Tag: book review

Becoming Baba: Fatherhood, Faith, and Finding Meaning in America by Aymann Ismail (Memoir)

This is a well-written and illuminating memoir recording Ismail’s personal experience of building a life as American Muslim. In many ways, this is a typical “child of immigrants” story — finding a balance between the traditional values and expectations in which he was raised and the not-so-traditional American culture in which he lives — but the story is somewhat atypical because being a Muslim in America is not always an easy thing to be. The memoir focuses primarily on the topics in the subtitle — how to live a good and meaningful life, be a good Muslim, be a good husband and father with the definition of “good” being something that evolves over time with a great deal of thought and discussion.

I read this book to better understand the Muslim religion and those who practice it — especially in light of the pretty scary practices of the more extreme Muslim groups which (unfortunately) seem to have control over the places most Muslims live. I did get a much better understanding of what I would called “American Islam” vs extremist Islam from Ismail’s 15 short “Who’s Afraid of Aymann Ismail?” video episodes than I did from the book, which didn’t obviously differentiate between the two. I got the impression that Ismail didn’t think he should have to explain that, but to those of us who have met few Muslims but read a lot of (scary) news, the clarification of his video series helped a lot. In the memoir, his comments on both 9/11 and the Israel Hamas war were complaints about the negative impact on American Muslims without a word of condemnation of the attackers or acknowledgement of the pain of the victims. This disturbed me. To be fair, Ismail is unashamedly anti-Israel and doesn’t seem to feel the need to understand “the other side” at all, though one of his video episodes focussed on man who had tried to do that — and was roundly attacked by the Islam community. At any rate, I did enjoy most of the video series, and gained some real education on topics that had not been clear to me, and when I step away from the political (which was NOT the focus of the memoir) I found it to document a well reflected journey that supports values I could easily relate to.

Thank you to Doubleday and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on July 8th, 2025.

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans (Literary Fiction)

This book is so beautiful, so elegant, and so full of depth I’m finding it almost impossible to write a meaningful review. Sybil Van Antwerp — a woman in her 70s — has lived a full life as a distinguished lawyer, wife, mother, and friend but over the five years of this epistolary novel, she has cause to reflect on her choices, her options, and her very real regrets. Through letters to (and from) friends, relatives, neighbors, stubborn academic deans, a precocious (and somewhat troubled) child of a colleague, a disgruntled (with reason) person from her past, and yes, the tech support person who helps her with the DNA test kit gifted her by her son — we are able to know Sybil with a depth difficult to reach even with those we are closest to.

Sybil (and Evans obviously) turns letter writing into an art form — these letters were simultaneously beautiful to read (clear, to the point, brimming with essentialness) and a piece of a puzzle as the archivist in me sought to piece it all together. I found myself in a constant state of intellectually stimulation while simultaneously moved to wonder or tears. I loved her letters to authors — Joan Didion, Larry McMurtry, and Ann Patchett to name a few — and their letters in return (I’m quite curious about how the author did that). I loved her taste in books as depicted by the exchanges with her sister-in-law — Ishiguro, Verghese, Patchett, Sue Miller, Stegner — so many of my favorites.

The writing, pacing, closure — all incredibly well-done. I wish I could remember how I even found this book — it wasn’t through my regular channels. For me, this was one of my top reads — I’m having trouble thinking of a book I liked more.

The Impossible Fortune by Richard Osman (Literary Mystery)

Read this in a single sitting — impossible to put down. The story has typically good twists and this time delves into bitcoin, trust issues, and a whole new meaning for deep storage, but what I have always liked about Osman’s books are his characters. The core Thursday Murder Club members (Elizabeth, Ibrahim, Joyce, and Ron), the somewhat unwilling police “friends,” and the various colorful criminal elements have all returned along with some new parts — and they are all as intriguing as ever. Osman’s characters have not run out of depth or surprises as often happens in series. Plenty of fun!

Thank you to Pamela Dorman Books and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on September 30th, 2025.

