The History of Sound

The History of Sound: Stories by Ben Shattuck is a must read.

A stunning collection of interconnected stories set in New England, exploring how the past is often misunderstood and how history, family, heartache, and desire can echo over centuries

In twelve luminous stories set across three centuries, The History of Sound examines the unexpected ways the past returns to us and how love and loss are entwined and transformed over generations. In Ben Shattuck's ingenious collection, each story has a companion story, which contains a revelation about the previous, paired story. Mysteries and murders are revealed, history is refracted, and deep emotional connections are woven through characters and families.

The haunting title story recalls the journey of two men who meet around a piano in a smoky, dim bar, only to spend a summer walking the Maine woods collecting folk songs in the shadow of the First World War, forever marked by the odyssey. Decades later, in another story, a woman discovers the wax cylinders recorded that fateful summer while cleaning out her new house in Maine. Shattuck’s inventive, exquisite stories transport readers from 1700s Nantucket to the contemporary woods of New Hampshire and beyond—into landscapes both enduring and unmistakably modern. Memories, artifacts, paintings, and journals resurface in surprising and poignant ways among evocative beaches, forests, and orchards, revealing the secrets, misunderstandings, and love that linger across centuries.

What a joy to read this book. I love the structure of each story having a companion story, connected in some way. Ben Shattuck is a beautiful writer. 

Shattuck, Ben. (2024). The History of Sound. New York: Viking. 

Detransition, Baby

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters is a tour du force novel about womanhood, family and so much more. This is one of the best books I have read this year.

Reese almost had it all: a loving relationship with Amy, an apartment in New York City, a job she didn't hate. She had scraped together what previous generations of trans women could only dream of: a life of mundane, bourgeois comforts. The only thing missing was a child. But then her girlfriend, Amy, detransitioned and became Ames, and everything fell apart. Now Reese is caught in a self-destructive pattern: avoiding her loneliness by sleeping with married men.

Ames isn't happy either. He thought detransitioning to live as a man would make life easier, but that decision cost him his relationship with Reese—and losing her meant losing his only family. Even though their romance is over, he longs to find a way back to her. When Ames's boss and lover, Katrina, reveals that she's pregnant with his baby—and that she's not sure whether she wants to keep it—Ames wonders if this is the chance he's been waiting for. Could the three of them form some kind of unconventional family—and raise the baby together?

This provocative debut is about what happens at the emotional, messy, vulnerable corners of womanhood that platitudes and good intentions can't reach. Torrey Peters brilliantly and fearlessly navigates the most dangerous taboos around gender, sex, and relationships, gifting us a thrillingly original, witty, and deeply moving novel.

Buy this book today. Then read everything else Torrey Peters ever publishes, she is that good a writer and storyteller.

Peters, Torrey. (2021). Detransition, Baby. New York: One World.

The Original

The Original by Nell Stevens is another brilliant historical novel about art and queerness.

Oxfordshire, 1899. Grace Inderwick grows up on the peripheries of a once-great household, an unwanted guest in her uncle’s home. She has unusual skills and unusual predilections: for painting, though faces elude her; for lurking in the shadows; for other girls.
 
Then a letter arrives, postmarked Saint Helena. After years missing at sea, Grace’s cousin Charles is ready to come home. When Charles returns, unrecognisable and uncanny, a rift emerges between those who claim he is an imposter and Grace’s aunt, who insists he is her son. And Grace, whose intimate knowledge of forgeries is her own closely-guarded secret, must decide who and what to believe in, and what kind of life she wants to live.
 
Deftly-plotted and shimmering with Nell Stevens’s distinctive intelligence, style and wit, The Original is a novel about the value of authenticity in art and in love, and what it means to be a true original.

Stevens is a brilliant writer! Read everything she publishes.

Stevens, Nell. (2025). The Original. New York: W.W. Norton and Co.

Hello Beautiful

Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano is centered around the four Padavano sisters in the Pilsen neighborhood of Chicago. 

William Waters grew up in a house without love. His parents barely looked at him. The only time he had any happiness was when he was playing basketball. When William earns a scholarship, he chooses a school away from his parents. He meets Julia Padavano during his freshman year.

Julia comes with her family. The four sisters are inseparable. As William become part of the Padavano circle, he has his first experiences of a loving family. The house is always full of love and chaos.

Napolitano writes characters whom you would want in your own life. Her stories will stay with you for long after you have stayed up all night to finish her books. 

Napolitano, Ann. (2023). Hello Beautiful. New York: The Dial Press.  

