Clara's Reviews

It's hard to talk about this book without drawing comparisons to Daniel Wallace's Big Fish, and that's a great thing! The story travels back and forth through time in telling the multigenerational story of a family and their land in Alabama. This history is being passed from one generation to the next in this hodgepodge storytelling that captivates as much as it obfuscates. - Clara

Dunnett’s historical fiction reads like epic fantasy in its breadth of memorable characters, complex political intrigues, and extremely detailed world building. If you thought Game of Thrones was too dense, skip this one. If you want to hear a villainous rogue speaking in Shakesperean riddles while engaged in madcap adventures, this is your new favorite series! - Clara

An acid-trip of environmental fiction. As I tried to follow the narrator's stream-of-consciousness I found myself in a tug-of-war between frightening questions about the shapeshifting protagonist and the seductively luscious prose. The book contains violence, misogyny, climate apocalypse, and the dark-side of mankind’s clannish instincts, so content warnings apply. - Clara

If every family has ghosts in their attic, think how many more accumulate in a sprawling family-run hotel. The Sikorsky family members come alive in their respective vignettes with their unique voices and inner worlds fully explored even as the broader plot unfolds. What makes The Hotel Neversink really sing to me is that the atmosphere and eeriness are always partnered with a vivid grittiness. There's blood and sweat on these pages and I couldn’t put it down. - Clara

Gideon the Ninth is as if a liberated, lesbian Bronte sister wrote about necromatic death cult nuns in space, gothic drama and all. That is to say, this book makes dreams come true. Mouthy jock/swordswoman Gideon is pulsingly alive in the center of a mileu of fascinatingly macabre characters. High fantasy world building, brilliant, quick-witted dialogue—you can't ask for a more fresh, visceral, or mind-blowing fantasy debut. Read it! - Clara

A new mom breastfeeds the devil. Lady thieves dance with ghosts. A school boy falls in love with a 2,000-year-old bog mummy. Every story in Karen Russell's new book thrills me. The close cooperation of the mundane and the fantastic feeds a witty, insightful perspective on humans and our inner worlds.  - Clara

I want to be Vivian Liao when I grow up. Tech genius, revolutionary subversive and chosen by a god, she is at the center of a whirlwind adventure across the galaxy to save space, time and autonomy. I loved the unique, brash characters running around in Gladstone's magic and computer-science-based world. So fun! - Clara

In the center of New Orleans's Reconstruction efforts, Drake LeVeq and Valinda Lacy are trying to build a better world for the newly free city. I'd never read a historical novel set in this era before and I completely devoured this. Jenkins brings this world to life with all its competing factions, lively rebirth, ruling families, and steamy passion. Laissez les bon temps rouler! - Clara

Aslan is one of the smartest religious scholars out there. This book reads as both a study of Islam and a commentary forces impacting religion in the modern world (he is especially adroit about extremism and orthodoxy). His perspective will make you fall in love with the beauty of the world’s second-largest religion and think deeply about how we navigate faith in the 21^st century. - Clara

In an era where Nashville had a lock on the Country Western sound, Bakersfield became the center of a music revolution. Price tells the story of legends like Merle Maggard and Buck Owens through the venues, events, partnerships, and innovations that created a vivid, pulsing sound. Layering country music with rural folk traditions and electric guitar this music is unforgettable. - Clara