The Housekeeper and the Professor, by Yoko Ogawa: I was a few pages into this when I realized it wasn’t my first Ogawa novel (I read The Memory Police a few years back). It’s a quiet book, maybe a little mundane for me, but enjoyable in its way.
The Fervor, by Alma Katsu: Much more satisfying than The Deep; maybe not quite the magic of The Hunger. Eerily timely with the weather balloons being shot down over the US, as a major plot point (not a spoiler) involves balloon-like objects falling from the sky.
No One is Talking About This, by Patricia Lockwood: How I loved this. The first half feels like an erudite version of reading a Twitter stream, and the second half takes the title from ironic to sincere. Lockwood’s voice and language are just so good.
The Keep, by Jennifer Egan: Fantastic. I almost got a little ruffled early on when I realized there was a narrative conceit (especially when it seemed like it could go in the direction of “most of this is being written by a NON-WRITER” which always strikes me as a cop-out), but quickly forgave that and fully bought into it (Egan does not, in the end, include any writing inferior to her usual deftness). It’s hard to say too much about the book without giving things away, but it’s a pretty brilliant exploration of being free and being trapped.
Trespasses, by Louise Kennedy: I would say an uncharitable read of the plot is that it’s predictable and a more generous read of the plot (and what I came around to ultimately) is that its events are inevitable. I’m fascinated by this time period in Ireland and I enjoyed this, though it didn’t astound me.
