Category: my reading life

Interviews, my reading life

Nemesis Mine author Amy Archer has been writing stories since she was six

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Nemesis Mine author Amy Archer has been writing stories since she was six

Amy Archer has been writing stories since she was six years old, and now her debut novel, Nemesis Mine, is out for all to enjoy. It follows Cyrus, a villain whose reputation has taken an unexpected hit as his magical powers begin producing flowers instead of fear. Desperate to reclaim his status, he agrees to a publicity stunt with Athaca’s beloved hero, Maximillian: a fake rivalry designed to boost both of their profiles. But as staged battles turn into genuine feelings, Cyrus discovers that pretending to hate his nemesis is far more complicated than being a villain.

We asked Archer to answer our recurring My Reading Life Q&A so readers can get to know the books that shaped her life and influenced her writing.

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Interviews, my reading life

Cay Kim, author of The Future Perfect, was initially inspired by We the Animals

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Cay Kim, author of The Future Perfect, was initially inspired by We the Animals

Cay Kim‘s debut novel, The Future Perfect, is a coming-of-age story about a young woman growing up between Korea and the United States. As her family moves back and forth between two countries, she struggles to reconcile the expectations placed upon her by a devoted mother with her own evolving sense of identity and belonging. Spanning childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood, the novel is a moving exploration of family, ambition, cultural inheritance, and the search for a place to call home.

We asked Kim to answer our My Reading Life Q&A so readers can get to know the books that shaped her life and influenced her writing.

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Interviews, my reading life

Retro author Jessica M. Goldstein blames Robert Moses for all those traffic jams

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Retro author Jessica M. Goldstein blames Robert Moses for all those traffic jams

Jessica M. Goldstein is a journalist and humorist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Vulture, Marie Claire, McSweeney’s, and more. Her debut novel, Retro, follows Ash, a struggling aspiring actress who lands a job leading wealthy tourists on time-travel vacations to America’s past. From Old West romance adventures to Roaring Twenties birthday trips, the work is equal parts thrilling and surreal, offering Ash the exciting life she always wanted. But as an impossible love triangle unfolds and strange gaps begin appearing in her memory, Ash discovers that escaping into the past may be putting her future at risk.

We asked Goldstein to answer our recurring My Reading Life Q&A so readers can get to know the books that shaped her life and influenced her writing.

Continue reading “Retro author Jessica M. Goldstein blames Robert Moses for all those traffic jams” →
Interviews, my reading life

Nasty Little Secrets author Gabbie Hanks devoured Pretty Little Liars as a tween

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Nasty Little Secrets author Gabbie Hanks devoured Pretty Little Liars as a tween

Gabbie Hanks knows books. She is a former librarian who now works in literacy for the government. Her debut novel, Nasty Little Secrets, is a twisty psychological suspense novel about a crime writer forced to revisit the murder case that made her famous when her younger sister suddenly disappears. As old wounds reopen and disturbing links emerge between the two cases, Rose Dearling discovers that the book she wrote to prove her brother’s innocence may contain the clues needed to uncover a far darker truth.

We asked Hanks to answer our recurring My Reading Life Q&A so readers can get to know the books that shaped her life and influenced her writing.

Continue reading “Nasty Little Secrets author Gabbie Hanks devoured Pretty Little Liars as a tween” →
Interviews, my reading life

A Sense of Occasion author Brodie Crellin admires the ambition and agony of My Brilliant Friend

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A Sense of Occasion author Brodie Crellin admires the ambition and agony of My Brilliant Friend

Brodie Crellin is a London-based editor at Granta Magazine. In their debut novel, A Sense of Occasion, a fractured family reunited in a small English village after the sudden death of their matriarch, Mary. Over the course of a sweltering funeral weekend, long-buried resentments, secrets, and desires resurface as each family member grapples with grief in their own messy and often self-destructive way. Darkly funny and sharply observed, the novel explores the tangled dynamics of family, sex, and loss, revealing the chaos that lurks beneath even the most ordinary occasions.

We asked Crelling to answer our My Reading Life Q&A so readers can get to know the books that shaped their life and influenced their writing.

Continue reading “A Sense of Occasion author Brodie Crellin admires the ambition and agony of My Brilliant Friend” →
Interviews, my reading life

Valley of the Moms by Hannah Selinger is a thriller very much rooted in place

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Valley of the Moms by Hannah Selinger is a thriller very much rooted in place

Hannah Selinger is the author of the memoir Cellar Rar: My Life in the Restaurant Underbelly and a James Beard Award-nominated writer whose work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, Eater, Travel + Leisure, Food & Wine, and elsewhere. Now, her debut novel has arrived on bookshelves, bringing her sharp eye for power, class, and human behavior into the world of fiction.

Valley of the Moms is a sharp, twisty thriller set in an affluent Massachusetts suburb where school politics can be as vicious as any crime. When Anna Plummer challenges an exclusionary PTO policy, she inadvertently sets off a chain of events that culminates a year later with her death and her husband’s determination to uncover what really happened. Told through alternating timelines and perspectives, the novel explores grief, privilege, social status, and the secrets that lurk beneath the polished surface of a seemingly idyllic community.

