2026 book 211

 Barbara Trapido's Brother of the More Famous Jack

This novel got reissued by NYRB this week, which made me want to reread it! I've read it a couple times before and always remember that I really like it, but remember exactly nothing else about it (this is one of the books that I'd actually completely forgotten I'd even read before until I went to track it--thank goodness for book tracking apps I guess!)--maybe this time it will stick. Anyway, it's the story of a young middle-class English girl in the 1960s who falls for her philosophy professor's big eccentric/bohemian family. First loves, seconds loves, etc, with a great sense of humor. Weirdly reminds me of Nancy Mitford??? 

2026 book 203

 Jessica George's Love By the Book

Despite its title, this is not a romance novel! It's a friendship novel! And mildly meta, as one of the characters, a thirtysomething queer Black woman in London, has written a bestselling novel about the friendship between four women--based on her own friend group, which is now drifting apart due to moves, families, etc--and is struggling to write a second. Her friend interest (friend version of love interest? I dunno) is a Black woman who has never really sought out friends before, as she was super close to her sister, until a dramatic falling out. And then the author starts writing about the two of them. This was super engaging, perhaps a little too over the top, but I’m definitely adding it to the list for my book club. A-. 

2026 book 192

 Shannon Sanders’ The Great Wherever

I’m not sure if I can describe this in a way that will explain how good it is—it’s the story of a Black woman who’s inherited part of the old family farm in Tennessee, and goes to visit it and meet the other owners, her cousins, and it’s also the story of the family ghosts who live on the farm, and also the story of their whole family. Like a generational drama, but often funny, and narrated by a ghost who died in the Obama years. Really well-paced with its reveals and super moving but also hopeful? Adding this to my list for my book club. A. 

2026 book 191

 John Steinbeck’s East of Eden

I was mildly peer-pressured into reading this because of the upcoming miniseries with Florence Pugh as Cathy—I have read a bunch of Steinbeck, but this one was new to me. It lives up to its reputation as a classic American novel! It was super fascinating and I now want to read a million essays about it—on how it portrays women, on Lee (what an interesting and amazing character, especially as written by a white guy in the 1950s), on all the Cain and Abel stuff, etc. I will gently point out that “timshel” is all wrong, but I did love the image of all the Chinese scholars learning Hebrew to translate that one line. General warning for racist language, including a character who is just called The N-word. Looking forward to seeing Zoe Kazan’s take on all of this. 

2026 book 190

 Lydia Millet’s Fair Ones

Millet’s latest is interesting, sort of two novels in one, each narrated by one of a pair of friends. The first half is narrated by Mara, in the months after the shocking death of the third friend of their trio. And the second half is narrated by Jen, a year or so after that. Great takes on being a forty-something woman, dealing with friends and aging parents and jobs and New York lives, sad and hopeful at the same time. Side note to locals, one secondary character is a UNC professor and the Cradle gets a mention, very random and delightful (it seems Millet went to UNC for undergrad and did a Master’s at Duke). A/A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in October.

2026 book 184

 Catherine Newman’s Wreck

I loved Sandwich, but was not super into this follow-up. The narrator is dealing with a medical problem and also thinking too much about the death of a local man who was classmates with her son. There wasn’t as much humor here (obviously) and I really missed it. It’s well-written but I just didn’t vibe with it! B+.  

2026 book 178

 Catherine Newman’s Sandwich 

I’ve been meaning to read this forever, and somehow this late summer season felt like a good time, as it’s a story about a (menopausal) woman and her family on vacation on Cape Cod, the same beach house they visit every summer. But it’s also really funny and moving! They’re somehow nothing like and exactly like my family. I’m. It even a mom and I was still like oh wow yes about her motherhood feelings! Also there’s a cat! Newman is really nailing the vibes here. Can’t wait to read the follow-up. A.

2026 book 156

 Sarah Anderson’s Fallow

Yall, I absolutely just read this in one sitting, and I loved it? It’s about a young woman who needs money and ends up taking a job where she’ll be a surrogate for the C-level women of a company (ostensibly for feminism but really so the company can keep the women working). She’s making a ton of money, living in luxury—and then when she’s on her final pregnancy, things go in an unexpected direction. I could quibble about a couple of character decisions but I don’t want to quibble! This book gave me a good and hopeful feeling! A! 

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in September. 

2026 book 153

 Emily St John Mandel’s Station Eleven 

Saving the best for last! (I know she has two other early novels which do share a couple characters per a chart* at the back here, but they can’t top this so maybe I’ll reread them later.) The last time I read this was right after the miniseries came out, and I actually thought it kind of paled in comparison! But I loved it again this time. (The miniseries is great though and I actually might rewatch it!) It’s so funny which parts stick with you from read to read, and how the tv version muddled my memory a bit. But the book once again is all about the connections between people—I love the different ways the author explores this idea. And this is a gentler future than some of the others she’s imagined. 

* I want yall to know that while rereading these books, I was taking copious notes on all the overlaps of character/phrase/etc and then discovered this lovely little graphic and was just like metaphorically crumpling up my paper and tossing it away.

2026 book 152

 Emily St John Mandel’s Sea of Tranquility 

I think I liked this more than the first time I read it, partially because I’m all immersed in the Emily St John Mandel Universe, and maybe partially bc it’s less stressful to read a pandemic novel in 2026. This one is more straight up sci-fi (several sections are set in far future moon colonies and there’s a bunch of time travel shenanigans) as a dude in investigating a weird anomaly and the people who encountered it (including some characters from The Glass Hotel). I want to research the inter-connectedness of these novels, though, because there are some interesting small things happening that I think must be deliberate. 

