anything about you that doesn’t jive with the “dumb animal” they expect. But the real stroke of mastery in the writing is how everything shifts for the reader simply by making it clear that the characters are fully recognizable as human being simply by speaking in a way that we recognize as intelligent.

While I don’t think this was the primary point of the book, it also got me thinking about when violence is justified. Without giving too much away, Jim intentionally kills two other (white) characters even though his own life was not at risk at the time. I was completely happy with his actions which left me feeling vicariously satisfied at the death of two absolutely horrible people. And yet, those people had done nothing that was illegal — instead they were cruel, violent, and behaved immorally according to my own ethical standards. Most of us today are horrified by the idea of slavery and the specific cruelty of many of those who practiced it; however, there are people today who are celebrating the murders committed by Luigi Mangione (United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson), Tyler Robinson (Charlie Kirk), and the Hamas attack on Israel (1200 murders, rapes and 250 people kidnapped — all non combatants). In their minds, the victims were “guilty” and merited murder. The line between these situations feels clear to me, but is it?

When God was a Rabbit by Sarah Winman (Literary Fiction)

Writing: 5+/5 Plot: 4/5 Characters: 5/5

Charming, deep, and full of insight. A coming of age and beyond novel with clear flows from life experiences to the development of a personality, a worldview, and a moral core.

Eleanor Maud is a bit of a loner, with an adored older brother, a best friend from the “other” side of the tracks, an odd collection of adults who provide her with myriad perspectives and experiences, and a pet rabbit she has named God. Introverted and introspective from an early age, we see her develop a sense of self and a unique brand of faith by continually modifying her worldview and her self-understanding in reaction to events both personal and societal (e.g. a suicide, a scary lump, lost memory; 9/11, the massacre at Dunblane, John Lennon getting shot).

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this, being immersed in another’s quirky and slanted, but also rational and considering, mind. Ellie was an easy character for me to “travel with” in this way. I loved the cast of supporting characters who were each unconventional in his or her own way, always through eccentricities well-supported by their outlook and exploits. This is a reprint of the book — it was originally published in 2011 and was the author’s debut. She has since written three additional books.

Some beautiful quotes:

“He had skirted the periphery of my early life like an orbiting moon, held between the alternate pull of curiosity and indifference, and probably would have remained that way, had Destiny not collided with a Tyrolean coach that tragic, pivotal afternoon.”

“He presented a colorful alternative to our mapped-out lives. And every day as I awaited his return from school, my longing became taut, became physical. I never felt complete without him. In truth I never would.”

My father had never met a lesbian before, and it was unfortunate that K. H. should be his first, because his liberal cloak was pulled away to reveal an armory of caricatured prejudice. He could never understand what Nancy saw in her, and all she ever said was that K. H. had amazing inner beauty, which my father said must be extremely hidden, since an archeological dig working round the clock would probably have found it hard to discover.

“I just want my friend back,” I said, tears burning behind my eyes. ‘I’ve become forgettable”

Do I believe in a mystery, the unexplained phenomenon that is life itself? The greater something that illuminates inconsequence in our lives; that gives us something to strive for as well as the humility to brush ourselves down and start all over again? Then yes, I do. It is the source of art, of beauty, of love, and proffers the ultimate goodness to mankind. That to me is God. That to me is life. That is what I believe in.

And she had left nature alone, opting instead to banish vanity like the meddlesome, suffocating weed it was.

His strange presence had uncovered a loneliness of such devouring longing, one that reached cruelly back into the past, and I knew I could no longer be around him.”

And he uncovered in us a curious need: that we each secretly wanted him to remember us the most. It was strange, both vital and flawed, until I realized that maybe the need to be remembered is stronger than the need to remember.

Thank you to G. P. Putnam’s Sons and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on February 24th, 2026.

The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte (Literary Classic)

This is one of two novels written by Anne Bronte (sister to the somewhat better known Emily and Charlotte) before her death at 29. It is known as one of the first feminist novels as it features a woman — Helen — fleeing an abusive husband and aiming to support herself and her son. This in an era when women had few, if any, rights and children literally belonged to the husband

While I can’t say that I enjoyed reading the book — it was long, somewhat repetitive, and a depressingly perfect depiction of an evolving and utterly miserable life — I did learn quite a bit from it, and I am glad to have read it.

