Ephemera: A Memoir

Ephemera: A Memoir
By Briana Loewinsohn
Fantagraphics Books, 2023. 189 pages. Biography/Memoir

Ephemera is a poetic and dreamlike take on a graphic memoir that follows a grown woman's recollection of her early childhood memories and the gossamer existence of her mother. Set in a garden, forest, and greenhouse, it illustrates the story of a daughter trying to relate to a parent who struggles with mental illness. With careful dips forward and back in time, we are guided through the weeds alongside the narrator, adressing quiet themes of isolation, growth, confusion, acceptance, and the fog of childhood. It is an aching, medetative twist on the autobiography, infusing a typically tell-all and straightforward genre with an account laced instead with an ethereal fusion of memory and imagination. 

At times, this memoir felt much less like an autobiography and more like poetry and meditation woven into illustration. Details are sparse in some aspects, but incredibly deep and rich in others, making for a fascinating contrast of focus. For example, while we see the author's brother from time to time in her memories, we are never able to learn his name. Yet no less than a half dozen plants are identified by scientific classification, the author explaining that she learned all of these details and how to care for each plant from her mother. Their relationship is explored in this extended metaphor, describing how poor soil and infrequent water made it difficult for a true mother-daughter bond to flourish between them. And yet a longing remains, the author feeling that if she can just take care of the plants that her mother loved, she could come to know the woman she saw so infrequently in her youth. It is a heartbreaking tale well aware of it's own tragedy that nonetheless clings to a defiant fragment of hope. A beautiful understanding that while some things can be nursed and watered and encouraged into growth, others are simply made to wither, existing for a short time before they fade away. Or in other words, exist as something ephemeral.

If you like Ephemera: A Memoir, you might also like:

Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things that Happened By Allie Brosh Simon & Shuster, 2013. 369 pages. Biography/ Memoir

Autobiographical, illustrated essays and cartoons from the author's popular blog that humorously and candidly deals with her own idiosyncrasies and battles with depression.

It's Lonely at the Centre of the Earth : an Auto-bio-graphic-novel

By Zoe Thorogood

Image Comics, 2023. 192 pages. Biography/ Memoir

Zoe Thorogood records six months of her own life as it falls apart in a desperate attempt to put it back together again in the only way she knows how. An intimate and meta-narrative look into the life of a selfish artist who must create for her own survival through the ups and downs of anxiety, depression, and imposter syndrome as she forges a promising career in sequential art and finds herself along the way.

Impossible People : a Completely Average Recovery Story

By Julia Wertz

Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 2023. 320 pages. Biography/ Memoir

Celebrated cartoonist Julia Wertz chronicles her haphazard attempts at sobriety and the relentlessly challenging, surprisingly funny, and occasionally absurd cycle of addiction and recovery.

Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old

Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old 

by Brooke Shields 

Flatiron Books, 2025. 240 pages. Memoir 

Brooke Shields has spent a lifetime in the public eye. Growing up as a child actor and model, her every feature was scrutinized, her every decision judged. Today Brooke faces a different kind of scrutiny: that of being a “woman of a certain age.” And yet, for Brooke, the passage of time has brought freedom. At fifty-nine, she feels more comfortable in her skin, more empowered and confident than she did decades ago in those famous Calvin Kleins. Now, in Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old, she’s changing the narrative about women and aging. 

Combining personal anecdotes with scientific research, Shields covers topics like menopause, aging, parenting adult children, and owning your voice in middle age. She’s self-aware, frequently acknowledging her many privileges just when, as a reader, you might be tempted to write off her advice as out-of-touch. Her writing is especially insightful as she explores the dichotomy between how middle age is depicted in pop culture (forgotten, unhappy) and how she’s actually experiencing it (empowered, enriching). This is an approachable memoir, and Shield’s thoughts are likely to especially resonate with women in or nearing midlife. 

If you liked Brooke Shields Is Not Allowed to Get Old, you might also like: 

Dare I Say It: Everything I Wish I’d Known About Menopause 

by Naomi Watts 

Crown, 2025. 232 pages. Nonfiction. 

