Clara's Reviews

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

General Dumas’ story deserves epic operas and an acclaimed HBO series it’s so thrilling and adventurous. As the son of a Marquis and a Haitian slave, Dumas rose to the highest ranks of the French army and commanded the respect of nations. Reiss’ quest to uncover Dumas’ story is a joy to read and discovering the seeds of his son’s novels is an eye-opening pleasure. - Clara

From Muir to Shackleton to Twain to Wollstonecraft, this collection sparks the imagination with vivid landscapes, hilarious incidents, bizarre characters, poetic musings, suspenseful thrills, and more. As editor Mark Mackenzie writes, these travel writing classics are not only time capsules of the authors’ experiences of ‘long-gone worlds but also inspirations for generations of travelers, artists, conservationists, and explorers. - Clara

Journalist Alissa Quart investigates the increasing barriers and burdens forcing families with children out of middle-class security. Kids are a luxury item in an economy where the proverbial golden ticket to security—education—is more often a ticket to overwhelming debt, unpaid overtime, side gigs, and a lack of job security. Quark’s combination of research and diverse personal narratives is fascinating, relatable, and galvanizing. - Clara