While certainly a book of its time, the messages and situations are easily translated to modernity. Helen is a young woman with neither the experience nor the training to know how to judge a man. The point is made that society at the time kept young women “innocent” in this way, leaving them ill-prepared for making decisions about marriage. They become easy marks for men with smooth manners, handsome faces, and a decent income. Societal expectations (and their religious backings) emphasize support and happiness for husbands, while the wives are expected to be virtuous, good, and obedient. This was both a feminist novel and a morality play — all the dissolute characters end badly, and the men that behave well, or are compelled through the actions of a virtuous women to reform, end well.

There were some interesting surprises for me. For example, the importance Helen put on not allowing her son to be influenced by the dissolute father. She goes so far as to introduce him to alcohol chased by an emetic such that the very smell of alcohol makes him ill. I also enjoyed the slow realization — on the parts of men and women — as to what really is important is selecting a spouse — and it wasn’t solely the physical attraction or purse of either.

The style of the book was a bit difficult to me. The central — and longest — portion of the book is the diary Helen kept throughout her marriage. It is this diary that she gives to Gilbert, a young man in the village she has escaped to who has become besotted with her and doesn’t understand her reluctance to engage (given her stated widowhood and pseudonym). The surrounding chapters are literally one or more extremely long letters that Gilbert is writing to Halford, his brother-in-law. The timeline of this letter is unclear, as is the position of “Halford” in his life. This makes things a bit confusing — I found a character list on wikipedia to be quite helpful in providing enough context to have the book make sense.

Overall worth reading. There is nothing like a classic to really immerse you in a time and place, completely devoid of modern interpretation.

The Confession Artist by Christine Carbo (Thriller)

A tense thriller with an intriguing premise — a killer posts sketches of potential victims on social media with the message “You have 6 days to confess or die.” Two people have already died; a third comes up with a full confession and survives. Enter Crosbie Mitchell — a newly minted PI trying to drum up business. The latest sketch looks remarkably like her — and it’s not like the message mystifies her. In her mind, she has plenty to atone for, though she isn’t thrilled at the idea of going public. Struggling with an internal storm of guilt, fear, denial, and confusion, she has to figure out what to do. Should she confess? Hide? Or try to somehow stop the “Confession Artist” in their tracks.

I was hooked within the first few pages — Carbo’s impassioned style mixes convoluted plot, nuanced characters, complex questions of morality, and intense introspection into a stew of shifting emotions. She does a remarkable job of depicting how a single individual can feel like a perpetrator, a victim, and a defender all at once. The description of that inner turmoil was deftly executed. The demands for confession spanned sins entangled with eco-concerns, drug abuse, rape and sexual abuse, native American abuses, and the greed of the already wealthy. I was happy that all of the “sinners” were individuals rather than implied representatives of whole groups (i.e. not all men were abusers, not all rich people were greedy, etc.) There were some interesting explorations of moral equivalencies — is there a distinction between doing something bad, actively enabling someone else to do something bad, and being aware of something bad happening and not doing anything about it? How does your answer change if the victim is an innocent vs a objectively bad actor? I came to my own conclusions which were not necessarily shared by the author or her characters, but the story definitely made me think! The final resolution was surprising, satisfying, and actually believable.

A great read at multiple levels!

Thank you to Thomas & Mercer and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on June 1st, 2026.

The Heart of Everything by Marc Levy (Literary Fiction)

I loved this book — it was funny, sweet, and poignant. Always enjoyable with plenty of insight on the “big questions” and peppered with little surprises that evoke the individuality of each character, rather than serving as plot devices. I both laughed out loud and teared up frequently.

