Archive for December 2019

LitzyDitz's 2019 Book List

LitzyDitz's 2019 Book List
Ah, my favorite post of the year. If only I could go back to the beginning and save my “What I read this year” lists from back when I started doing this more than 20 years ago. It was a simple New Year’s email I’d send friends to share what I read and ask for their... Read more »
By Kelly Konrad,
December 31, 2019 at 3:39 pm • 

It's All a Gamble but I Love You Anyway: Once More to the Rodeo by Calvin Hennick

It's All a Gamble but I Love You Anyway: Once More to the Rodeo by Calvin Hennick
Memoirs can make for some of the most connected reading a person can do. Full disclosure, here — I am friendly with “Once More to the Rodeo” author Calvin Hennick. The tech writing he mentions as his freelance employment? I am on the receiving end of his work. So going into reading his memoir about a... Read more »
By Kelly Konrad,
December 26, 2019 at 7:39 am • 

Yeah, This Ain't Right: Normal People by Sally Rooney

Yeah, This Ain't Right: Normal People by Sally Rooney
Just when you think your adolescent relationships were messy — here comes Connell and Marianne. “Normal People” by Sally Rooney resides on a number of “Best of 2019” lists this month, and it was sitting on my nightstand for at least the last four months — always the bridesmaid, never the bride when it came... Read more »
By Kelly Konrad,
December 22, 2019 at 10:04 pm • 
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No One Makes It Out of High School Alive: Trust Exercise by Susan Choi

No One Makes It Out of High School Alive: Trust Exercise by Susan Choi
Ugh, adolescence. Susan Choi’s National Book Award winner, “Trust Exercise” is a tour-de-force reminder that, if not for everyone, for a lot of people, high school is both formative and damaging in ways from which people never recover. Or even move forward. How often does your mind wander back? Reading Choi’s book-within-a-book, I couldn’t help... Read more »
By Kelly Konrad,
December 7, 2019 at 3:21 pm • 

So Many Third Wheels: The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

So Many Third Wheels: The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
  Ann Patchett knows family drama. Especially the quiet and devastating kind. In “Commonwealth,” it’s a kiss that changes the course of two families. In “The Dutch House” it is a mother’s decision to bail on her family that changes the course of events for the novel’s two main protagonists, Maeve and Danny. When their... Read more »
By Kelly Konrad,
December 1, 2019 at 5:47 pm •