Beloved actress Naomi Watts opens up about the challenges she faced upon reaching early menopause in this empowering, fun, and practical guide to menopause and aging, all based on the latest advice from hormone experts, doctors, and nutritionists 

I Feel Bad About My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman

By Nora Ephron 

Knopf, 2006. 137 pages. Nonfiction 

With her disarming, intimate, completely accessible voice, and dry sense of humor, Nora Ephron chronicles her life as an obsessed cook, passionate city dweller, and hapless parent. But mostly she speaks frankly and uproariously about life as an older woman. Utterly courageous, uproariously funny, and unexpectedly moving in its truth telling, I Feel Bad About My Neck is a scrumptious, irresistible treat of a book, full of truths, laugh out loud moments that will appeal to readers of all ages.

SGR

Murder at Gulls Nest

 

Murder at Gulls Nest
by Jess Kidd
Atria Books, 2025. 324 pages. Mystery

1954: When her former novice's dependable letters stop, Nora Breen asks to be released from her vows. Haunted by a line in Frieda's letter, Nora arrives at Gulls Nest, a charming hotel in Gore-on-Sea in Kent. A seaside town, a place of fresh air and relaxed constraints, is the perfect place for a new start. Nora hides her identity and pries into the lives of her fellow guests. But when a series of bizarre murders rattles the occupants of Gulls Nest it's time to ask if a dark past can ever really be left behind.

If you love cozy mysteries with quirky characters and mysterious pasts, this is the book for you. Nora Breen is an unexpected amateur sleuth who solves crimes mostly by brazenly asking questions others don't dare to ask. I fell in love with her the moment she winks at a guy who catcalls her! While at first Nora is only investigating the disappearance of her friend, the more she gets to know about the residents at Gulls Nest, the more mysteries appear. Setting the book in 1950s England also adds an interesting element to the story, since characters are still dealing with the after-effects of World War II in subtle and not-so subtle ways. All in all, this is a great cozy mystery readers are sure to enjoy.

If you like Murder at Gulls Nest you might also like:

The Marlow Murder Club
by Robert Thorogood
Poisoned Pen Press, 2021. 282 pages. Mystery

Judith Potts is seventy-seven years old and blissfully happy. One evening, while out swimming in the Thames, Judith witnesses a brutal murder. The local police don't believe her story, so she decides to investigate for herself, and is soon joined in her quest by Suzie, a salt-of-the-earth dog-walker, and Becks, the prim and proper wife of the local vicar. Together, they are the Marlow Murder Club. When another body turns up, they realize they have a real-life serial killer on their hands.

Lavender House
by Lev AC Rosen
Forge, 2022. 274 pages. Mystery

While investigating the mysterious death of matriarch Irene Lamontaine, head of a famous soap empire, Andy Mills is seduced by the safety and freedom found in Lavender House, where a queer family lives honestly and openly, until he becomes a pawn in their deadly game.

 

MB 

Reagan: His Life and Legend

Reagan: His Life and Legend

by Max Boot 

Liveright Publishing Corporation, 2024. 836 pages. Biography 

From best-selling biographer Max Boot comes this revelatory portrait, a decade in the making, of Ronald Reagan, the actor-turned-politician whose telegenic leadership ushered in a transformative conservative era in American politics. Drawing on more than a hundred new interviews and thousands of newly available documents, Reagan tells the epic story of the Depression-era poor boy who transfixed and transformed the nation. Yet Boot, a one-time Republican policy advisor, offers no apologia, depicting a man with a Manichean, good-versus-evil worldview derived from his moralistic upbringing. Providing revelatory insights into trickle-down economics, the Cold War's end, the Iran-Contra affair, and so much more, this definitive biography is as compelling a presidential biography as any in recent decades. 

At 836 pages or 32 hours on audio, Reagan: His Life and Legend is a time commitment, but it’s worth it if you’re interested in American history and politics. Author Max Boot brings his background as a historian and foreign-policy analyst, as well as his skills as a long-time journalist and editor to the project, writing in a clear and compelling way that will keep you turning the pages. He tries throughout to offer a balanced view of Reagans personal and political strengths and weaknesses, as well as his complicated legacy; depending on your own views on Reagan, you might come away feeling that the biography was too harsh or too lenient on him. It’s an engrossing read sure to capture the interest of history buffs and biography fans alike. 

