Fair Ones by Lydia Millet (Literary Fiction)

A slow paced (but exquisitely written and perversely engaging) novel rich in insightful discourse and doubly rich in character depth. At the core is a trio of best friends: Mara, Jen, and Claire — single New Yorkers operating at various edges of the wealthy. Claire — a high school guidance counselor and beauty queen; Mara a tutor for prep school students; and Jen the brainy former journalist and culture editor. It’s billed as a double novel — part one is Mara’s story, launched immediately after Claire’s sudden and violent death; part two is Jen’s story, taken up a year later and continuing with the evolving relationships, secrets, and healing.

I loved this book for the very real and thoroughly explored lives in relation to the catastrophic experience and the mad swirl of collateral damage resulting. New friendships, new discoveries, new reactions, new regrets, new hopes. The plot progresses, sometimes in very surprising (but utterly believable) ways. Social commentary throughout in characters’ thoughts, reactions, and evolving sense of self. Plenty of existential considerations as well as political discussions and a sense of societal duty (rather than entitlement). I found so many great quotes. I liked the fact that each character worked hard at understanding what made a “good person” and how they could best achieve that label, while also having the awareness of the layers of hypocrisy that lurk just below the surface. I also liked how well the author painted people from the different perspectives of the other characters through the kind of dialog / discussions we all have.

Quintessentially a New York story, and yet, typical for stories about New Yorkers, the characters are all NY transplants and so we travel from a Jain community in California, to the woods in Maine, to elite boarding schools, to high priced, drug infused Wall Street lofts in discovery of backstories. We consider white collar crime, dementia without financial resources, and the search for meaningful occupation. And we are surprised with a creeping, surreptitious solution to a mystery we didn’t know existed. We “join” in the discussion of a wide variety of topics from multiple perspectives on everything from climate change to the pros and cons of capitalism, to the real meaning of Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree (that was a hoot). Millet’s books have a kind of dream like quality for me because I feel like I am occupying so many different heads at once. I loved this book.

Quotes:
“We had our daily routines, inside millions of others, and along the edges of those routines there was always the prospect of the story taking new turns. Because the city contained multitudes. So if the story changed, we’d figured, maybe we’d be excited all over again. Even the pandemic hadn’t driven us away. We’d survived.”

“In more neutral terms, she explained, they were both aware that pleasure and so-called ‘being in love’ are based on neurological novelty. And that the brain can’t be trusted not to take a relationship for granted. If they hung out together for too long a stretch, the dopamine surges would flare out.”

“If I tried to join in, throwing out a quick word of agreement or question, they’d gaze at me anthropologically. Like they were tolerating my naive opinion the way you’d tolerate a well-meaning foreigner who doesn’t speak the language.”

“Still, if you took away words, music lasted for centuries, I thought. A distillation of sadness that never aged. Unlike the person who’d felt it.”

“‘Economically underprivileged,’ was what the school called them, but Claire said poor kids; economically underprivileged was a privileged euphemism.”

“Although, she’d added, they outsourced their misery. Norway, for instance, claimed to be leading on carbon-neutrality but got most of its money from exporting a s***load of fossil fuels. Plus they went around slaughtering whales. Like the Japanese.”

“I never wanted kids. Even back when being gay meant you probably couldn’t have them. For the middle and upper classes, it’s a way of replacing anxiety about society with a fixation on the domestic. So you don’t have to strain your compassion by worrying about anything beyond the home front. Because you’ve already met your daily quota struggling to raise your young You can give up your ideals and your unresolved tension over the existential crisis of the ongoing death of the planet. And be praised for it. Since breeding’s sanctioned as the highest form of love.”

“There’s no such thing as a gift horse, Mara. Richard’s a regular horse. And the deal with horses is, you have to take care of them. You have to feed them. Muck out their stalls, Clean the first and shit from their hooves with a rasp. And ride them on a regular basis.”

“I don’t have a heart at peace, with my ex-wife. With that woman, I have a heart at war.”

“Plus Richard bloviated more if another professional was present. Especially Eli, who he saw as highly intelligent and yet, as a forensic pathologist, not fully conversant with current readings of late-stage capitalism. Richard would shift into enthusiastic lecture mode while Eli, likely exhausted from eight hours poking around in gnarly corpses, nodded politely and endured. I had to break into the lectures to save him.”

“So what did I do, again? With all that was given to me? And the answer would be, I ate. Mara claims social boredom makes me act out. But I don’t act out enough. If I did, I wouldn’t get so bored.”

Thank you to W. W. Norton & Company and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on October 6th, 2026.

