Shelf Life: My Latest Book Recommendations
I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted a Shelf Life list. I read quite a bit, but often, I don’t feel strongly enough about a book to recommend it. Which is all the more reason I am so excited to present you with the fruits of my reading labor from the last six months. I’ve read a great deal over this time, but these five books stood out among the rest. They made me laugh and cry and think and dream and wish someone in my family knew how to prepare roast lamb over an open fire. Happy Reading Cat Ladies! There is something on this list for everyone.
Disappearing Earth by Julia Phillips
I particularly enjoyed reading this one during quarantine when my energy and focus to read came in bursts. Set in the remote Kamchatka Peninsula in far eastern Russia, Disappearing Earth begins with the mysterious abduction of two young sisters. What follows is not a typical whodunit, but a window into the lives of the women impacted by the girls’ disappearance. The novel is as much about the setting, as it is about a cast of female characters who alternate in telling their stories. I loved the author’s ability to pull me in to each chapter within a few paragraphs, and while the story doesn’t always focus on the kidnapping, the mystery of the sisters’ disappearance is never forgotten. The story itself is complex and nuanced, but the ending is satisfying and will not disappoint fans of mystery and suspense.
Nothing to See Here by Kevin Wilson
We read this one for book club a few months ago and it produced one of the best discussions we’ve had all year. Nothing to See Here has a way of breaking your heart and making you laugh in a single paragraph. The novel follows Lilian an unsuccessful singleton as she accepts a governess position caring for her friend Madison’s troubled step-children. Only when Lilian arrives at her friend’s estate does she learn that the twins she has been hired to govern spontaneously catch on fire when they get angry. Gimmicks aside, the novel asks big questions about what it means to love a child, how we parent, and what exactly makes a family. So many great themes in this novel— a great choice for group discussion!
The Roxy Letters by Mary Pauline Lowry
This book is funny and just so relatable. I had the pleasure of writing after Mary Pauline Lowry in the COIN fundraiser and after reading this book, I’m pretty sure that she and I need to be friends. In letters to her ex-boyfriend and current roommate Everett, the protagonist Roxy sets out to save her beloved city of Austin from gentrification and saves herself in the process. I love Lowry’s ability to be both funny and heartbreakingly honest. Anyone who’s ever struggled with adulthood will relate to this book—as will anyone who has watched their favorite city grow into something unrecognizable.
Blood, Bones, and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef by Gabrielle Hamilton
I loved Anthony Bourdain and his memoir Kitchen Confidential so much, I would have eaten fermented shark or goose intestines if he’d asked me to (but only if he planned to join me for dinner.) So, when I learned Bourdain called Gabrielle Hamilton’s book, “the best memoir by a chef ever,” I knew I had to read it.
Well, I still love Kitchen Confidential, but Bourdain wasn’t wrong—I mean—was he ever? There is something lovely about listening to a memoir read by the author—the words feel like living memories, as authentic and intimate as a late-night conversation with a dear friend. I did the audiobook for this one and hearing Gabrielle Hamilton read “Blood, Bones and Butter” is like spending time with a woman you wish you knew. Her journey, to becoming a chef is one she calls inadvertent, but given her unusual upbringing and experiences as a young adult, her journey to becoming a chef was more likely inevitable. From her childhood in rural Pennsylvania to her years waiting tables to the opening of her restaurant, Prune, in New York City, everything about Gabrielle’s story made me want to keep listening. The writing in this book is superb. Honestly if she is as good of a chef as she is a writer—I’m heading to Prune as soon as this quarantine is over.
My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell
I’ve been reading this one for a while now. I’m almost done, but I can only stomach a few chapters a week. I know that doesn’t sound like a glowing recommendation, but it is. My Dark Vanessa is just that haunting and intense. Written in the wake of the #MeToo movement, the novel follows Vanessa Wye as she attempts to make sense of her relationship with her high school English teacher when she was 15 and he was 42. (See what I mean about needing to pace myself.) Set in alternating past and present timelines, the novel delves deep into the complicated nature of sexual abuse. Russell shows how power dynamics, the process of grooming and language itself help to color the narratives victims of sexual abuse tell themselves—even as they grow into adulthood. Beautifully and sensitively written, but very hard to read at times. Trigger warning of graphic abuse.