Kat's Reviews

If you are the kind of person who likes to wonder about the unseen connections between people, then Simon Van Booy is the writer for you. The Illusion of Separateness is about an encounter on a World War II battlefield and the characters who are unknowingly linked by the encounter. The power of this novel is revealed by the sum of its parts; it’s a radiant and hopeful story that made me feel less small in a large, complex world.   

There is a group of mystery readers out there who fervently believe that Irish crime fiction will soon be as hot as Scandinavian crime fiction. Count me among them. I am obsessed with Adrian McKinty’s smart, atmospheric, and darkly witty mysteries, particularly his Sean Duffy trilogy, which takes place in Belfast during the Irish Troubles. In the Morning I’ll Be Gone is the concluding volume of that trilogy, and it features a locked-room mystery. I can’t wait. 

Even if you haven’t read this book, you’ve still probably heard about it. Gone Girl is one of those much-hyped books that really lives up to the buzz. What I loved most was how often I thought I knew what was coming, and how completely wrong I turned out to be. If you’re going anywhere this summer, take Gone Girl with you—it will get you through the worst airport delays and the longest road trips imaginable.

In The Noble Hustle, Colson Whitehead dives unflinchingly into the world of high-stakes poker tournaments. Though he had never played professionally, Whitehead was sent by Grantland to compete in Vegas. He had only six weeks to get up to par, physically and mentally, and the experience is a hilarious eye-opener. The Noble Hustle is part travel memoir, and part undercover study of a strange subculture. It will hook you and it won’t let go.

When Sally Ride died in 2012, there wasn’t yet a definitive biography about her life and work. Now Lynn Sherr, a journalist and friend of Ride’s, has written a thoughtful portrait that focuses on Ride’s intelligence and warmth. Sherr also charts the evolution of NASA from a group of hotshot male fighter pilots to the diverse band of geeks that it is today. If you’re interested in the history of American space travel, this is a must read. 

Blue Plate Special is one of my absolute favorite memoirs. It blends food writing and travel writing through Christensen’s early family life in California and Arizona, her travels in Europe as a young woman, and her life as a writer. All along the way she cooks and eats with passion. This book will make you want to eat and travel, and in my mind that makes it the perfect vacation read.

There is nothing in the world like a book by Mary Roach; her irreverent humor is matched only by her tireless curiosity and amazing footnotes. Gulp is a study of the digestive system in all its glory, and it touches on everything from the science of dog food flavoring to the art of smuggling a phone up your…well. Gulp is one of Mary Roach’s funniest books, and I would recommend it to absolutely everyone.

Science writer Brian Switek “breathes new life into old bones” with this jaw-dropping book about dinosaurs. Forget everything you thought you knew about the brontosaurus, for example—turns out they never existed. And the T-rex might have had feathers. I couldn’t believe how much there was to learn in this book. If you were the kind of kid who watched Jurassic Park obsessively, My Beloved Brontosaurus will feel like Christmas morning.    

Emma Donoghue writes like a chameleon. Everything she sets her pen to – fairy tales, historical fiction, and contemporary fiction – lives and breathes on the page with authenticity. Her latest is a historical murder mystery, based on a real case in San Francisco just after the gold rush. Frog Music features a dancer and a whore, a cross-dresser who meets an unfortunate end, and the city itself in all its glory and grime. I couldn’t and wouldn’t put it down.