Originally self-published and the author’s first novel, Theo of Golden piqued my interest before I’d even picked it up to read. I love a story about a breakthrough novel that gains its audience because so many friends recommend it to their friends that before you know it, it’s a bestseller.
With her book The Witch Elm, I have officially become a Tana French fan. Mysteries and murder mysteries aren’t usually my go-to genres for reading pleasure. But with major personal upheavals in my life in the past several weeks, The Witch Elm really grabbed—and kept—my attention from beginning to end.
I want to thank one of our most loyal L&L readers, Ellen, for recommending Awake. I hadn’t heard of Jen Hatmaker before reading this book, so it’s unlikely I would ever have picked it up on my own. I’m so glad that I read this captivating book.
I always feel funny reviewing a book long after it was popular but somehow I missed reading it until now. But I decided I needed to review The Song of Achilles in case any of you, like me, sometimes take a decade to read an award-winning book. I read Miller’s second book, Circe, much closer to its release and loved it, so I don’t know why I delayed so long reading The Song of Achilles. But I’m so glad I finally read it.
There are many reasons I almost decided not to review The New Menopause: (1) I come from a generation that believes polite people don’t talk about personal things like menopause. (2) I worried how our male readers would react. (3) I thought that even young women of my co-editor’s generation wouldn’t be interested in something which feels so far off in their future. But I decided in favor of writing the review because I learned more from this book than I have from any book I’ve read in a very long time.
I first heard about Say Nothing on Clint Smith’s Instagram. As the author of one of my all-time favorite works of non-fiction, How the Word is Passed (read review here), I took his recommendation to heart and am so glad.
I really don’t know why I’m so late to the party when it comes to reading Dennis Lehane’s novels. I knew he was a Boston author. Maybe I thought his books contained too much violence. Whatever the reason, I want to make sure our L&L readers don’t make the same mistake I did.
With an author as prolific as Margaret Atwood, I know it’s unlikely I’ll ever read her complete works. And although she is Canadian literary royalty, I hadn’t picked up one of her books in a long time. So when I came across The Year of the Flood in a little free library, I grabbed it, only to discover it was book two of a trilogy!
We’ve read several short story collections and the most recent was Curtis Sittenfeld’s Show Don’t Tell. I’m a big Sittenfeld fan and can recommend her novels, as well as an earlier short story collection, You Think It, I’ll Say It. (read review here) Sittenfeld’s prose is succinct and spot-on as she puts her characters into relatable situations and we observe their very human responses.
Thanks to non-stop social media recommendations and the book’s silly cover design, I didn’t expect The Wedding People to have so much emotional depth or narrative finesse. However, it ended up being my favorite read over the winter holidays. So if you’re like me and get skeptical when a book is ‘too’ popular, don’t let that stop you from reading Alison Espach’s delightful novel.
When a Pulitzer Prize winning playwright publishes her first novel, and that novel is recommended by Lin Manuel Miranda, it doesn’t take long for me to request it from my local library and devour it as soon as it arrives. This slim and poetic debut is heartbreaking and hopeful in equal measure, and certainly not to be missed.
Two friends recommended The Correspondent to me and it was one of my favorite books of 2025. I’ve since learned that its journey to becoming a bestseller mirrored the experience I had. The book wasn’t picked for any celebrity bookclubs or placed on anyone’s most-anticipated books list. Maybe because the novel consists entirely of letters and emails, some readers were scared away. But, wow, for those of us who took the plunge, what an incredible book!
For those of you who read and loved Remarkably Bright Creatures and can’t believe there is another new novel about octopi, you can rest easy because in The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus, the octopus is a metaphor, not a character. Emma Knight’s The Life Cycle is a brilliant coming-of-age novel about a young Canadian woman who sets off for the University of Edinburgh to complete her undergraduate study.
In this beautiful, pastoral novel, the main character Bo lives on his own in the small house he was born in, with only his dog Sixten and his caregivers for companions. Bo is in the late stages of his life and just barely managing to live independently.
With our matching names and home states, I have always supported Lily King’s books, and a little clue in the dedication makes me think we also both have a daughter named Eloise! King reliably balances an inventive and surprising plot with a romantic view of her protagonists and an insightful perspective on human nature. Heart the Lover is the latest in her wonderful collection.
I love books with intelligent female protagonists whose adventures are compelling and whose emotional development feels real. And when the story is also historical fiction and I can learn something new, I can’t buy these books fast enough. Austen at Sea checks all these boxes and is so much more. It is entertaining and smart, while also telling a breathlessly suspenseful story.
I had never heard of How to Read a Book or its author, Monica Wood when my friend Pam recommended that I read it. I am so glad that she did. Wood has a great premise for her novel and she develops her characters beautifully. But it is her clear, straightforward writing style that really stands out.
You all know from our many reviews of the Hogarth series and others (read reviews here) how much we love a Shakespeare adaptation. So when I saw Lady Macbeth at the checkout of a bookstore in Stratford, Ontario, it wasn’t just the hot pink-edged pages that caught my eye.
Continuing with my all-Irish-author reviews this month, I want to praise Tana French’s The Hunter, which is absolutely riveting. French’s genre is entirely different from Williams’: The Hunter is a mystery that may or may not involve a murder. Where she and Williams are alike is in setting their books in small Irish towns and creating memorable characters who are so authentic and believable that they add to the sense of place the authors so expertly develop.
My husband Rufus and I just took an amazing trip to Ireland—a place I have wanted to visit my entire life. Given how I fell in love with the country and my current fascination with Irish authors, it makes sense that I keep reading Irish books. Niall Williams’ This Is Happiness (read review here) and The Time of the Child are two of the best books I’ve read in the past few years. So, I decided to dip into some of his earlier books. History of the Rain (2014) is one of the most beautifully written books I’ve ever read.