Happiness Falls by Angie Kim (Literary Fiction)

Mia’s family is unusual to say the least. Half Korean, half white, a working mother and a stay-at-home father, wildly different fraternal twins (Mia and John), and a younger brother (Eugene) who has both Autism and Angelman’s Syndrome (also known as the Happiness Syndrome as it is characterized by a happy demeanor). While Mia is hyperlexic (new word for me) and ultra analytic (sinking often into her vortex mode as in “warning, warning you’re sinking into a vortex of over analysis”), her twin John is ADHD, with a heavy emphasis on the H. Their mother is a linguist (who once helped with the libretto of a Vulcan opera) and their father is engaged in some very interesting “Happiness” research while caring full time for the now teenaged Eugene.

One day, the father goes missing and a very distraught Eugene — the only witness — makes it home on his own in a disheveled mess — without the ability to communicate anything about what occurred. What follows is an intricate plot to solve the mysteries of both the missing father and the essence of Eugene, complete with detectives, crowdsourced clues, behavioral specialists, plenty of confusion and misdirection, and some real surprises. The plot is engaging enough to attract most readers on its own, but what intrigued me was the obsessively interesting characters. The inner meanderings of our narrator (Mia — explained in the first pages as her compulsive need to digress) traipsed through philosophy, neurology, linguistics, human perception, music and emotion, modes of communication, and most especially the tools and abilities for understanding oneself and others — especially those others who do not function in the same way as yourself. Lots of research on conditions such as Eugene’s woven seamlessly into the narrative. While none of this would get in the way of a plot-oriented reader finding fulfillment, to me it was a Disneyland of intellectual treats that actually propelled the story forward.

Apropos of nothing, the author had a fantastic working vocabulary — I particularly liked the phrase “titular panache” — tickled me.

Highly recommended!

The List of Suspicious Things by Jennie Godfrey (Literary Fiction / Mystery)

A coming-of-age story told by a precocious 12-year old set in the time of the Yorkshire Ripper (late 70s). Miv and her best friend Sharon decide to find the Ripper themselves when their world starts falling apart due to the constant threat. They start by compiling a list of suspicious things about the people around them, and as they pursue investigations on multiple fronts, they learn a great deal about life. The unfolding stories of various people in their community are always instructive — some in bad ways and others in good. Miv learns about bullies, racism, grief, and even domestic abuse, but also about the importance of standing up for yourself and others, doing the right thing, tolerance, curiosity, friendship and love.

I liked the writing a great deal — Miv’s voice is unique, appealing, often humorous, and a good deal more exposed than an actual person might agree to. Never overdone or overly dramatic, but also never, ever vapid. I loved the way we got to know characters who appeared one way but easily morphed into a more complex (and much more likable) person with a little time and exposure. The ending was a real surprise, but well done and thought provoking.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Landmark and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on December 2nd, 2025.

Before I Forget by Tori Henwood Hoen (Literary Fiction)

This is the long-delayed coming-of-age story of a 26-year old going home to care for her Alzheimer-ridden father. And let me immediately reassure you that there is absolutely nothing depressing in any of it. What I began reading with trepidation (I’m not looking for depressing stories!) pulled me forward with increasing amounts of humor, human insight, and beyond touching moments (so yes, I teared up frequently, but from seeing substance, not sadness).

Cricket quits her job as an underutilized gofer for an over-the-top healthcare company that peddles an infinite array of body rejuvenation at very high prices. Instead, she heads to her favorite place (their home in the Adirondacks) and her beloved father — neither of which she has seen since a decade old tragedy left her beyond bereft and thoroughly guilt-ridden. From here the story takes off in unexpected ways with engaging characters, possible connections to the spiritual world, some unexpected business opportunities, and many chances to rethink the past. Throughout all of it, Cricket moves toward self understanding, forgiveness, and a stronger connection to those about her.

The writing is very good — the prose, pacing, and plot elements all perfectly tuned to Cricket’s growth without demeaning the roles of others in her story. I loved the insight and the messaging and the way Cricket always behaved in a principled manner — even when she was confused or afraid. I loved the different out-of-the-box ways dementia was portrayed, without downplaying the difficulty and loss. I loved the way personality traits could be interpreted in opposites: was someone passive or patient? Complacent or content? Insatiable or intrepid?). And I loved the humor applied to the situations and characters — particularly the buffoonish commentary on new age health gurus and products (see some of my favorite quotes below).

