• FLASHLIGHT by Susan Choi. I really loved TRUST EXERCISE by Susan Choi and was very excited to finally sit down and read this new book by her. I think of Susan Choi as a writer's writer, where there's a lot to take away from the choices she makes as a storyteller, because of how unusual and clever TRUST EXERCISE is in terms of its structure—it's like one of those Russian nesting dolls, a story inside a story inside a story. But FLASHLIGHT, which is much more of a historical novel than anyone might expect going in (don't look into it!! Just read), is much more straightforward, perhaps because it's meant to be more informative than interrogative. After I finished the book, I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about Tom, a character that is very much a clue to the overarching narrative, but who we don't actually discover much about. Does anyone want to talk to me about Tom????

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• REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES by Shelby Van Pelt. This month I'll be chatting with quite a few remarkable authors, including my friends Chuck Tingle, R.F. Kuang, and Isabel Cañas, and a few authors I haven't had the privilege to speak with before, like Shelby Van Pelt, Renée Ahdieh (PARK AVENUE), and Caroline Palmer (WORKHORSE). (I would include these books in summary as well, except at the time I'm writing this, I'm still working my way through them—I will have to report my thoughts next month!) I really enjoyed REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES, which reminded me of what you might get if you crossed ANXIOUS PEOPLE by Fredrik Backman with OLIVE KITTERIDGE by Elizabeth Strout. There was a real sense of both whimsy and sturdiness to the narration, an overarching empathy that I really enjoyed. I've been seeing this book everywhere, and now I understand why. 

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• MAGGIE; OR, A MAN AND A WOMAN WALK INTO A BAR by Katie Yee. I was very excited to read this book, which is one of the year's highly acclaimed divorce narratives. I should note: it did not actually occur to me that a highly acclaimed divorce narrative would be about divorce, a topic that is very disemboweling to read about. What was I so excited for, then? I think the comparison to Nora Ephron's HEARTBURN, or the fact that the book was considered (and marketed as) something of an offbeat comedy. I will note that it is not yet funny, and mostly just devastating, but I am always up for heartbreak, even if it's the kind that makes me hug my family extra tight. Similar to ALL FOURS by Miranda July, I do find myself looking at the course of a woman's life with a sense of foreboding—all this and then menopause???

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• WILL THERE EVER BE ANOTHER YOU by Patricia Lockwood. My love for Patricia Lockwood is closer to ardor, it's something edging on agony, my devouring of everything she says and does mixing with awe that I'd never be able to mimic it. My first of her books was NO ONE IS TALKING ABOUT THIS, a book that made me laugh as well as cry streaming tears, followed by several of her short pieces (this one is my favorite) and her memoir, PRIESTDADDY, which is one of those things that is, indeed, a very eccentric gut punch. I'm excited for this one, which is a reference to the headline on the cover of Time Magazine in 1997, an article about Dolly the sheep and cloning, posed with the question: "Will there ever be another you?" I don't know, Patricia. TELL ME. I'm desperate to hear your thoughts.