You searched for mentor – Page 2 of 8

Carry On

One of Brigid’s three books loved on WSIRN Ep 275: How many book clubs is too many book clubs? and the first in a fantasy series set at Watford, a magickal school following Simon Snow aka “the worst Chosen One who’s ever been chosen” and his nemesis/roommate Baz. The plot is entertaining, surprising, and layered with so much emotion. The magickal spells like “U can’t touch this” & “these aren’t the droids you are looking for” are very clever and the delightful worldbuilding is top notch. (If you enjoy creative meta fiction, it is fun to note Carry On began as a “book within a book” of Rainbow Rowell’s YA novel Fangirl.)

Why Fathers Cry at Night: A Memoir in Love Poems, Recipes, Letters, and Remembrances

From the author of bestsellers The Crossover and Rebound, a powerful, intimate, and non-traditional memoir told in stories, poems, recipes, and letters. Alexander calls his content “snapshots of a man learning to love,” and his theme throughout is what he has learned so far, and how he is continuing to grow. He writes of the mixed blessing of a book-filled childhood, his complex relationship with his father (who always told him poetry would never sell), the beginning and ending of his marriage, his life-giving mentorship under Nikki Giovanni, and learning to father his cherished daughters. Plus recipes for fare like Granny’s hot buttered rolls and 7Up pound cake. Gorgeous, surprising, and one I’ll be thinking about for a long time.

Piecing Me Together

Engaging coming-of-age story about a 16-year-old African American girl struggling to find her place in the world. This is a nuanced but easy read about feeling out of place, coming into your own, and the perils of good intentions.

The Biggest Bluff: How I Learned to Pay Attention, Master Myself, and Win

This book was such a delightful surprise. I never expected to love—or even read—a book about poker, but several readers with great taste told me to prioritize this one, and I’m glad I listened. In this story-driven narrative, author and New Yorker journalist Konnikova tells how and why she dedicated several years of her life to becoming a professional poker player, and seamlessly connects what she learns at the table to making better decisions and living a more satisfying life. Endlessly fascinating and laugh-out-loud funny.

Bluff: A Novel

What a wild ride! I picked this up on the recommendation of Julia Whelan, who narrated the audiobook and mentioned when we chatted for a What Should I Read Next episode that Kardos’s books, in her opinion, didn’t get the recognition they deserved. At first this book reminded me very much of Maria Konnokova’s The Biggest Bluff, about learning to play poker. In it, a twenty-something magician gets into financial trouble and decides to learn to cheat at cards to raise the extra cash she needs. She finds a mentor who will teach her how to manipulate the deck and dupe her fellow players into giving her all their money, and her once-modest quest to raise small sum evolves into a bigger con. When this story took an abrupt and grisly turn I wasn’t expecting, I HATED it and wished I’d never begun it. (I could give you a very specific comp title but I fear it would reveal too much!) I kept reading and the reveal made me forgive everything. Dark, twisty, and utterly absorbing.

I’ll Give You the Sun

From the publisher: “The New York Times Bestselling story of first love, family, loss, and betrayal for fans of John Green, Jojo Moyes, Emma Straub, and Rainbow Rowell.”

The Female Persuasion

Greer Kadetsky meets the charasmatic Faith Frank, pillar of the womens’ liberation movement, in the bathroom after a rally her best friend persuades her to come along for during their freshman year of college. Faith gives Greer a business card and then proceeds to mentor her, changing Greer’s life and career in the process. We follow Greer from university parties to her first job, and into her trajectory with Faith’s influential foundation. Along the way, Greer is torn between friendship and ambition, knowing when to compromise and when to draw a line in the sand. Like a meatier The Devil Wears Prada (although pairs of killer suede boots still play a role), this is a story about power and loyalty. Part satire, part feminist primer.

The Crosswicks Journals: A Circle of Quiet, The Summer of the Great-Grandmother, The Irrational Season, and Two-Part Invention

I love the first installment, A Circle of Quiet, so much that I read it three times. I’ve adopted Madeleine L’Engle as an honorary mentor. Anyone who can coin a phrase like “the tired thirties” and admit that her kids told her to sit down at the typewriter and write when she got cranky is worth listening to. I suspect our brains work the same way (except for the part where hers cranks out gorgeous fiction and mine is terrified of the genre).

The Neighbor Favor

I adored Kristina Forest’s YA novels Now That I’ve Found You and I Wanna Be Where You Are, so when I heard she penned a bookish adult romance, I was ready to be charmed. Lily Greene dreams of editing children’s books like the fantasy novels she grew up reading, but for now she’s stuck with nonfiction and no career advancement on the horizon. As a means of escape, she strikes up an email correspondence with the author of her favorite obscure fantasy novel, someone she admires and sees as a potential mentor. Unbeknownst to Lily, this author is actually around her age and moves into her apartment building a few months later. These two shy, quiet bibliophiles find friendship and perhaps something more, even as author Nick Brown discovers Lily is indeed his mystery pen pal.

You Think It, I’ll Say It: Stories

Curtis Sittenfeld has a reputation as a “skewerer of subjects” from her bestsellers Prep, American Wife, and her Jane Austen Project novel Eligible. This new collection includes ten stories exploring class, gender roles, and the misconceptions that underpin our lives, by covering Ivy League schools, high school tormentors, and suburban mothers.

Search Results for: mentor – Page 2