One of my favorite books this year.

Some great quotes:
“I am only 26, which means I am essentially a larva. In contemporary America, childhood can last well into one’s 30s, 40s, and even 50s.”

“What if Alzheimers isn’t just a slow death? What if it’s another dimension entirely – an ascension even? Humans are so fixated on our minds that we see their loss as a tragedy. But what if it’s a gift? Maybe the erosion of memory clears space for something truer. Maybe the intellect gets in the way of the heart, until little by little, it doesn’t.”

“My mother once told me I was too passive, but I prefer to think of myself as patient. There are some problems that solve themselves if you simply wait a while.”

“I have a vague feeling that, when it comes to my life, not only am I sitting on the sidelines, but I’m playing the wrong game altogether. As I look around at the leftover mess from the weekend, I think: I’m ready to be something other than young.”

“I was impressed by her confidence and conviction – two things I was lacking. When you are full of questions, you are drawn to people who look like answers.”

“You could spend all day exfoliating, lifting, moisturizing, resurfacing, deep conditioning, buffing, harmonizing, depilating, and rejuvenating your bodily surfaces, but at the end of that day, your soul will still ache for what it really wants: freedom from the consumptive cycle of never feeling or looking quite good enough. We’ve conflated health with vanity. It’s not that I don’t believe in healing; I just don’t believe you can buy it for $78 an ounce.”

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 December 2nd, 2025.

Isn’t it obvious by Rachel Runya Katz (Fiction)

Yael: public school librarian, runs a queer teen book club, podcasts on books that should be banned (she is highly opinionated), searches for the right antipsychotic. Ravi: part-Trinidadian social media designer and tech wizard who uprooted his life to help his brother care for his young daughter. The opening scene in the book? Where the two “sort of” meet? Masterfully done and priceless.

It’s a mix of “you’ve got mail” and “enemies to lover” tropes immersed in a multi-racial, queer, social media saturated situation. Great dialog, fun epistolary (email based) segments that perfectly recreate the excitement of slowly emerging emotions, interesting characters who are both completely foreign to me and surprisingly relatable and likable. I enjoyed getting to know them, though I doubt I would have had any opportunity to do so in real life.

I liked that the book felt like a story, not an agenda. The characters spent more time trying to make things better and not being confrontational and argumentative (although snide comments were obviously both allowed and encouraged). I liked the phrase “competency crush,” which I hadn’t heard before (but which I have a lot of). I generally enjoyed it and picked up several new ways of looking at things.

BUT — some bizarre (to me) nasty asides about a couple of my favorites. Ray Bradbury racist and homophobic? I’ve read everything the man has ever written and can’t think of anything that would earn him those epithets. The author of the Five Love Languages? The ONLY self-help book I’ve found illuminating and helpful? Katz writes: “the guy who wrote the love languages book is actually an intensely conservative Christian, who basically thinks the solution to all marital problems is to conform to gender roles.” I have no idea about Chapman’s background or opinions of gender roles, but there is nothing in the book that suggests Katz’ opinion. For me this smacks of labeling anyone negatively if they don’t completely adhere to your way of thought. Still enjoyed the book, but those barbs hurt and made me wonder at a generation so willing to toss aside a whole person’s work because someone tossed an unpopular label on them.

Thank you to St. Martin’s Griffin and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on October 21st, 2025.

Bring the House Down by Charlotte Runcie

A well-written, insightful, and humorous story of a couple of reviewers (colleagues) attending three weeks of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Alex — the handsome, 30 something son of a famous actress who can’t keep the girls away — gives a one woman show a seriously scathing one star review… and then sleeps with the actress before the review is printed. With some pretty intense malice, she turns around and makes his life a living hell with a me-too style assault that happens to catapult her show into something extraordinary and incredibly popular. Sharing the trip apartment, his colleague Sophie is the only one who is kind to him during his ordeal, but she has insecurities (so many) and troubles of her own.