Thomas — a concert pianist in Paris — is surprised when his father (now dead for five years) appears in his apartment to beg him for one last favor — to reunite him with his long lost love in San Francisco. Not your typical ghost story, the long journey provides the vehicle for a chance for a father and son to have the kind of reconciliation one always hopes for after a death. I could not have predicted the level of insight, sweetness, and hidden delight from the plot description alone. The bantering style between the two often made me laugh out loud, but also clearly had that bittersweet feeling of two people who love each other but have never really been able to express that love directly. Teasing, at times acerbic, direct and simultaneously avoidant. What would you say to your deceased parent if you suddenly had just a few extra days with him or her? I liked being given the opportunity to think about just that. As an extra, I very much enjoyed Thomas’ musical references and his experiences as a performer. They had real depth and were not simply window dressing on a character.

I loved the writing style. Understated, lovely, and clean. The words don’t draw attention to themselves, but each one appears precisely chosen to impart exactly the meaning the author intended. I am embarrassed to admit that I had not previously heard of Marc Levy, who is apparently a bestselling French author and wrote the novel on which the movie “Just Like Heaven” was based. According to the Amazon page, “Le Figaro newspaper recently commissioned a nationwide poll asking the French to rank their favorite author: Marc Levy and Victor Hugo were #1.” I’ll certainly be investigating his backlist!

Thank you to Amazon Crossing and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book was published on January 1st, 2026.

Bet Me by Jennifer Crusie (Rom-com)

This was just pure fun to read from start to finish. A romcom with a voluptuous (rather than thin) heroine, great banter, a sizzling romance, good messaging around relationships and love, and some even greater friendships that I enjoyed every bit as much as the big romance. I only read romcoms if they are very funny and if the women aren’t portrayed as disorganized idiots (think Bridget Jones) — this one had me laughing and happy throughout. A couple of funny lines that don’t give much away:

“Look mother, I am never going to be thin. I’m Norwegian. If you wanted a thin daughter, you should not have married a man whose female ancestors carried cows home from the pasture.”

“She looked like the blowsy barmaid who worked in the inn behind the castle, the one who’s trash-picked one of the princess’s castoffs.”

“…who should have been hale and welcoming but instead had the vaguely paranoid look of a sheepdog whose sheep were plotting against him.”

The Ending Writes Itself by Evelyn Clarke (Mystery)

A fun and quite twisted mystery set in the familiar “guests on an island” mystery trope. In this case, the “guests” are a set of mid-list writers (meaning that their work is good but never given the necessary marketing support by their publishers). The book is FULL of funny and probably all-too-true pointed jabs at the publishing industry which is apparently not for the weak of heart. Our cast is summoned to the private island and extravagant castle of the fabulously successful writer Arthur Fletch. But — Arthur is dead and the last book of his highly popular series is only 90% completed. This visit is an opportunity to complete the book and earn a million dollars and a lucrative future publishing contract. They have 72 hours. And just as we start to get to know our characters a bit, and get excited by the way each of them is approaching the problem — bodies begin to appear.

Very twisty plot, relatable characters with personality and depth, and plenty of insight, humor, and varying takes on the writing and publishing process. I enjoyed many of the detailed asides about individual author experiences, approaches, and (many) irritations. Also learned some new (to me) writing principles such as Chekhov’s Gun — a “narrative principle emphasizing that every element in a story be necessary, while irrelevant elements should be removed.”

This book is on several of the 2026 “must-read” lists and is a (very successful!) collaboration between popular authors V.E. Schwab and Cat Clarke.

Thank you to Harper and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on April 7th, 2026.

The Parisian Chapter by Janet Skeslien Charles (Fiction)

A sequel to Charles’ The Paris Library which alternates between Paris during the Nazi occupation and a small Montana town to which the protagonist (Odile) flees about 40 years later. In this “chapter,” Lily Jacobson, the young girl Odile befriended in Montana, gets a chance to go to Paris and work in the same American Library that meant so much to Odile in the 40s. The story — MUCH less depressing than the last (as there are no Nazis in this one) — alternates Lily’s experiences with short character vignettes on others in the library community.