If You Like Reagan: His Life and Legend, you might also like: 

Romney: A Reckoning 

By McKay Coppins 

Scribner, 2023. 403 pages. Biography 

Few figures in American politics have seen more and said less than Mitt Romney. An outspoken dissident in Donald Trump's GOP, he has made headlines in recent years for standing alone against the forces he believes are poisoning the party he once led. Romney was the first senator in history to vote to remove from office a president of his own party. When that president's supporters went on to storm the US Capitol, Romney delivered a thundering speech from the Senate floor accusing his fellow Republicans of stoking insurrection. Despite these moments of public courage, Romney has shared very little about what he's witnessed behind the scenes over his three decades in politics--in GOP cloakrooms and caucus lunches, in his private meetings with Donald Trump and his family, in his dealings with John McCain, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Mitch McConnell, Joe Manchin, and Kyrsten Sinema. Now, exclusively for this biography, Romney has provided a window to his most private thoughts. 

John Adams 

By David McCullough 

Simon & Schuster, 2001. 751 pages. Biography 

In this powerful, epic biography, David McCullough unfolds the adventurous life journey of John Adams, the brilliant, fiercely independent, often irascible, always honest Yankee patriot who spared nothing in his zeal for the American Revolution; who rose to become the second president of the United States and saved the country from blundering into an unnecessary war; who was learned beyond all but a few and regarded by some as “out of his senses”; and whose marriage to the wise and valiant Abigail Adams is one of the moving love stories in American history.

This is history on a grand scale—a book about politics and war and social issues, but also about human nature, love, religious faith, virtue, ambition, friendship, and betrayal, and the far-reaching consequences of noble ideas. Above all, John Adams is an enthralling, often surprising story of one of the most important and fascinating Americans who ever lived.

Grant 

By Ron Chernow 

Penguin Press, 2017. 1,074 pages. Biography 

Ulysses S. Grant's life has typically been misunderstood. All too often he is caricatured as a chronic loser and inept businessman, fond of drinking to excess; or as the triumphant but brutal Union general of the Civil War; or as a credulous and hapless president whose tenure came to symbolize the worst excesses of the Gilded Age. These stereotypes don't come close to capturing adequately his spirit and the sheer magnitude of his monumental accomplishments. A biographer at the height of his powers, Chernow has produced a portrait of Grant that is a masterpiece, the first to provide a complete understanding of the general and president whose fortunes rose and fell with dizzying speed and frequency.

SGR

Tea and Empathy

Tea and Empathy 

by Shanna Swendson 

Shanna Swendson, 2023. 210 pages. Science Fiction & Fantasy. 

Welcome to Rydding, the hidden village you might stumble across if you need a home and a fresh start. For Elwyn Howell, the village is a lifesaver when she finds it just as she's run out of strength and hope while running for her life. The abandoned healer's cottage welcomes her, even though she's given up on that calling. She opens a tea shop instead, using her knowledge of herbs and her empathic gift that allows her to select the perfect tea for each customer. Soon, she's feeling at home in the village community. She's afraid it's too good to last, a fear that's confirmed when she finds a wounded man unconscious in her garden. Was he sent by the people who are hunting her? Not even he knows, since he has no memory of who he is or how he got there. As she nurses him back to health, they develop a close bond, but the specter of both their pasts--the one she's fleeing and the one he doesn't remember--gets in the way. He doesn't know what life he may have left behind, and she lives in constant fear that her old life will catch up with her and she'll end up convicted of a murder she's not entirely sure she didn't commit. They can't hide forever, not even in Rydding, and if they want to have a future, they'll have to confront their pasts. 