I appreciated the fact that the book did not proceed in any obvious way. Instead, we’re given insight into the many different perspectives on who Alex really is (including his own), we get to peep into a panoply of lives that are (quite) different from our own (or at least mine), and (multiple!) people actually grow and learn from their experiences. I found it ultimately uplifting, though some of the raw honesty in the middle was a little off-putting and at times cringeworthy (oddly enough, it was Sophie whom I found cringeworthy, not Alex).

Worth a read (and probably less cringeworthy for the younger set).

Thank you to Doubleday and NetGalley for providing an advance copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. The book will be published on July 8th, 2025.

Revenge of the Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (Non-fiction)

Always an engaging storyteller, Gladwell expands on the Tipping Point theme with an array of anecdotes, research, and social trends to show the impact of tipping points in many important constituents of our society. Ranging from localized bank robbery surges to medical mysteries to social epidemics to group proportions to — my favorite — why Harvard cares so much about arcane sports teams (like girl’s rugby), Gladwell works to understand the evolution of social problems and various bits of social engineering that have or could be applied to nudge things in the right direction. He includes several thought provoking ethical questions regarding these issues — no answers, but I always appreciate the ethical angle.

Some of the book sections that I particularly enjoyed: superspreaders — people who spread germs, pollution, bad behavior — spread orders of magnitude more than “regular” people. Group proportions — the “magic” 1/3 which is the fraction of a group that converts token outsiders into fully fledged members, with both good and bad consequences (think white flight and a truly shocking — to me — story of how Harvard developed its complex admissions process). Small area variation — how monocultures in small areas can lead to radically different behavior when compared to neighbor communities. Think vaccination rates, tonsillectomies, or suicide. The Overstory — how a story can get embedded into a culture without anyone being aware of the shifts. My favorite story here — a connection between the legalization of gay marriage and a long running sitcom starring an openly gay man.

In the last chapter — Conclusion — Gladwell applies the tipping point components developed in the book to the opioid crisis — quoting frequently from the Purdue Pharma (makers of Oxycontin) / Sackler family trial. I don’t completely agree with his conclusions, but was pretty shocked by some of the marketing and sales practices the pharmaceutical company used and how beyond effective (in terms of profit) they were.

Overall this was a thought provoking book, and I enjoyed reading it — with the exception of the first chapter about the LA bank robbery surge which for some reason both bored and upset me. If you feel yourself losing interest as well — just skip the first chapter! I quite enjoyed everything after.

The Frozen People by Elly Griffiths (Mystery / Speculative Fiction)

The first book in a brand new series from Elly Griffiths — one of my favorite mystery writers.
This book combines a mystery with speculative fiction (time travel). Ali Dawson’s cold cases are so cold they are frozen (thus jokes the team). Their secret? They can use time-travel to find out what actually happened. Now, to please a Tory Justice Minister whose grandfather was rumored (though never accused or brought to trial) of killing an artist’s model, Ali heads back to 1850 to see what she can find out. However, before she can return, a body turns up in the current day that is very much related to the case …

Griffiths is a great writer and brings all her powers of description and persuasion to the story, bringing the 1850s to life in exactly the way it would appear to someone born in our time. I liked the way Ali prepared for her “trip” — not just learning what to wear, eat, and say, but how to change the way she actually thought. A well-articulated differentiation between modern day and Victorian feminism ensued. I liked the cast of characters including Jones, the designer wearing communist physicist who is the time travel whiz (that’s the beauty of novels — characters don’t have to be internally consistent!). I’m sure they will be appearing in future books as there were some definite hints of stories left untold. Plenty of fun references — like using A Wrinkle in Time’s tesseract model (without actually stating such), and referencing the (real) match girls strike at the Bryant & May match factory (that’s how Christopher Fowler named his history obsessed, aged, detectives!). Lots of good history.

Really enjoyed this book — it won’t be available in the US until July 8th — I couldn’t wait and bought it on my (conveniently timed) trip to England. No regrets!