Behind You is the Sea

Behind You is the Sea by Susan Muaddi Darraj is an collection of connected short stories about Palestinian Americans who live in Baltimore. Darraj is a beautiful writer.

From Harper Collins:

An exciting debut novel that gives voice to the diverse residents of a Palestinian American community in Baltimore—from young activists in conflict with their traditional parents to the poor who clean for the rich—lives which intersect across divides of class, generation, and religion.

Funny and touching, Behind You Is the Sea brings us into the homes and lives of three main families—the Baladis, the Salamehs, and the Ammars—Palestinian immigrants who’ve all found a different welcome in America.

Their various fates and struggles cause their community dynamic to sizzle and sometimes explode: The wealthy Ammar family employs young Maysoon Baladi, whose own family struggles financially, to clean up after their spoiled teenagers. Meanwhile, Marcus Salameh confronts his father in an effort to protect his younger sister for “dishonoring” their name. Only a trip to Palestine, where Marcus experiences an unexpected and dramatic transformation, can bridge this seemingly unbridgeable divide between the two generations.

Behind You Is the Sea faces stereotypes about Palestinian culture head-on and, shifting perspectives to weave a complex social fabric replete with weddings, funerals, broken hearts, and devastating secrets.

Darraj, Susan Muaddi. (2024). Behind You is the Sea. New York: Harpervia.

Icebreaker

Icebreaker by A.L. Graziadei is a sports romance set on a college ice hockey team.

Mickey James III was born for hockey. At times he feels like that is all his father and grandfather care about. Both of them were pick as first pick in the NHL draft in their days. Mickey is at school for one year, until the draft. He is listed as likely to go number one, but on his heels is his new classmate, Jaysen Caulfield.

Jaysen Caulfield is the first person in his family to play ice hockey. He does it for the love of the game. He plans on being picked in the next draft, but will be getting a degree before stating in the NHL. 

This is a great sports book, but also so much more. A sensitive look at depression. I listened to the audiobook. The reader is great and I was sucked in right away.

Graziadei, A.L. (2002). Icebreaker. New York: Macmillian.

Julian is a Mermaid

Julian is a Mermaid by Jessica Love is a beautiful picture book. 

This book about a boy and his grandmother is the tale of letting someone grow and shine in their own way. About seeing people for who they are. 

Read this beautiful book or buy it for a small loved one in your life. 

Love, Jessica. (2018). Julian is a Mermaid. New York: Candlewick Press.

Remarkably Bright Creatures

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt is a delightful novel. 

Tova Sullivan works the Sowell Bay Aquarium night shift – cleaning up after the visitors who come during the day. She talks to the sea life as she goes, never thinking that there is someone who understands her. 

Marcellus is a giant Pacific octopus. He has been at the aquarium for most of his life, but still longs for the openness of the Puget Sound. At night he roams the various tanks looking for snacks, but careful not to eat so many that his captors do not notice. 

One night Tova has to help Marcellus back to his tank. He has been caught in a cord while raiding the lunchroom. This starts a unique friendship that will lead to Tova solving a mystery that has haunted her since 1989. 

If this first book is a hint as what is to come from Shelby Van Pelt, we can only hope that she becomes a prolific writer! Buy a copy of this book today – you will likely loan it to everyone you know to share in the delight.

Van Pelt, Shelby. (2022). Remarkably Bright Creatures. New York: Ecco.

Pocketful of Names

Pocketful of Names by Joe Coomer is the story of a tiny island off of Maine, and the family who lives there. 

The Island of Ten Acre No Nine is where great uncle Arno lived and based his lobster fishing. As a teenager Hannah spent her summers helping in the lobster boat for money to help with school during the year. 

While Arno and Hannah do not like many people, they get along well. He teacher her to fish and to live in live in solitude. 

When Hannah is an adult, after Arno dies, the island becomes hers. She plans to use it as a quiet place to work undisturbed. But no long after she moves in, a dog washes up with the tide.

The dog is only the first person who will invade her island - and with each person Hannah will have to adapt to having people to take care of and people who will take care of her.

Coomer has captured the feel of a tiny island in the cold sea. He makes the setting feel both appealing and isolating at the same time. 

Coomer, Joe. (2003). Pocketful of Names. Minneapolis: Graywolf Press.

A Scatter of Light

A Scatter of Light by Malinda Lo is a companion novel to her Last Night at the Telegraph Club - they can be read in either order. 

Aria Tang West is a graduating senior who grew up in Massachusetts. She will be going to MIT in the fall. Her plan is to spend the summer with friends on Martha's Vineyard. Instead, her father sends her to stay with her grandmother in Marin, California. 