This book is like a cup of tea on a cozy sunny day. Following Elwyn’s journey as she settles into Rydding, and accepts that that’s where she actually wants to be, was such a joy. As its title might suggest, this is a soothing read, but that doesn’t mean that it has no plot. There is plenty to keep you entertained, between a mysterious man who has no memories, to a plot to blame a murder on an innocent person, and all of it gets wrapped up nicely. Tea and Empathy is recommended for fans of cozy historical fantasy, and for anyone who likes the idea of living in a small town in a lovely cottage that does all of the cooking and cleaning for you. 

If you like Tea and Empathy, you might also like: 

Legends & Lattes 

by Travis Baldree 

Tor, 2022. 294 pages. Science Fiction & Fantasy. 

Come take a load off at Viv's cafe, the first & only coffee shop in Thune. Grand opening! Worn out after decades of packing steel and raising hell, Viv, the orc barbarian, cashes out of the warrior's life with one final score. A forgotten legend, a fabled artifact, and an unreasonable amount of hope lead her to the streets of Thune, where she plans to open the first coffee shop the city has ever seen. However, her dreams of a fresh start filling mugs instead of swinging swords are hardly a sure bet. Old frenemies and Thune's shady underbelly may just upset her plans. To finally build something that will last, Viv will need some new partners, and a different kind of resolve. 

The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches

by Sangu Mandanna 

Berkley, 2022. 318 pages. Science Fiction & Fantasy. 

 As one of the few witches in Britain, Mika Moon knows she has to hide her magic, keep her head down, and stay away from other witches so their powers don't mingle and draw attention. And as an orphan who lost her parents at a young age and was raised by strangers, she's used to being alone and she follows the rules ... with one exception: an online account, where she posts videos "pretending" to be a witch. She thinks no one will take it seriously. But someone does. An unexpected message arrives, begging her to travel to the remote and mysterious Nowhere House to teach three young witches how to control their magic. It breaks all of the rules, but Mika goes anyway, and is immediately tangled up in the lives and secrets of not only her three charges, but also an absent archaeologist, a retired actor, two long-suffering caretakers, and ... Jamie. The handsome and prickly librarian of Nowhere House would do anything to protect the children, and as far as he's concerned, a stranger like Mika is a threat. An irritatingly appealing threat. As Mika begins to find her place at Nowhere House, the thought of belonging somewhere begins to feel like a real possibility. But magic isn't the only danger in the world, and when a threat comes knocking at their door, Mika will need to decide whether to risk everything to protect a found family she didn't know she was looking for. 

The Honey Witch 

by Syndey Shields 

Redhook Books/Orbit, 2024. 359 pages. Science Fiction & Fantasy. 

Twenty-one-year-old Marigold Claude has always preferred the company of the spirits of the meadow to any of the suitors who've tried to woo her. So, when her grandmother whisks her away to her cottage on the tiny Isle of Innisfree with an offer to train her as the next Honey Witch, she accepts immediately. But her newfound magic and independence comes with a price: no one can fall in love with the Honey Witch. When Lottie Burke, a notoriously grumpy skeptic who doesn't believe in magic, shows up on her doorstep, Marigold can't resist the challenge to prove to her that magic is real. But soon, Marigold begins to care for Lottie in ways she never expected. And, when darker magic awakens and threatens to destroy her home, she must fight for much more than her new home--at the risk of losing her magic and her heart

It Rhymes With Takei

It Rhymes With Takei

By George Takei

Top Shelf Productions, 2025. 332 pages. Graphic Novels Biography/Memoir

In a moving, emotional graphic memoir, the Star Trek actor, activist and social media star shares his personal journey from a closeted youth in the 1950s to coming out at 68, revealing how love, fear and activism shaped his identity.

A candid story told beautifully through words and art.  Recommended for those interested in this famous actor and activist, or simply in reading more books by members of the LGBTQIA+ community about their lived experiences.  

If you liked It Rhymes With Takei, you might also like: 

The Color of Always
By Brent Fisher
A Wave Blue World, 2023. 138 pages. Graphic Novels Nonfiction

The flutter of first dates, the thrill of a text-back, the heart-stopping seconds before coming out, and the rush when finally discovering who you truly are--all of these life-changing moments across the full spectrum of LGBTQIA+ experience are ready to explore in this bright and inspiring comics anthology! The Color of Always is a collection of personal stories, testimonies, heirlooms, evocations, and evangelisms for queer creators and readers that celebrates feeling good about who you are, and coming into your own at last.

