Audition
Katie Kitamura
An actress, a young man who may or may not be her son, and two versions of reality that refuse to line up. Slippery and unsettling in the best way, and no surprise it made the Booker shortlist.
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Intimacies
Katie Kitamura
A court interpreter at The Hague, unmoored in a foreign city. Cool, precise, and quietly unsettling.
★ 5The Correspondent
Virginia Evans
The protagonist of this beautiful novel is a 73-year-old woman processing her life — and regrets — through letters. It’s poignant but not saccharine, specific but universally appealing. I dare you not to cry.
Tom Lake
Ann Patchett
An older woman tells her daughters about the summer she spent performing alongside — and falling in love with — a now-famous actor. My friend Anna said her husband adored this book just as much as she did — impressive, considering he typically reads business non-fiction.
★ 5Whistler
Ann Patchett
Ann Patchett is one of my favorite authors for a reason; I couldn't put this down.
Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage
Belle Burden
Belle and her seemingly perfect family flee COVID to their gorgeous Martha’s Vineyard home. Abruptly, her husband of two decades tells her he’s no longer in love and leaves. I first mentioned this book in January, and since then, multiple friends have told me they finished it in one session.