Kat's Reviews

Great House is one of the best books about writing I've read, though it's not really about writing. If asked, I'd have to say it's really about a large desk that manages to link together a cast of otherwise disparate characters. One of those characters is a writer, and her take on the habit and art of writing brings the story to life. This is a novel quite worthy of its National Book Award nomination.

I get cranky if I go too long without a Mary Russell fix. God of the Hive was published a scant year and a half ago, but it feels like much longer since I've checked in with my favorite detectives, Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes. In Pirate King we are taken to Lisbon, where a mystery involving silent films and Gilbert and Sullivan awaits. King's dexterous plotting skills are hard at work in this novel, and surprises are in store. I can't wait!

Michael Moore has been holding out on us. We've all seen his documentaries, but it turns out that the man with the camera has left plenty of stories untold. A memoir's worth, in fact. Here Comes Trouble is a collection of 24 vignettes, spanning the hilarious, the poignant and the strange (such as an exorcism lesson from a priest. No, really). It's a fresh glimpse of one of our most well known provocateurs.

The Emperor of All Maladies is the kind of book that could only be written by a passionate expert. Luckily, we have Siddhartha Mukherjee, an oncologist and writer who has penned a stunning 'biography' of one of the world's worst afflictions. This volume spans the history of cancer and includes stories of Mukherjee's patients, and it is in these chapters that the author's devotion and compassion shines clearest. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, this moving and important book should be widely read.

If you’re the kind of grown-up who obsesses over fairy tales, you should be reading this series. Welcome to Fabletown, a secret city-within-a-city where Snow White, the Big Bad Wolf, Goldilocks and others reluctantly cohabitate after being exiled from their homeland by an evil empire. The art is stunning and sexy, and the stories told will seriously mess with your Disney memories. 

Simon Van Booy can create a planet in a sentence, a character with two words. I read his short stories with the occasional twinge of outright jealousy. These stories touch upon love in many forms, its bewildering ambiguity and its unexpected power to push people forward. It’s quiet, philosophical and beautiful, the kind of book that turns your mind on and leaves it humming. 

I will always have a fond spot in my heart for this particular book; it was my introduction to the wonder that is Atwood. It’s a Booker-winning play on genre that twists gothic romance with pulpy science fiction, populated by astonishingly vivid characters and scenery. When I finished it I found myself torn between reading it again and grabbing one of her many other masterpieces. 

David Eagleman is a neuroscientist who also majored in British and American literature, which is the best kind of neuroscientist. Sum, his first book, is a beautiful oddity, philosophical and playful and best read out loud. If you’re unconvinced, pick it up and read the first story. It will take just a minute, and it might take you somewhere unexpected. 

I love what Christopher Buckley said about this book: "so good I had to read it twice simply to figure out how he pulled it off." It’s not quite a novel, but not really a short story collection either, but I don’t think that really matters. What matters is Rachman’s ability to form a character in two sentences and turn a whole story on a word. I’m still not quite sure how he pulled it off.