Gaythiest:Coming out of my Orthodox Childhood

By Lonnie Mann

Street Noise Books, 2024. 256 pages. Graphic Novels Biography/Memoir

A coming-of-age graphic novel memoir about a young man who, growing up in an Orthodox Jewish community, realizes he's gay and struggles to reconcile his faith with who he is.

RBL

Marsha

Marsha
By Tourmaline
Tiny Reparations Books, 2025. 306 pages. Nonfiction

Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson is an inspiring record of her life, love, and lessons written after nearly two decades of research by her leading archivist. Marsha P. Johnson, the legendary Black transgender LGBTQIA+ activist, is known for throwing the first brick in the 1969 Stonewall Uprising and then, rumor has it, picking up a shard of glass to fix her makeup. This book takes us through Marsha's life from growing up in racially-segregated Elizabeth, New Jersey, to her youth spent hustling in Times Square, to the LGBTQIA+ uprising that galvanized her activism. "The book masters the complex balance of joy alternating with profound sadness- inherent in Marsha's life, which despite the defiant resilience of her own statements, was rife with struggles with housing, medical care, disability, loss, and violence." This beautifully written piece of nonfiction honors the fullness of Marsha's life, and promises to inspire readers to live as their most liberated, unruly, vibrant, and whole selves. I recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone who wants to feel the true compassion and rage that is all wrapped up in the incredible life of Marsha P. Johnson.

If you liked Marsha, you might also like: 

The Stonewall Riots
By Gayle E. Pitman
Abrams Books, 2019. 196 pages. Nonfiction

A thorough examination of the events before, during, and in the aftermath of the Stonewall Riots that gives young readers an overview of the LGBTQIA+ activism of the 1950s and 1960s. The book traces meeting places, social clubs, and the rise of organizations and activist groups, as well as the many police raids of gay establishments, focusing on the June 28, 1969, raid on the Stonewall Inn. The story of the riots is retold in quite a few segments, but each narration provides a slightly different perspective. A timeline, notes, and a thorough bibliography round out this inviting, engaging, and well-researched book.

Tomorrow Will Be Different
By Sarah McBride
Crown Archetype, 2018. 273 pages. Nonfiction

In 2016 at the age of 25, Sarah McBride became the first openly transgender person to speak at a national political convention. As a young person active in politics who had wrestled for years with a growing awareness of her gender identity, McBride knew that coming out would change the course of her life. This memoir highlights Sarah's work as an activist and the key issues at the forefront of the fight for trans equality, providing a call-to-action and empowering look at the road ahead. The fight for equality and freedom has only just begun. "We must never be a country that says there's only one way to love, only one way to look, and only one way to live," she states.

With Honor and Integrity
By Máel Embser-Herbert
New York University Press, 2021. 211 pages. Nonfiction

This is an impactful book on transgender troops in the US. In the preface, they state, “We know that not every reader comes to this volume with an understanding of or support for transgender people and we know that not every reader comes to their reading with an understanding of or support for military service.” This framing brings scholars of gender and sexuality and scholars of the military to the book on a more equal footing. This provide an inspiring look at the past, present, and future of transgender military service. At a time when LGBTQIA+ rights are under siege, and the opportunity to serve continues to be challenged, this book is a timely and necessary read.

My Child Is Trans, Now What?
By Ben Greene
Rowman & Littlefield, 2024. 203 pages. Nonfiction

As anti-trans legislation sweeps through the nation, many Americans remain underinformed about trans issues and unsure of how to support the trans children in their lives. Designed for readers at all different knowledge levels, this book is an accessible, nonjudgmental primer. Drawing on his own experience of coming out as trans in high school, Greene emphasizes the importance of making space for trans joy in a world where trans kids are often met with anger, conflict, and even violence. He also takes care to stress the fact that, because every trans person is different, the best way to know the needs of a specific trans kid in your life is always just to ask. This warm and generous book will help a wide range of readers to support and celebrate children who are trans, nonbinary, and questioning.

