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The Vanishing Half

Finally, a follow-up to Bennett’s smashing debut The Mothers—and it’s worth the wait. Identical twins Desiree and Stella grew up in a town so small it doesn’t appear on maps. They’re closer than close, so Desiree is shocked when Stella vanishes one night after deciding to sacrifice her past—and her relationship with her family—in order to marry a white man, who doesn’t know she’s Black. Desiree never expects to see her sister again. The twins grow up, make lives for themselves, and raise daughters—and it’s those daughters who bring the sisters together again. It’s a reunion Stella both longs for and fears, because she can’t reveal the truth without admitting her whole life is a lie. Bennett expertly weaves themes of family, race, identity, and belonging into one juicy, unputdownable novel spanning five turbulent decades.

Mother May I

I’m always excited for a new Joshilyn Jackson title: she’s one of my must read authors, especially on audio. The inciting incident of her latest suspense novel unfolds in the balcony at a school rehearsal for Grease, Jr: The Musical. While Bree catches up with an old friend and fellow parent, someone kidnaps her baby while he naps in his carseat nearby. Bree soon discovers the kidnapper wants to use her to exact revenge for something that transpired long ago, but is far from forgotten. Bree decides that to get her baby back, she can’t interact with the kidnapper as herself. Instead, she must step into a role—one that will win the kidnapper’s sympathies—and must rely on every bit of skill honed in her acting days to do it. Readers, take note: you’ll want to talk about the ending with a friend, so plan accordingly. And while it’s obvious this plot includes children in peril, other content warnings apply; please do your research.

Catherine House

If a school seems too good to be true, it probably is. The prestigious Catherine House offers free tuition, room, and board in exchange for students living completely removed from the outside world for three years. At first, it’s the closest thing to home Ines has ever experienced but then things take a tragic turn and she finds herself questioning everything in this Gothic literary suspense debut.

Good Company: A Novel

A wistful novel about memory and the stories we tell ourselves, set in the world of the theater. When Flora finds her husband’s old wedding ring in the bottom of a file cabinet—the ring her husband told her he’d lost at the bottom of a lake—she knows something is horribly wrong. On the eve of her daughter’s high school graduation, Flora questions everything she thought she knew about her past. Interspersed with vivid flashbacks and reflective moments, Sweeney’s sophomore novel isn’t quite as plot-driven as her first, but I inhaled it. I love a reflective family drama, and this one set in the world of theater hooked me from the opening scene. Marin Ireland is now one of my go-to narrators; her voice struck just the right contemplative tone.

Can’t Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation

File under: books I can’t stop talking about. I’m just a touch old to fall under Petersen’s definition of the millennial generation, yet I found myself nodding along to every chapter as Petersen explained how my and my peers’ personal life experience slot neatly into cultural and economic trends. Her biggest topics are our childhoods, our college experience and the implicit (and explicit) promises it had for our future, and why work is so awful for so many these days—all set against the backdrop of the economic realities of the last 40 years in the United States. I closed this book feeling understood, and like I better understand the world I’m living in. Petersen notes that she completed her final edits on this book while COVID-19 was just beginning her spread, and I appreciated her thoughts on how the pandemic subtly shifts the lens through which readers will engage with the ideas presented here.

Links I love

What are you up to this weekend? My college kid is back home, which means all my babies are here

The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking

From the publisher: “Jeff Hertzberg and Zoë François have proven that people want to bake their own bread, so long as they can do it easily and quickly. There’s nothing like the smell of freshly baked bread to fill a kitchen with warmth, eager appetites, and endless praise. Using Jeff and Zoë’s innovative technique, you can create bread that rivals those of the finest bakers in the world in just five minutes of active preparation time.”

Can You Keep a Secret?

Booklist says, “Kinsella has another irresistible hit on her hands. The author of the Shopaholic trilogy offers up a delightful new novel, filled with her trademark wit and humor. When her plane en route from Glasgow to London experiences horrible turbulence, Emma Corrigan is convinced she is going to die. She babbles all of her most intimate thoughts and secrets to the handsome American man sitting next to her. But the plane lands safely, and Emma bids him an awkward good-bye. When she enters the office on Monday and learns the CEO of the company, Jack Harper, is in for a visit, Emma is horrified to learn Jack is actually the man in whom she confided on the flight. He knows everything. But Jack does not fire her on the spot; instead, he quietly replaces the office coffeemaker she hates and gives her advice about her personal life, which she finds infuriating. So why can’t she stop thinking about him?”

The Sellout

This won all sorts of prizes when it came out, including the Man Booker. <em>The Wall Street Journal</em> called it, “Swiftian satire of the highest order . . . Giddy, scathing and dazzling.” From the publisher: “The narrator, raised by a single father, a controversial sociologist, spent his childhood as the subject in racially charged psychological studies. He is led to believe that his father’s pioneering work will result in a memoir that will solve his family’s financial woes. But when his father is killed in a police shoot-out, he realizes there never was a memoir. Fueled by this deceit and the general disrepair of his hometown, the narrator sets out to right another wrong: Enlisting the help of the town’s most famous resident he initiates the most outrageous action conceivable.”

Modern Comfort Food: A Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

My Barefoot Contessa cookbooks are well-loved and notably worse for wear. From the publisher: “Ina Garten shares 85 new recipes that will feed your deepest cravings. Many of these dishes are inspired by childhood favorites—but with the volume turned way up, such as Cheddar and Chutney Grilled Cheese sandwiches (the perfect match for Ina’s Creamy Tomato Bisque), Smashed Hamburgers with Caramelized Onions, and the crispiest hash browns that are actually made in a waffle iron! Old-fashioned crowd pleasers like Roasted Sausages, Peppers, and Onions are even more delicious and streamlined for quick cleanup. From cocktails to dessert, from special weekend breakfasts to quick weeknight dinners, you’ll find yourself making these cozy and delicious recipes over and over again.”

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