2026 book 151

 Emily St John Mandel’s The Singer’s Gun

This is the other book that the author noted has overlapping characters with Exit Party (major ones this time) but it turns out I’ve never read it before???? I’ve been reading her since the early days so I’m not sure how I missed it. This is one of her earliest novels so it’s missing that sci-fi tinge, and at first I was like, is this a literary novel about a sad Brooklyn dude? But there are other characters keeping things going, plus a crime investigation AND a cat! I am actually not going to talk about the plot or characters because this is totally the backstory for Exit Party! Wild to bring these guys back after almost twenty years! I love the Emily St John Mandel Universe! A-.

-2026 book 150

 Emily St John Mandel’s The Glass Hotel

Well,  I’m doing it! I’m rereading all the Emily St John Mandel books to see all the connections! This was a great one to start with because it ends up sort of being all about the connections between people. (Also, the author’s note for Exit Party says there are some shared characters in this one—minor in both books but I do love finding those links.) Anyway, this involves the titular glass hotel, isolated in Canada, some of the people who have worked there, a Ponzi scheme, some of the people ruined by the Ponzi scheme, etc. Like I said, connections. I had remembered this being slow but I really didn’t find it so—it’s super readable, I never wanted to put it down. 

2026 book 149

 Emily St John Mandel’s Exit Party

Mandel’s latest STRESSED ME OUT, but was also beautiful? She’s good at that. We start in Los Angeles 2031, where after a coup and a civil war, the former United States has splintered into a bunch of new countries and republics, controlled by militias. TOO REAL. Our main character is a woman who’s just gotten out of prison, and she and her roommate go to a party—where suddenly two dopplegangers of party guests appear, and their host vanishes. The story moves on from there to cover arms dealers, art heists, and other worlds. It’s totally engrossing, like I gulped this down. There is definitely some overlap with some of the other St John Mandel books and I might do a big reread of her backlist to see all the connections? And hope none of her visions of the future come to pass????? A????

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released in September.

2026 book 134

 Claire Keegan’s Foster

Lovely short novel about a little Irish girl who’s sent to live with relatives for the summer because her mother is pregnant again and has too many kids to look after. Not much happens but it is just suffused with good feeling. A/A-.

2026 book 121

 Meg Charlton’s Voyagers

Really interesting novel about a dude who, when he was six, disappeared with his friend, and when they returned, they told a story that seemed like an alien abduction, and became somewhat famous as a result. Now he’s an adult, living under a different name, working as a lawyer, when the whole world starts getting a signal from space. Is this contact? This is all interspersed with flashbacks to his childhood and his friendship, and how they eventually became estranged, as well as pieces involving their imaginary alien friend. The writing is super engaging, I really loved reading this! A/A-.

2026 book 120

 Madeleine Gray’s Chosen Family

Honestly I wish this had a better title, it’s so generic when this book is SO GOOD and funny and heartbreaking and super queer! It centers on a woman, Eve, whose partner Nell has left her and their child and cut contact completely, and flashes back to how they met as twelve-year-olds, became best friends, and everything along the way. Just really engaging writing full of messy (VERY) queer people, I resented having to put this down to go to sleep last night. A/A-.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on July 14th.

2026 book 116

 Nina LaCour’s Meet Me in the Garden

I’ve loved all of LaCour’s novels, but this one really feels different, more ambitious (is this her first adult novel? I know it’s all marketing categories). It’s the story of a (deeply closeted) Creole woman and her family from 1944 through the 1960s, as they move from New Orleans to Los Angeles and raise their children. Just a really beautiful story about art and various kinds of love and families and friends and making a life. Maybe some bits were a little on the nose but I loved this. A.

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This book will be released on August 4th.

2026 book 115

 Sarah Orne Jewett’s A Country Doctor

This classic novel (originally published in 1884) is getting reissued in August, and I’ve never read it, and the premise sounded interesting, so here we are. It involves a country doctor who takes a young girl in as his ward, and she grows up to want to be a doctor too, but much of society is skeptical of a lady doctor. I see why this is a classic! A little too much Christianity for my personal taste but a really well-written story. 

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A review copy was provided by the publisher. This edition will be released in August.

2026 book 112

 Mollyhall Seeley’s We Hexed the Moon

I admit to being mildly distracted while reading this, trying to figure out if it was set in Hilton Head (verdict: yes). Anyway, it’s about four girls and their friendship and what happens when they drunkenly do a ritual involving the moon…and then the moon disappears from the sky and turns up to mess with them—and tells them she won’t return to the sky so they had better find a replacement. I liked everything with the girls and their friendship, but the way the moon replacement stuff played out was kind of silly? I’m not sure how else it could have gone, though, and I don’t want to be spoilery with my specific issues. Interesting read for sure. A-/B+.

2026 book 107

 Ann Patchett’s Whistler

I always love Ann Patchett’s books, and maybe this is recency bias, but I think this might be her most beautiful novel. It centers on a woman who’s visiting the Met with her husband when they run into a man who was briefly her stepfather, and the two reforge their relationship while uncovering pieces of the past they never knew. Just a lovely story and full of grace. Cannot recommend this enough and my book club will be discussing it in July! A.