LKA

Brighter Than Scale, Swifter Than Flame

 

Brighter Than Scale, Swifter Than Flame

By Neon Yang
Tom Doherty Associates, 2025. 167 pages. Fantasy.

The masked guildknight--Yeva--was thirteen when she killed her first dragon. With her gift revealed, she was shipped away to the imperial capital to train in the rare art of dragon-slaying. Now a legendary dragon hunter, she has never truly felt at home--nor removed her armor in public--since that fateful day all those years ago. Yeva must now go to Quanbao, a fiercely independent and reclusive kingdom. It is rumored that there, dragons are not feared as is right and proper, but instead loved and worshipped. It is rumored that there, they harbor a dragon behind their borders. While Yeva searches for the dreaded beast, she is welcomed into the palace by Quanbao's monarch, Lady Sookhee. Though wary of each other, Yeva is shocked to find herself slowly opening up to the beautiful, mysterious queen. As they grow closer, Yeva longs to let Lady Sookhee see the person behind the armor, but she knows she must fulfill her purpose and slay the dragon. Ultimately, she must decide who--or what--she is willing to betray: her own heart, or the sacred duty that she has called home for so long.

A dedicated dragon slayer loses herself throughout years as the empire's weapon, until a new assignment sends her closer to her hometown than she has been in years.  In this new kingdom that brings up so many memories of her former life she must decide who she truly is . . . and fall in love, and try new familiar foods, and relearn the language of her childhood.  I picked this up for the dragons and stayed for the beautiful portrayal of someone returning to their home after being long displaced. If you are interested in a new take on dragons, stories about reconnecting to your culture, and/or sapphic love stories consider this short and fast paced book.

If you like Brighter Than Scale, Swifter Than Flame, you might also like: 

The Sky on Fire

By Jenn Lyons

Tor, 2024. 433 pages. Fantasy.

Anahrod lives only for survival, forging her own way through the harsh jungles of the Deep with her titan drake by her side. Even when an adventuring party saves her from capture by a local warlord, she is eager to return to her solitary life. But this is no ordinary rescue. It's Anahrod's past catching up with her. These cunning misfits-and their frustratingly appealing dragonrider ringleader-intend to spirit her away to the dragon-ruled sky cities, where they need her help to steal from a dragon's hoard. There's only one problem: the hoard in question belongs to the current regent, Neveranimas-and she wants Anahrod dead.

When the Moon Hatched

By Sarah A. Parker

Avon, 2024. 547 pages. Fantasy.

As an assassin for the rebellion group F́íur du Ath, Raeve's job is to complete orders and never get caught. When a rival bounty hunter turns her world upside down, blood spills, hearts break, and Raeve finds herself imprisoned by the Guild of Nobles--a group of powerful fae who turn her into a political statement. Crushed by the loss of his great love, Kaan Vaegor took the head of a king and donned his melted crown. Now on a tireless quest to quell the never-ebbing ache in his chest, a clue lures him into the capital's high-security prison where he stumbles upon the imprisoned Raeve . . . Echoes of the past race between them. There's more to their story than meets the eye, but some truths are too poisonous to swallow

The Fireborne Blade

By Charlotte Bond
Tor, 2024. 167 pages. Fantasy.

Maddileh is a knight. There aren't many women in her line of work, and it often feels like the sneering and contempt from her peers is harder to stomach than the actual dragon slaying. But she's a knight, and made of sterner stuff. A minor infraction forces her to redeem her honor in the most dramatic way possible, she must retrieve the fabled Fireborne Blade from its keeper, legendary dragon the White Lady, or die trying. If history tells us anything, it's that "die trying" is where to wager your coin.

KJ

The Usual Desire to Kill

The Usual Desire to Kill

by Camilla Barnes 

Scribner, 2025. 249 pages. Fiction. 