Under Story by Chloe Benjamin (speculative fiction)

Writing: 4/5 Plot: 3.5/5 Characters: 4/5

Laurel Salter, a distinguished biologist focussed on trees and fungi has run away from grief to Antarctica’s McMurdo Station — as a dishwasher. While there she is captivated by a strange phenomenon that has the research physicists both excited and perplexed — the Arc, a strange light appearing over the ice. When her ex-husband, himself a renowned physicist, appears at the station to study it, she persuades him to join her on an expedition to what she posits will be an anti-universe (where time moves backwards) enabling them to correct a grievous error.

I have mixed feelings about this book — there are parts I loved, and other parts I found a bit facile and / or too drawn out. I loved the world-building involved in the anti-universe. A lot of thought went into what it would really mean for time to run backwards (from our perspective) and what that would look like in terms of birth, death, parenting, schooling, etc. Benjamin’s depiction of such a “place” was detailed, persuasive, and pretty thorough. I particularly liked that it wasn’t simply a “roll the camera backwards” mimicry of the parts of life Laurel had already lived in her own universe. While the opportunities were there (e.g. a past boyfriend in our world made advances in the mirror universe but she was able to deflect them), she had autonomy to behave as she liked. Friendships with people she had known in our universe were the same, but different, and I found the exploration of connection with the “same” people in a different context and with a different past, well done and believable. I liked some (but not all) of the scientific descriptions of physics (including quantum entanglement, one of my favorite concepts), biology, and the nature of consciousness that were brought into the story. I also loved the first part about life at McMurdo. I would have been quite happy to have the whole novel take place there.

On the other hand, I do think the book was too long (500 pages) for the content, with too much repetition (especially around some of the relationships) and too much elaboration around the theories behind the (often made-up) science. I found myself bogged down at times, and was able to skim sections without losing any appreciable context or information. While the speculative nature of the story was well thought out and described, I would have liked a little more character depth and development. I had a hard time understanding why Laurel did some of the things that she did, and didn’t really take to her (which could say more about me than the character!).

Overall, I enjoyed reading the book (especially allowing judicious skimming as needed). Multiple themes pervade the narrative — ecology and the planet, human connection and the lengths we will go to maintain it, and the nature of time and consciousness. The ending was a bit unexpectedly bizarre, but decent. The book has a ton of advance praise from a veritable who’s who of literary talent. So!

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 September 1st, 2026.

We Chase Shadows by Richard Osman (Mystery)

Second in Osman’s “We Solve Murders” series. This time the “gang” is called to a gorgeous villa in the Italian Hills where one of three bodyguards to the wealthy owner has been shot, with a cryptic note left in his pocket. Things progress along with several twists and Osman’s trademark humor to a satisfying closure.

Unfortunately, as in the first book, I simply could not relate to (or care about) any of the characters — the good guys, the friends of the good guys, and the bad guys. I know each member of the “gang” is supposed to be highly competent (in their specific area of expertise) and quirkily interesting, but I’m afraid none of them work for me the way almost all of the characters in the Thursday Murder Club books did. Could simply be a matter of personal character taste — your mileage may vary! The book is a good romp and very accessible — as in a middle schooler would have no trouble with it. But I don’t think I’ll bother with any additions to the series — I need a little more than a semi-good yarn in my reading. (I will eagerly await any additional Thursday Murder Club books!)

Thank you to Pamela Dorman and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on September 15th, 2026.

Crookedest Street in the World by Claire M. Johnson (Historical Mystery)

Book three of Johnson’s Fog City (San Francisco) noir series starring the hardboiled detective’s equally hardboiled secretary who tries (pretty successfully) to make a go of private sleuthing in an era unfriendly to women stepping out of their place. It’s hard going but she slowly accumulates a set of useful friends such as Dickie Vance (a fabulous foodie journalist Truman Capote clone) and the mostly-closeted, but thoroughly hard-nosed police detective O’Malley. This episode marries the Catholic convent with the Chinese underworld in a (typical, but also pleasantly convoluted) conflagration of power struggles. For whatever reason I didn’t enjoy the actual plot as much as in the first two, but it was still entertaining, and I liked the character development and writing a lot — especially the witty dialog, personal reflections, and philosophy (religious and otherwise).

Trust by Hernan Diaz (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2023)

