Summer isn’t over yet, but with our eyes on the upcoming season we thought we’d recap some of our favorite books from the last few months. If you’re looking for a final summer read, consider these five from our book reviews section.
2AM AT THE CATS PAJAMAS by Marie-Helene Bertino
We tore through this debut novel, which is fast, jazzy, funny, and heartfelt. A nine-year-old girl loses her mother and wants to be a jazz singer, a club risks foreclosure, and a fifth grade teacher rediscovers a lost love. This one is full of gorgeous prose and clever writing. It’s a stunner.
Read the full book review for 2AM AT THE CAT’S PAJAMAS.
HOW TO CATCH A COYOTE by Christy Crutchfield
Crutchfield’s prose is simple and straightforward, as it should be. It is compulsively readable. Though the book shifts in perspective, form, and time, the reader is never lost. How To Catch A Coyote is as audacious as it is admirable.
Read the full book review for HOW TO CATCH A COYOTE.
ELEGY ON KINDERKLAVIER by Arna Bontemps Hemenway
Masters Review editor, Andrew Wetzel says there is a creative restlessness that drives the stories in this collection, which he calls “astonishingly confident”. He goes onto say, “Hemenway’s sentences don’t run circles around other writers; they do donuts.”
Read the full book review for ELEGY ON KINDERKLAVIER.
NAKED ME by Christian Winn
The stories in this collection are plainly absurd, however, these stories aren’t in love with their absurdity. More often than not, they bemoan it. Winn does new things with familiar words, a true mark of the strength of his craft.
Read the full book review for NAKED ME.
STAY by Zachary Amendt
Granted, we’re biased. We published the title story of this debut collection earlier this year. However, we can say unequivocally, that Zachary Amendt dazzles in this series of stories set place in the Bay Area. There’s something about the American mythos that makes baseball poignant, even if you’ve never set foot in a ballpark.
Read the full book review for STAY.