Miranda's parents live in a dilapidated house in rural France that they share with two llamas, eight ducks, five chickens, two cats, and a freezer full of food dating back to 1983. Miranda's father is a retired professor of philosophy who never loses an argument. Miranda's mother likes to bring conversation back to "the War," although she was born after it ended. Married for fifty years, they are uncommonly set in their ways. Miranda plays the role of translator when she visits, communicating the desires or complaints of one parent to the other and then venting her frustration to her sister and her daughter. At the end of a visit, she reports "the usual desire to kill." This wry, propulsive story about a singularly eccentric family and the sibling rivalry, generational divides, and long-buried secrets that shape them, is a glorious debut novel from a seasoned playwright with immense empathy and a flair for dialogue. 

I thought this book was going to be a murder mystery book by the title alone. (I didn't know what to think of the llamas!) Instead, “The Usual Desire to Kill”, is describing the feeling you feel after spending the weekend with your aging parents. It is a witty, darkly humorous book that I could imagine watching on stage. The author's career in the theatre really comes through in the writing. If you enjoy books about family relationships, I think this book will hit the spot nicely. Also, if you know and enjoy the classic Wes Anderson film, "The Royal Tenenbaums", you will love the vibe this book brings.

 

If you like The Usual Desire to Kill you might also like:

Counting Backwards 

By Binnie Kirshenbaum 

Soho Press, Inc., 2025. 392 pages. Fiction. 

A middle-aged couple struggles with the husband's descent into early-onset Lewy Body dementia in this profound and deeply moving novel shot through with Kirshenbaum's lacerating humor. It begins with hallucinations. From their living room window, Leo sees a man on stilts, an acting troupe, a pair of swans paddling on the street. Initially, Leo believes the visions are related to visual impairment--they are something he and his wife, Addie, can joke about. Then, he starts to experience occasional, but fleeting, oddities that mimic myriad brain disorders: aphasia, the inability to perform simple tasks, Capgras Syndrome, audial hallucinations he believes to be real. The doctors have no answers. Leo, a scientist, and Addie, a collage artist, had a loving and happy marriage. But as his periods of lucidity become rarer, Addie finds herself less and less able to cope. Eventually, Leo is diagnosed with Lewy Body disease. Life expectancy ranges from 3 to 20 years. A decidedly uncharacteristic act of violence makes it clear that he cannot come home. He moves first to an assisted living facility and then to a small apartment with a caretaker where, over time, he descends into full cognitive decline. Addie's agony, anger, and guilt result in self-imposed isolation, which mirrors Leo's diminished life. And so for years, all she can do is watch him die--too soon, and yet not soon enough. Kirshenbaum captures the couple's final years, months, and days in short scenes that burn with despair, humor, and rage, tracking the brutal destruction of the disease, as well the moments of love and beauty that still exist for them amid the larger tides of loss. 

This is a Love Story

by Jessica Soffer 

Dutton, 2025. 295 pages. Fiction. 

For fifty years Abe and Jane have been coming to Central Park, as starry-eyed young lovers, as frustrated and exhausted parents, as artists watching their careers take flight. They came alone when they needed to get away from each other, and together when they had something important to discuss. The Park has been their witness for half a century of love. Until now. Jane is dying, and Abe is recounting their life together as a way of keeping them going: the parts they knew--their courtship and early marriage, their blossoming creative lives--and the parts they didn't always want to know--the determined young student of Abe's looking for a love story of her own, and their son, Max, who believes his mother chose art over parenthood and who has avoided love and intimacy at all costs. Told in various points of view, even in conversation with Central Park itself, these voices weave in and out to paint a portrait as complicated and essential as love itself.

JK

Junie

Junie
By Erin Crosby Eckstine
Ballantine Books, 2025. 361 pages. Fiction.