I did not love this book. It won the Pulitzer — which used to be a guaranteed winner for my taste but that hasn’t been true for the last few years. Much of it was well-written in terms of actual literary sentences, but I found the structure unnecessarily tedious. Four distinct sections — each written by a different (fictional) author but purporting to describe the life of the same (very, very) wealthy man and his wife during the late 1800s / early 1900s. Part 1: a novel about a rich man who had no real passions except for the complexity of the stock market, for which his particular brain was well-suited. Some background on the woman who was to be his wife, completing after her death. I’m trying not to give away any real spoilers here — suffice it to say that the language of this section is precise, clean, somewhat poetic, and with some intriguing bits (I like thinking about how other people’s brains work), but with rather two-dimensional characters that I don’t find in the least believable or (obviously) relatable. Part 2 is the partially completed, partially outlined autobiography written by the “real” man serving as the ill-disguised subject of part 1. This was painful to read because it was (intentionally) poorly written and was basically a diatribe claiming that the man attained his riches by ensuring a good and healthy economy for all. We’re now at 50% of the book and feeling a bit weighed down by slog! Part 3 is the best. Reminiscent in style (to me) of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn — it’s the story of a young woman raised by an anarchist father who somehow gets the job of helping the rich man write his autobiography. This part is full of insight into behavior, relationships, imagination, self-preservation, and literature. Part 4 is the short excerpt from the only one of the rich man’s wife’s extensive diaries to have survived. It’s got a real twist to it and I’ll leave it at that.

It’s interesting to read about how different people perceive the same thing, and it’s always interesting to think about how literature can shape the way we think about something, even though it’s “fiction.” It was also interesting to think about why I “trusted” certain sections more than others. In truth, all of the fictional authors were unreliable — an outside author trying to make money on a best seller; a man trying to show how attaining his wealth was really about helping others; a woman writing her own memoir painting her task to embellish the biography with pure imagination in the best light; and the diary excerpt of a woman who may have been mentally ill, may have been suffering from a variety of physical ailments, or may just be an egoist in her own right — and yet we automatically believe some more than others. Is our choice of what to believe from our own biases or from the skill of the writer? That’s worth a discussion — but as the “truth” is never determined, we’re left with the same kind of confusion we (should) bring to any story, news item, piece of gossip, etc.

I think if part 2 had been left out, or at least greatly diminished, it might have been an enjoyable read, but not Pulitzer worthy. On the other hand, the latest Pulitzer Fiction award was given to a book that comprises a single sentence across 304 pages so I think experimental style may have surpassed character development and beautiful language as the key criterion. Also, some kind of social justice / anti-capitalism push as the Pulitzer page describes this book as a “A riveting novel set in a bygone America that explores family, wealth and ambition through linked narratives rendered in different literary styles, a complex examination of love and power in a country where capitalism is king.” Honestly not how I would have described it.

Madeline McKnight Signs Off by Evan Brooke (Literary Fiction)

Madeline McKnight — fierce, determined, a “Wizard of Wall Street”, and … not possessed of too many friends. Fighting against the inevitable resulting from a stage 4 melanoma diagnosis, she is determined to survive it until her museum honoring Hetty Green (1834 – 1916) is opened. She wants people to care about Hetty, and to recognize her brilliance. She sees herself — her accomplishments and her lack of recognition — in Hetty. Hetty was called “the Witch of Wall Street” in her time — Madeline’s epithet rhymes and starts with B. She invites (cajoles, bribes) Bri Davis — struggling nursing student drowning in debt and easily bribable — to help her get to the finish line. The catch? Bri’s mother was Madeline’s best friend until an emotional explosion drove them apart many years ago. Bri’s attitude toward Madeline is ambivalent at best.

Alternating chapters between Madeleine and Bri’s perspectives, the narrative is surprisingly witty, thoughtful, and illuminating. While I shed some tears when the obvious finally occurred, I left feeling more uplifted than down. Excellent writing — clear, humorous at times, and perfectly capturing the internal struggles one faces when considering the parts of one’s life already lived. Themes around money and wealth, atonement, loyalty conflicting with morality, and plenty of thoughtful coverage of how women are treated differently than men — not the heavy handed oppression storyline, but the small ways in which things are harder or more criticized or misunderstood or subject to some doozies of double standards. The latter was particularly interesting because Madeline was forced to acknowledge the complexity of individual human beings. She wanted to make Hetty an unsung hero but the reality of Hetty — known as the “richest woman in America in the Gilded Age” — was more complex. She was a self-made woman with astonishing financial prowess, yet she did nothing to help others, not even supporting women’s suffrage. This led to Madeline’s own soul searching and the recognition and acceptance of her own accomplishments and failures.

Completely engaging.

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 November 3rd, 2026.

Midnight in the House of Commons by Charles Finch

Number 16 in the Charles Lennox mystery series. I haven’t read them all, but I loved this one! Got me straight through a long and uncomfortable flight.

1881 in London — in addition to the mysteries (the murder of a member of Parliament in the House of Commons, a mysteriously vanished fiancé, and a surprising heartbreak), we are treated to numerous and intriguing contextual details about the era: suffragettes, the Travelers Club for Gentlemen (you have to have traveled at least 500 miles from London in a straight line), the origin of and immediate enthusiasm for toilet tissue, 19th century chemistry, and the machinations and odd traditions of the lords and commoners in Parliament. Our Lennox — with his Holmesian observational skills, aristocratic bearing, and calm demeanor — is on the case. While it’s a cozy (IMHO) with some filler — I found the filler infinitely more interesting than the typical food related fluff.