Joan West is an artist. Her husband was an astronomer - a path the Aria plans to follow. Her new plan is to study her grandfather's papers while helping her grandmother around the cabin. 

Then she meets Steph who is her grandmother's gardener. Suddenly a who new idea opens up to Aria - the idea that she may be attracted to women, or at least Steph. 

Lo is a masterful storyteller who captures young queer love like few other authors. All of Lo's books are wonderful and should be put on hold at your library today! 

Lo, Malinda. (2022). A Scatter of Light. New York: Dutton Books.

And She Was

Dara Baker lives in a small town in upstate New York with her mother Millie. Dara just graduated high school and is about to enter the professional tennis circuit. She has to play enough tournaments to get ranked so she can work her way up.

When her mom is at work, Dara searches the house for her birth certificate so she can get a passport. But neither of the two people she sees listed as her parents is called Millie Baker. When her mom gets home, Dara confronts her and is shocked to find out that Millie is transgender and is biologically her father.

Reeling, Dara sets off on a road trip in search of her grandparents with her best friend Sam. A trip that will garner many answers, some she doesn’t even know to ask.

Verdi’s book is a beautiful book about being true to yourself. It takes Dara on an emotional journey as she comes to realize that what Millie did was the right thing for both of them. Read this book – especially if you do not have any trans folks in your life.

Verdi, Jessica. (2018). And She Was. New York: Point.

The Reading List

Sara Nisha Adams’ book The Reading List is a story that illustrates the power of a good book.

Two years after his wife’s death, Mukesh finds a library book that she checked out. She was always reading so he decides to read it to remember his wife. Never before a fiction reader, Mukesh is pulled into the story and it characters as well as feeling closer Naina. When he finishes, he will go to the local library and ask for a recommendation for another book.

Aleisha is working in the library for the summer before her last year of school. She is only there on the urging of her brother who was always in the library growing up. She herself does not really read.

Someone in the Wembley neighborhood of West London has handwritten a reading list titled In Case You Need It. Though no one realizes there is more than one copy, a few people find it. One library patron finds the list on the table next to him. Aleisha finds a copy in a returned book. Someone else finds it on the back of a receipt outside of the shopping center.

Each of the people who find the list start reading their way through the books. Each book has lessons to share as well as some of the best characters in fiction. The list will slowly bring these people together, as the creator of the list intended.

Adams’ book is beautiful. Buy a copy today or check it out of the library. It is a book you will love and then recommend to a friend.

Adams, Sara Nisha. (2021). The Reading List. New York: William Morrow.

Crying in H Mart

Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner is a memoir of losing a parent and how that leads to her teaching her self to cook Korean food as a cultural pathway to her mother.

Growing up Michelle visited her mother's family in Seoul every other year. They stayed with her grandmother, two aunts and cousins. 

Michelle is most well known as the singer of the band Japanese Breakfast. Which, being Korean American, creates questions each time she is interviewed.

When she looked at her life with her mother she noticed that food was used not just as sustenance but as love. Her mom got sick quickly and did not have time to teach Michelle to cook Korean food. 

Michelle took it upon herself to learn. Using the blog Maangchi, she describes delicious food as she processes her loss and her band's growing popularity. 

Zauner has written a memoir that does not shy away from looking at herself and her family truthfully. She tells the good and bad without glossing over. This is a beautiful book of love, food and grief. 

Zauner, Michelle. (2021). Crying in H Mart. New York: Knopf.

With the Fire on High

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo is the story of

Emoni Santiago is a high school senior, mother of a three year old, who loves to cook and lives with her grandmother. She loves to cook. Her family and friends say they can feel the emotion she puts into her meals. 

While juggling all of responsibilities Emoni has to figure out what is next for her when she graduates. What is the best plan for her and her daughter.

When an unexpected elective offers her the chance to study under a real chef, she cannot pass it up. How she will raise the money for the end of the year trip to Italy is another question.

Acevedo has piled responsibility on this character. And Emoni is plenty smart and tough enough to handle it. She has decision to make that remind us that while you may not be able to have it all right now, there is more than one path to get to your dreams.

Acevedo, Elizabeth. (2019). With the Fire on High. New York: Quill Tree Books.

The Seed Keeper

The Seed Keeper by Diane Wilson is the story of one woman's journey from foster care back to her Native American roots. 

Rosalie Iron Wing was twelve when her father died. Instead of looking for relatives, the state removed her from her tribe and placed her with a foster family hours from home. In her case, the foster family was only in it for the money and free labor, not to help a girl who lost her parent.

