Quick Lit June 2025 Archives

Home of the American Circus

by Allison Larkin

From the publisher: "After an emergency leaves her short on rent, thirty-year-old Freya Arnalds bails on her lackluster life as bartender in Maine and returns to her suburban hometown of Somers, New York, to live in the house she inherited from her estranged parents. Despite attempts to lay low, Freya encounters childhood friends, familial enemies, and old flames—as well as her fifteen-year-old niece, Aubrey, who is secretly living in the derelict home. As they reconnect, Freya and Aubrey lean on each other, working to restore the house and come to terms with the devastating events that pulled them apart years ago. Set in the birthplace of the American circus, this deeply moving novel is an exploration of broken families, the weight of the past, and the complicated journey of finding home."

Cold Enough for Snow

by Jessica Au

From the publisher: "A mother and daughter travel from abroad to meet in Tokyo: they walk along the canals through the autumn evenings, escape the typhoon rains, share meals in small cafes and restaurants, and visit galleries to see some of the city’s most radical modern art. All the while, they talk: about the weather, horoscopes, clothes, and objects, about family, distance, and memory. But uncertainties abound. Who is really speaking here—is it only the daughter? And what is the real reason behind this elliptical, perhaps even spectral journey? At once a careful reckoning and an elegy, Cold Enough for Snow questions whether any of us speak a common language, which dimensions can contain love, and what claim we have to truly know another’s inner world."

We Tell Ourselves Stories: Joan Didion and the American Dream Machine

by Alissa Wilkinson

From the publisher: "Joan Didion opened The White Album (1979) with what would become one of the most iconic lines in American literature: 'We tell ourselves stories in order to live.' Today, this phrase is deployed inspirationally, printed on T-shirts and posters, used as a battle cry for artists and writers. In truth, Didion was describing something much less rosy: our human tendency to manufacture delusions that might ward away our anxieties when society seems to spin off its axis. In this riveting cultural biography, New York Times film critic Alissa Wilkinson examines Joan Didion’s influence through the lens of American mythmaking. We Tell Ourselves Stories eloquently traces Didion’s journey from New York to her arrival in Hollywood as a screenwriter at the twilight of the old studio system. She paid the bills writing movie scripts like A Star Is Born, while her books propelled her to celestial heights of fame.More than a portrait of a writer, We Tell Ourselves Stories shines a new light on a legacy whose impact will be felt for generations."

Heartwood

by Amity Gaige

I loved Gaige’s 2020 novel Sea Wife (included in that year’s SRG) and was excited to read more from her. When Heartwood begins, we know a search is underway for experienced 42-year-old hiker Valerie; she’s wandered off the Appalachian Trail and a widespread search is now underway. In rotating points of view, we learn where Valerie currently is and the details of her current predicament, the plan for coordinating scores of volunteers to comb the woods to find her, the reasons the authorities consider her ex-husband to be a suspect, and why a seemingly unconnected woman at a nearby retirement community may hold the key to Valerie’s survival. I raced through this gripping tale of survival, isolation, and the deep human need for connection. I think it’s fair to say that the Maine woods are a character in their own right: they are vast, wild, and unforgiving.

The Boomerang

by Robert Bailey

I didn't love this new May 2025 release, but I'm nevertheless impressed that a month or so after reading it I find myself talking about its premise all the time. This political thriller (think John Grisham, but with a medical bent) imagines a world in which a safe, effective, and inexpensive cure for cancer has been found, but the truth has been suppressed because actually curing the disease would destroy the U.S. economy. When the U.S. president's cancer returns, the real powers that be begrudgingly let him in to their circle of trust—and then all hell breaks loose. I was curious enough about what would happen to keep listening (to the audiobook, narrated by Eric Conger), but my favorite parts of the story involved the chief of staff's visits back home to Florida's Gulf Coast to visit family and do a little research on a personal project. Bailey name-checks quite a few Panhandle locations I'm familiar with and it was an unexpected delight to see them in print.

Quick Lit June 2025

Home of the American Circus

Cold Enough for Snow

We Tell Ourselves Stories: Joan Didion and the American Dream Machine

Heartwood

The Boomerang

a gateway

to reliable joy this summer

Buckle Up!

summer reading starts May 16th