The best part of the book for me are these characters and the way they come together to maintain an under-funded, increasingly shabby, but definitely beloved library. Characters range from library staff, to volunteers, to patrons, to a live-in (hidden) homeless person. And the rather two-dimensional and all around loser — the current Library Director. My favorite chapter is the first, introducing Head Librarian Lorenzo Bruni who complains bitterly (but also quite humorously) about the annoying habits of the Public and all of the things he is not allowed to do. I wonder why that appealed to me so much?

It’s a charming story with a happily-ever-after style ending, and lots of literary and artistic references. While I found all of the characters to be interesting people (they all love libraries, so how could I not??), I would have preferred a little more depth, but overall I quite enjoyed my last read of the year (finishing exactly two hours before the New Year began!)

Thank you to Atria Books and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on May 5th, 2026.

More than Enough by Anna Quindlen (Literary Fiction)



One of my favorite books of the year — thoughtful, relatable, and delightful, even, in an odd way, the sad parts. This is in large part due to the characters who are all good and wise people in their way, but always with more to learn. I’d like to say there was a jackass or two in the pages, but there really weren’t.

Polly is a high school English teacher at a private Manhattan school where the kids are (mostly) wealthy and privileged but also driven, smart, and with problems of their own. As an aside, I like the fact that people who are not poor, not downtrodden, and not necessarily members of a minority class are allowed to have problems and drives and desires like anyone else. Her appealingly well-adjusted husband is a big animal vet at the Bronx zoo — possibly my favorite character occupation of all time! And she is part of a perfectly balanced four member book club — unique in that its members must buy, but not actually read, the chosen book every month. At the same time, however, her beloved father is losing his mind to dementia, she is struggling with infertility, she is in a perpetually low-grade state of anger with her mother, and a “joke” DNA test gift has resulted in a surprising and uncomfortable disclosure.

The book is a “tag along” to a thoroughly examined life as it progresses, as all lives do, completely out of the control of the one who lives it. All we can do is adjust, appreciate, understand, and settle in for the ride. Beautifully written with a slew of insightful comments (and many apt literary references and quotations — she teaches advanced Literary Honors courses after all!). Full of myriad families and friend groupings, each with their own distinctive cultures and implicit behavior patterns. I loved that the story was a study in non-dysfunctional ways of handling both life’s vicissitudes and pleasures. I found myself disagreeing with Tolstoy — not all “happy families” are alike, because every family, even the happy ones, find their own way of handling all that life throws at them. And lastly, some truly fun and informative scenes with alpacas.

Some quotes both directly from the author and as referenced in the book:

I am out with lanterns looking for myself — Emily Dickinson.

Marriage. Like calculus without the answers.

There’s a kind of equipoise to our group, so that we’ll veer here and there and somehow always come back to center, and peace.

Sometimes I think the human brain is a house, and the lights only come on in mine one room at a time.

Life is a tragedy for those who feel and a comedy for those who think — Moliere

“Daddy Daddy Daddy is running through my head like a piece of music with only two notes, like Philip Glass. I hate Philip Glass.”

“I’d like to disabuse you of the notion that you are the only woman in the world who doesn’t like her mother,” my therapist had said three years before.

The thing about living in New York City is that you feel either perpetually untethered or unwaveringly embedded.

You girls need to allow me my petty grievances.

Beauty is whatever gives joy — Edna St Vincent Millay.

I’m afraid families are a funnel, and ours is running out.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on February 24th, 2026.

My friends by Fredrik Backman (Literary Fiction)

This book has been gushed over by all of my favorite readers — and I get it. It’s well-written, has characters that attach deeply to your heart, and tells a set of life stories of redemption through the powerful forces of friendship and art. I couldn’t stop reading, and I teared up fairly reliably in response to the truly heartfelt and exquisitely expressed insights, remembrances, and hopeful resolutions.

But — rather than finding it uplifting (as most others did), I was left feeling despondent. So many broken people, especially broken kids, populated these pages. I don’t believe the author ever specifies where this is taking place — what country, what city. We’re left to feel that this level of grief, brokenness, woe, and misery is the lot of most — the essential human experience as it were. I loved the uplift that came with the discussions on art, and the fierce loyalty struck between friendships forged in despair, but I felt more disturbed than inspired by the book as a whole.