As Rosalie grows up, she has few encounters with other Lakota. One friend at school reminds her of a home that is fading from memory.

When Rosalie takes a job working in a corn field her senior year - in the hopes of saving money to move away on her eighteenth birthday - she recalls her father teaching her about plants near their cabin. This fertilizes a long dormant seed in her about her family and being Lakota.

I will admit I am biased in favor of any book about plants or animals, but The Seed Keeper is also an important look at the history of how the US and state governments treat Native Americans. 

Read-A-Like for plant lovers / gardeners The Overstory.

Wilson, Diane. (2021). The Seed Keeper. Canada: Milkweed Editions. 

The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree

The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree by Shokoofeh Azar is a beautiful tale of one family's difficult time during the Islamic revolution in Iran. Translated from Persian.

Narrated by Bahar, a thirteen year old ghost, we follow her family as they flee from Tehran for a small village in the forest. They build a house in the woods where they can continue to enjoy the now illegal music, books and intellectual freedom they had before the revolution.

In the chaos of the time they are only trying to go on living. While the violence of the time intrudes, the writing of this family tale is more folktale than horror story. Infused with magical realism, this based on real life tale, is poignant in our unstable times.

Azar and her translator have created a story that will quickly become a classic. Read this book for the beauty of an ancient culture trying to survive in the midst of political oppression.  

Azar, Shokoofeh. (2017). The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree. NY: Europa Editions. 

Infinite Country

Infinite Country by Patricia Engel is a book everyone should read. 

Talia, who is sixteen, has a week to get across Colombia back to Bogota to catch a plane to the United States. Her mother is finally sending for her to join her siblings in New Jersey.

Unfortunately, in order to get there, Talia has to break out of a school/prison and, with no money, get about one hundred miles.

Talia born in the US, but raised in Bogota by her grandmother and father. Her parents had traveled to the US for work and stayed past their visas - living in fear, taking underpaying and dangerous jobs with no protection from their employers. 

When her father was deported back to Columbia, there was no way for him to return to the US. Two of his three children born in a country he cannot visit, the third of who cannot come see him in Colombia.

Engel has written a family epic in a small book with a giant punch. This is a beautiful, heart-wrenching story of many families. Buy a copy today.

Engel, Patricia. (2021). Infinite Country. New York: Avid Reader Press.

The Vanishing Half

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett is the tale of twin sisters and their diverging lives. 

Stella and Desiree Vignes were born in Mallard, Louisiana in the 1950s. Most people born there stay their whole lives. 

At sixteen, their mother takes them out of school so they can help support the family. That is when they leave and move to New Orleans. From there they separate, creating very different lives for themselves.

Ten years later, Desiree moves back home, bringing her daughter Jude. She has not seen or herd from Stella in years. Desiree hires someone to track Stella to find out what happened to her.

Spanning forty years and the width of the United States, Bennett explores the history of passing, racism and identity in this beautiful family epic. 

Bennett, Brit (2020). The Vanishing Half. New York: Riverhead Books.

Red at the Bone

Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson is a whole family epic story in a small book. 

Told mostly through flashback memories during an afternoon in 2001 Brooklyn, as Melody walks down the stairs during a party, her parents and grandparents reflect of how they got to this time in their lives. 

Two families of different social classes are joined together by a teen pregnancy. Through experiences, decisions and relationships a family is created and changed. 

Woodson is an incredible author who can set a scene with on sentence. Her powerful writing makes for amazing reading. 

Woodson, Jacqueline. (2019). Red at the Bone. New York: Riverhead Books.

The Night Watchman

The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich is a beautiful story of people working together to stop politicians from steamrolling over them. 

Based on family stories of her grandfather, Erdrich tells of the 1953-54 Turtle Mountain tribe of Chippewa campaigning to defeat a bill before congress that would eliminate status of their tribe - dissolving the reservation in order to sell the land.

Thomas Wazhashk is the night watchman at the jewel bearing factory on the reservation. During his quite nights he also takes care of tribe business and writes letters. 

His niece, Pixie, works at the plant. Women are better at the small, detailed work involved. Pixie would rather be called Patrice. When her sister who has been relocated to the city via a program for Indians goes missing, she tries to find her. 

Wood Mountain, a local boxer, agrees to a rematch to raise funds to send representatives to a hearing in Washington. 

Erdrich's novel is filled with memorable characters. Her writing is poetic and beautiful. After reading this, I will be reading all of her other works!

Erdrich, Louise. (2020). The Night Watchman. New York: Harper Collins.