Casey's Reviews

When I think of who we need to make sense of the challenges facing our democracy, the preeminent presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin is at the top of my list. Chronicling the leadership of her best-studied subjects—Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Lyndon Johnson—Goodwin masterfully details the commonalities that linked their leadership even with their widely differing upbringings and challenges. Ultimately, Goodwin showcases the moral purpose and resilience necessary to shepherd our nation forward. - Casey

Hosseini, beloved author of the The Kite Runner, has helped lead the movement to bring awareness about refugees around the world. Here he has penned a gorgeous and harrowing letter from a father to his child as they wait for a journey across the sea to flee persecution and war. Beautifully illustrated by Dan Williams, Sea Prayer gives poetic voice to a generation of refugees whose sole wish is for their children to find safe passage, able to remember the beauty of their homeland before all was lost. Let us all bear witness through this book. - Casey

A new Barbara Kingsolver novel is always a gift but this time her fictional journey feels even more powerful as she asks, “Can history help us navigate an impossible-looking future?” Unsheltered tells the stories of two families from different centuries living under the same roof, reeling from turbulence on both a national and a familial scale. Shelter is a basic survival need, but Kingsolver, being the literary artist she is, uses her characters to consider how we use physical, intellectual, and emotional shelters to navigate such troubles. The storms of life will surely rage but shelters can save our lives. - Casey & Jenny

There are very few books these days whose sole purpose is to remind you of the delight to be found in small-town America. Leif Enger, author of Peace Like a River, brings humor and keen insight to a charming set of characters, each of whom remind us of how we can find kindness, forgiveness, and second chances if we make time for each other. A true charmer of a book, perfect for fans of A Man Called Ove or Less. - Casey

Sometimes the most satisfying reads are the ones that can pack a punch in short form. Kate Walbert’s new novel, His Favorites, is a telling novella of a #metoo moment in the hallways of an elite New England boarding school. The story of Jo, a young girl facing the fact that she accidentally killed her best friend before facing the attention and abuse of a teacher at the school where she flees to rebuild her life, showcases how women not only carry these injustices but also carry the weight of their inner lives through these moments. A relevant and powerful tale. - Casey

Belinda is a housegirl in Ghana, facing life without her mother and as a steward for a younger housegirl-in-training placed under her care. When her employer family sends her to London to reign in another teen girl who is starting to push family and cultural boundaries, Belinda learns not only how she influences others but ultimately what she needs for herself. Housegirl is a moving story of female friendships and how those ties help or hinder the journey every woman faces to find their true self. - Casey

Arthur Less is an aging, near-famous author who tries to escape the fact that his boyfriend is getting married by accepting half-baked literary invitations to conferences and teaching engagements around the world. Full of hilarity and also replete with gems of understanding of love, heartbreak, and human connection. Part David Sedaris, part Where’d You Go, Bernadette, part Man Called Ove, but completely and utterly original, this book is a perfect summer read and the newly announced winner of the Pultizer Prize for Fiction. - Casey

Don’t miss our free in-store event with Andrew Sean Greer on May 24th, 2018.

There is nothing quite so satisfying as a beautifully written, impeccably researched historical novel, especially in the capable hands of someone like Pulitzer Prize–winner Jennifer Egan. That is why Manhattan Beach ended up on almost every 2017 best of the year list. Now in paperback, even more readers will be mesmerized by the secretive underworld that Egan creates among the World War II era of mafia deals, nightclubs, and the New York City docks. But it is the protagonist Anna—the first female diver to repair ships in New York’s harbor—who blends that underworld with her own journey through a complex family life that gives this book its deep emotional heart. - Casey

Meet Jennifer Egan at our off-site book talk & signing for the paperback release of Manhattan Beach on June 7th, 2018.

I didn’t want to lead this review with the fact that the author of this book is serving a life sentence for murder, because there is so much more to this book than that. However, it is precisely his perspective from the “inside” that makes this collection of short stories so raw and powerful. This debut is a tour de force, helping the reader understand unseen and painful realities through its lens of humor, insight, and common humanity. - Casey

I have to admit that I have a weakness for family epics. There is something so powerful about connecting to characters’ lives in the place that is most emotional, complex, and personal. So when I read The House of Broken Angels I was not surprised that I fell in love with the extended cast of characters of the Las Cruzes family, but little did I know that their feelings of belonging, loyalty, and forgiveness would deeply permeate and change my own view of humanity. Dave Eggers says that it is “one of the most vivid and engrossing family epics of the last twenty years” and I agree. - Casey