We asked Selinger to answer our recurring My Reading Life so readers could get to know the books that shaped her life and influenced her writing.

Continue reading “Valley of the Moms by Hannah Selinger is a thriller very much rooted in place” →
Interviews, my reading life

Fancy Meeting You author Louise Marburg wishes she had read Our Bodies, Ourselves as a teenager

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Fancy Meeting You author Louise Marburg wishes she had read Our Bodies, Ourselves as a teenager

Louise Marburg‘s debut novel, Fancy Meeting You, follows Laura Harrigan, a middle-aged woman whose life is built on a foundation of carefully crafted lies. Depending on the audience, Laura is a psychiatrist, a business consultant, or the mother of Yale-bound twins, but in reality she’s single, childless, underemployed, and spending many of her evenings at a Baltimore dive bar. Over the course of her fiftieth year, Laura navigates awkward family gatherings, questionable romances, and unexpected friendships, forcing her to reckon with who she is beneath the stories she tells. Funny, sharp, and unsentimental, the novel offers a fresh take on midlife reinvention through a heroine who is neither seeking marriage nor motherhood, but her own version of fulfillment.

Marburg is an acclaimed short story writer whose previous collection received reviews in The New York Times and The Washington Post. At age sixty-five, Fancy Meeting You marks her debut novel.

We asked Marburg to answer our recurring My Reading Life series so readers could get to know the books that shaped her life and influenced her writing.

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Interviews, my reading life

F. Scott Fitzgerald is Debut Author Haili Blassingame’s Literary Daddy

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F. Scott Fitzgerald is Debut Author Haili Blassingame’s Literary Daddy

Haili Blassingame’s debut novel, They All Fall in Love at the End, follows Cat St. Clair, a twenty-four-year-old writer trying to balance an open relationship, artistic ambition, and the chaos of the 2024 election. What begins as a quest for freedom and self-determination spirals into a complicated love triangle involving her boyfriend’s best friend and his girlfriend, forcing Cat to confront the consequences of pursuing everything she wants. Set against a backdrop of political tension and creative uncertainty, the novel explores nonmonogamy, desire, identity, and the challenge of imagining new possibilities for love and liberation.

Blassingame is a producer for NPR’s 1A and has written for publications including The New Republic and The New York Times, where her Modern Love essay “My Choice Isn’t Marriage or Loneliness” went viral. She previously worked on NPR’s Code Switch and Weekend Edition and is pursuing an MFA in creative writing from American University.

We asked Blassingame to answer our recurring My Reading Life so readers could get to know the books that shaped her life and influenced her writing.

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Interviews, my reading life

P.C. Verrone read through all of Toni Morrison while writing Rabbit, Fox, Tar

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P.C. Verrone read through all of Toni Morrison while writing Rabbit, Fox, Tar

P.C. Verrone’s debut novel, Rabbit, Fox, Tar, is a fable-like story about a mysterious young Black woman whose arrival in a tightly knit neighborhood threatens to unravel its foundations. When Baby appears in Original Hill and begins a romance with the ambitious Lucius “Lucky” Foote, her presence upends a contentious city council race and intensifies long-simmering tensions over a Black neighborhood destroyed decades earlier to make way for a highway. As Baby becomes entangled in the lives of the community’s residents and begins questioning her origins, the novel explores race, power, belonging, memory, and the stories communities tell about themselves.

Verrone’s work has appeared in FIYAH, PodCastle, Nightmare, and numerous anthologies. He has been a Tin House Resident, a Playwrights’ Center Fellow, and a WNDB Black Creatives Revisions Workshop winner.

We asked Verrone to answer our recurring My Reading Life so readers could get to know the books that shaped his life and influenced his writing.

Continue reading “P.C. Verrone read through all of Toni Morrison while writing Rabbit, Fox, Tar” →
Interviews, my reading life

Paige Lewis, author of Canon, was obsessed with the strangeness and despair of Edgar Allen Poe as a child

by AdamLeave a Comment on Paige Lewis, author of Canon, was obsessed with the strangeness and despair of Edgar Allen Poe as a child
Paige Lewis, author of Canon, was obsessed with the strangeness and despair of Edgar Allen Poe as a child

Canon, the debut novel from poet Paige Lewis, is about two damaged outsiders trying to earn God’s favor in a violent world split between “Good Guys” and “Bad Guys.” Yara, isolated after family rejection and a toxic relationship, is chosen for a divine mission to kill a feared army leader, while Adrena, a prophet desperate for heaven and recognition, pursues her own dangerous vision of heroism. As their paths converge, the novel becomes an irreverent, emotionally charged exploration of faith, destiny, power, and what it means to deserve salvation.

We asked Lewis, who previously released the poetry collection Space Struck and is the coeditor of Another Last Call: Poems on Addiction and Deliverance, to answer our recurring My Reading Life so readers could get to know the books that shaped their life and influenced their writing.

Continue reading “Paige Lewis, author of Canon, was obsessed with the strangeness and despair of Edgar Allen Poe as a child” →