My Best Books for 2022

Posted by Kate W in Fiction, Non-fiction, Stuff and Nonsense and tagged with 2022, Beth Ann Fennelly, book list, Chloe Hooper, Claire Keegan, Claire Thomas, Douglas Stuart, Gabrielle Chan, Hannah Kent, John Boyne, Julia Armfield, Julia May Jonas, Katherine May, Louis Theroux, memoir, Natasha Sholl, novella, Patricia Lockwood, Patrick Radden Keefe, Sinéad O'Connor December 31, 2022

I did away with ‘top tens’ a few years ago, and instead I finish the reading year with a recap of the books that are still speaking to me (less about four and five-star ratings, more about what has stuck). Continue reading →

Rogues by Patrick Radden Keefe

Posted by Kate W in Non-fiction and tagged with 2022, American, book review, essays, nonfiction, Patrick Radden Keefe, review, true crime December 18, 2022

You can basically sign me up for anything that Patrick Radden Keefe writes. After I finished Say Nothing, I was a devotee.

Rogues is a collection of ‘true stories of grifters, killers, rebels and crooks’, all written as long-form investigative pieces for The New Yorker. Continue reading →

Nonfiction November 2022 – Stranger Than Fiction

Posted by Kate W in Non-fiction and tagged with 2022, Kati Marton, Lea Ypi, memoir, nonfiction, Patrick Radden Keefe, Rahaf Mohammed November 14, 2022

This week, Christopher at Plucked From the Stacks looks at what makes some nonfiction books ‘fictiony’, simply because the stories are so wild, they don’t seem real. Continue reading →

Nonfiction November 2022 – My Year in Nonfiction

Posted by Kate W in Non-fiction and tagged with 2022, Katherine May, memoir, Natasha Sholl, nonfiction, Patricia Lockwood, Patrick Radden Keefe, Sinéad O'Connor November 1, 2022

It’s time for Nonfiction November, starting with my ‘Year in Nonfiction’, hosted by Doing Dewey. Continue reading →

Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe

Posted by Kate W in Non-fiction and tagged with 2022, American, book review, nonfiction, Patrick Radden Keefe, review October 22, 2022

The Sacklers had given away hundreds of millions of dollars, and for decades the Sackler name had been associated in the public mind with philanthropy.

But Patrick Radden Keefe reveals the other side of the Sackler name in Empire of Pain, where he exposes (in meticulous and gripping detail) how the Sacklers were responsible for developing OxyContin, the painkiller that is described as the ‘taproot’ of the opioid epidemic. Continue reading →

Things That Are Making Me Happy This Week

Posted by Kate W in Stuff and Nonsense and tagged with 2022, COVID-19, Marina Abramovic, music, Patrick Radden Keefe, podcast, television May 1, 2022

A very quiet week as still in recovery mode.

01. Piccolina’s delicious gelato answer to the box of Roses. Continue reading →

Six Degrees of Separation – from The End of the Affair to Wellville

Posted by Kate W in Stuff and Nonsense and tagged with Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney, Dani Shapiro, Graham Greene, John Irving, Julia Armfield, Kat Arney, Michael Ondaatje, Patrick Radden Keefe, Six Degrees of Separation, T.C. Boyle, TBR March 5, 2022

It’s time for #6degrees. Start at the same place as other wonderful readers, add six books, and see where you end up. Continue reading →

I’m waiting for… 2022 edition

Posted by Kate W in Stuff and Nonsense and tagged with 2022, Amy Bloom, Brooke Dunnell, Carlene Bauer, Catherine Prasifka, Chuck Klosterman, Claire Louise Bennett, Clover Stroud, Daniel H. Pink, Delia Ephron, Douglas Stuart, Grant Ginder, Hanya Yanagihara, Hernan Diaz, Jean Chen Ho, Jessamine Chan, Jessie Burton, John Irving, Jonathan Safran Foer, Julia May Jonas, Julie Otsuka, Kathryn Schulz, Kendra James, Lisa Taddeo, Liska Jacobs, Ottessa Moshfegh, Patrick Radden Keefe, Rojas Contreras, Sarah Manguso, Sloane Crosley, Tom Perrotta, Victoria Hannan January 5, 2022

Proving that I don’t actually care about my never-really-shrinking-TBR-list is this list of new releases that are on my radar for 2022. Continue reading →

The Top 57 from the Best Books of 2021 List of Lists

Posted by Kate W in Stuff and Nonsense and tagged with 2021, Akwaeke Emezi, Amor Towles, Anthony Doerr, Anthony Veasna So, Ashley C. Ford, book list, Brandon Hobson, Brandon Taylor, Brian Broome, Casey Mcquiston, Chang-Rae Lee, Claire Vaye Watkins, Clint Smith, Colm Toibin, Colson Whitehead, Damon Galgut, Dantiel W. Moniz, Dawn Turner, Dawnie Walton, Elizabeth Kolbert, Elizabeth Strout, Francis Spufford, Gabriela Garcia, Gary Shteyngart, Hanif Abdurraqib, Honorée Fanonne Jeffers, Imbolo Mbue, Jason Mott, Joan Didion, Jocelyn Nicole Johnson, Jonathan Franzen, Kaitlyn Greenidge, Katie Kitamura, Kazuo Ishiguro, Kirstin Quade, Lauren Groff, Lauren Oyler, Louise Erdrich, Maggie Shipstead, Melissa Broder, Michelle Zauner, Nadia Owusu, Patricia Engel, Patricia Lockwood, Patrick Radden Keefe, Qian Julie Wang, Rachel Cusk, Richard Powers, Rivka Galchen, Robert Jones Jr, S. Cosby, Sally Rooney, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Tiya Miles, Torrey Peters, Tove Ditlevsen, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Zakiya Dalila Harris December 20, 2021

Presenting the 2021 Commonly-Agreed-by-the-People-Who-Publish-Best-of-2021-Book-Lists-Before-December-31 top 57 books.

(This is my annual community service to book-bloggers – a list of the books that appear most frequently on the 45 lists that I listed on Best Books of 2021 – A List of Lists – enjoy!). Continue reading →

My Best Books for 2020

Posted by Kate W in Stuff and Nonsense and tagged with 2020, Adam Kay, Adrienne Brodeur, Andrew Ridgeley, Ann Patchett, Anna Funder, book list, eighties, Elizabeth Strout, Emma Jane Unsworth, Helen Macdonald, Julia Baird, Lily King, Meg Mason, music, Ottessa Moshfegh, Patrick Radden Keefe, Rachel DeLoache Williams, Taffy Brodesser-Akner December 31, 2020

I did away with ‘top tens’ a few years ago, and instead I finish the reading year with a recap of the books that are still speaking to me (less about four and five-star ratings, more about what has stuck). Continue reading →