A strong-willed enslaved girl is haunted by her sister's ghost as she grapples with circumstances beyond her control, risking her life as the Civil War looms in this lush and tenderhearted debut. Junie has always yearned for more. Born and raised on the Bellereine plantation in the Alabama countryside, the sixteen-year-old spends her days working for the McQueens and serving as a maid for their daughter Violet, her oldest and closest friend. In the daytime, she entertains herself with poetry and imagines grand romances and faraway worlds. Under the cover of night, she steals away to the woods, curling up by the riverbank. But consumed by grief over the recent death of her older sister Minnie, she has vowed never to leave her family's side. Her world is capsized at the arrival of the Taylors, a wealthy brother and sister from New Orleans. The McQueens are keen to marry Violet off to Mr. Taylor, and if they succeed, Junie would be ripped away from everyone she knows and loves. Committing a desperate act, she awakens Minnie's tempestuous spirit, who can only move on once Junie completes three crucial tasks. She enlists the aid of Caleb, Mr. Taylor's chauffeur, and the two strike up a quick friendship that soon becomes something more. Yet time is ticking, and as secrets and betrayals rise to the surface, Junie must wade into unfamiliar territory as she pushes against the current that has controlled her entire life.

Although this is a ghost story I would argue the only horror included is that of slavery and casual human cruelty.  There is no way to tell this story without it. However, enslaved people lived full lives, experiencing the full range of human, and the author does a brilliant job of showing that.  The characters are nuanced and varied, and they quickly burrowed their way into my heart.  If you want to see ghosts in a new light, divine justice, and a sister that loves and hates (as all sisters do) please pick up this book.

If you like Junie, you might also like: 

The Water Dancer

By Ta-Nehisi Coates

One World, 2019. 403 pages. Fiction.

Young Hiram Walker was born into bondage--and lost his mother and all memory of her when he was a child--but he is also gifted with a mysterious power. Hiram almost drowns when he crashes a carriage into a river, but is saved from the depths by a force he doesn't understand, a blue light that lifts him up and lands him a mile away. This strange brush with death forces a new urgency on Hiram's private rebellion. Spurred on by his improvised plantation family, Thena, his chosen mother, a woman of few words and many secrets, and Sophia, a young woman fighting her own war even as she and Hiram fall in love, he becomes determined to escape the only home he's ever known. So begins an unexpected journey into the covert war on slavery that takes Hiram from the corrupt grandeur of Virginia's proud plantations to desperate guerrilla cells in the wilderness, from the coffin of the deep South to dangerously utopic movements in the North.

The Prophets

By Robert Jones, Jr.

G. P. Putnam's Sons, 2021. 388 pages. Fiction.

Isaiah was Samuel's and Samuel was Isaiah's. That was the way it was since the beginning, and the way it was to be until the end. In the barn they tended to the animals, but also to each other, transforming the hollowed-out shed into a place of human refuge, a source of intimacy and hope in a world ruled by vicious masters. But when an older man--a fellow slave--seeks to gain favor by preaching the master's gospel on the plantation, the enslaved begin to turn on their own. Isaiah and Samuel's love, which was once so simple, is seen as sinful and a clear danger to the plantation's harmony. With a lyricism reminiscent of Toni Morrison, Robert Jones, Jr., fiercely summons the voices of slaver and enslaved alike, from Isaiah and Samuel to the calculating slave master to the long line of women that surround them, women who have carried the soul of the plantation on their shoulders. As tensions build and the weight of centuries--of ancestors and future generations to come--culminates in a climactic reckoning, The Prophets fearlessly reveals the pain and suffering of inheritance, but is also shot through with hope, beauty, and truth, portraying the enormous, heroic power of love.

Conjure Women

By Afia Atakora
Random House, 2020. 400 pages. Fiction.

Conjure Women is a sweeping story that brings the world of the South before and after the Civil War vividly to life. Spanning eras and generations, it tells of the lives of three unforgettable women: Miss May Belle, a wise healing woman; her precocious and observant daughter Rue, who is reluctant to follow in her mother's footsteps as a midwife; and their master's daughter Varina. The secrets and bonds among these women and their community come to a head at the beginning of a war and at the birth of an accursed child, who sets the townspeople alight with fear and a spreading superstition that threatens their newly won, tenuous freedom. Magnificently written, brilliantly researched, richly imagined, Conjure Women moves back and forth in time to tell the haunting story of Rue, Varina, and May Belle, their passions and friendships, and the lengths they will go to save themselves and those they love.

KJ