Quite fun!

Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on November 3rd, 2026.

Bad Words by Rioghnach Robinson (Rom-com)

Parker Navarro is just about to release his second novel and the early reviews are promising when the very critic (with a huge following) who trashed his first novel goes online with a devastating review of his latest. Selena Chan believes that reviews and criticism are important — and holds to her opinion without intended rancor or fawning. She believes Parker has great potential but uses “200 words when he could have used 20” and doesn’t really … have a point! Thus starts an online feud which causes extreme angst on some parts, and extreme excitement (more clicks!) on others.

This enemies-to-lovers romcom goes much deeper than I expected with a real dive into every aspect of the current literary world where one bad internet review can destroy a book before it gets started, where literary websites can get skewed to chase clicks, and where nasty internet commentary explodes no matter what you do, say, or accomplish. I’m glad I grew up in the analog age where things were simpler!

Alternating chapters between Parker and Selena, we understand their perspectives, their ambitions, and their ability to handle serious derailment. And my favorite part — we get to watch them come to terms with their own biases and their ability to execute path corrections to maintain integrity and adhere to their own true values.

Good writing, humorous, informative, and thought provoking — pretty good for what could be read as simply an engaging rom-com with a happy ending!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on October 6th, 2026.

The Dying Light by Ann Cleeves (Mystery)

Two dead girls found outside the posh North Devon holiday home of a British MP the morning after a local music festival. DI Matthew Venn, a gay police detective replete with his own insecurities due to his evangelical based cult upbringing, is on the case exploring local tensions, difficult personalities, and long held secrets.

Ann Cleeves is a great mystery writer — I’ve loved reading (and viewing) all three of her series: Vera, Shetland, and this newer new Matthew Venn (this is number 3). The stories grip from page one and never really let up — plenty of tension and evolving character insights, never so much tension that my anxiety gets raised (I’m not a lover of thrillers). I enjoyed the constant shifting perspectives as characters (especially Venn) have to constantly examine the prejudices and biases that shape their judgements, leading to mistakes of attention where they can least be afforded.

Clean writing, never a dull moment, and a killer (no pun intended) finish.

Thank you to Minotaur Books and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on September 29th, 2026.

The Subtle Pleasures of Indiscretion by Alexander McCall Smith (Literary Fiction)

Hard to believe, but this is book 16 of my favorite McCall Smith series based on Isabel Dalhousie. Isabel is a philosopher who is editor (and now owner) of the Review of Applied Ethics, and each novel sees her living her life in Edinburgh, doing her job, contemplating moral issues in the world around her (which I admit is my number one hobby) and solving problems that people seem to bring to her.

This book opens with a delightful exchange on biting and socialization (the biter being Isabel’s younger son, Magnus). What follows delves into plot elements to do with surprising DNA results, the occult, and some nasty (and typical?) academic jockeying. But on the way — and this is the best part of these books — there are thoughts and discussions on the difference between treating people with decency vs respect, censorship, the temporary beauty of making music, how to define a “real” man by a definition of masculinity, how to really define selfishness, John Rawls theory of justice (look it up — it’s simple and fascinating), etc. I’ll include a few quotes, but suffice it to say that I enjoy the depth of moral discussion which the author keeps complex but also accessible. I have no appetite for dry philosophy journals, but morality is a subject that everyone has the capacity to consider, but which needs to go beyond the shallow slogans that permeate our current political life.

Every one of these books is a treat for me.

Some quotes:
“Making music was so much of an effort, and when you get to the final bar, it all fadd away; silence had been temporarily replaced by something beautiful and harmonious, but only for a few precious minutes. That was all that art did. For a moment, it made beautiful the space it occupied, giving a vision of something sublime, something that made sense. But then we turned away, and we had to start all over again.”

“We all have to do what we can, every single day, to ensure that the faults in our character do not derail our attempts to improve — to become more morally aware. It was exhausting, and so she sighed, and wondered whether she should stop thinking about it. Did we really have to expend so much energy on the development of our moral character? We could never be perfect. It was legitimate, surely to look after our own interests and the interests of those who were closest to us —family and friends most of all. That meant that there were limits to what we could do for others — and limits, too, to how much time we could spend on personal moral improvement. We cannot all be saints.”

“She thought of beauty, and the part that it played in our lives. We sought it out, whether or not we were aware of what we were doing. We looked for it in things, in people, in places, because beauty was something that was resolved and complete. And yet beauty itself was never enough: If you loved others for their beauty alone, then you were destined for disappointment. Beauty was no more than an invitation to contemplate something that lay before one: resolution, harmony, peace — there were many desiderata that beauty might promise, but not provide.”

Thank you to Pantheon and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on July 21st, 2026.