The Stalker by Paula Bomer

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? This was one of Lit Hub’s most anticipated books of 2025, and any character marketed as “an Untalented Mr. Ripley” has my interest.

Why not 3 or more stars? Our titular stalker is as cruel and power-hungry as any Patrick Bateman, but without the resources and status to take his sadism to the next level. Doughty evolves not a bit over the course of the novel, so we spend 200+ uncomfortable pages in his self-aggrandizing brain, penis praise and all, as he manipulates, abuses, and exploits everyone around him. I couldn’t bear it.

The Erotic Potential of My Wife by David Foenkinos

3/5 stars

What's it about? To overcome his obsession with collecting, Hector decides to fall in love. His new wife Brigitte unwittingly offers him the possibility of his greatest collection yet: moments of her washing the windows. Absurd and lighthearded.

How’d I find it? I loved Charlotte and have been looking forward to reading more Foenkinos ever since. This copy came from the French language section at Powell’s, which often harbors a treasure or two.

Who will enjoy this book? The Erotic Potential of My Wife is a more mature yet equally zany love story for fans of Boris Vian’s classic L’écume des jours (curiously titled Mood Indigo in translation).

What stood out? This silly novel offered chuckles throughout, even when Hector exposes himself at a dinner party. Foenkinos gives his supporting characters their moments; Laurence, the wife of Hector’s best friend Marcel, doesn’t disappoint. One bête noire: a latent misogyny that feels so French lurks in the prose. I noticed it, found it disappointing, and was able to enjoy myself regardless.

Which line made me feel something? Sick burn (translation my own): “Brigitte no longer washed the windows to satisfy her husband’s desires (they used an American technique that consisted of spacing out cleans longer and longer (the Americans had a knack for calling obvious techniques American)).”

Loop by Brenda Lozano, translated by Annie McDermott

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? Lost Avenue Books read this for its April book club pick.

Why not 3 or more stars? I loved the idea of Loop, how the speaker chronicles the experience of her lover being away in an unraveling à la Penelope’s shroud. The allusions to myth, the diary-like setup—there is much to admire here. For this reader, the patterns and repetitions were tenuous, and many of the recurring questions too precious in style for my taste.

The Beauty of the Husband by Anne Carson

4/5 stars

What's it about? A marriage dissolves over the course of 29 poems in this story inspired by Keats. The ever-talented Carson serves up a work of art like none you’ve encountered.

How’d I find it? We all know how I feel about Autobiography of Red, so I’m going to give anything she writes a whirl.

Who will enjoy this book? The Maggie Nelson fans should respond to this one.

What stood out? Two people meet, fall in love, weld their lives together, and grow apart over the years as trust and communication erode. Each section opens with a fragment from Keats’s oeuvre (Anne Carson hasn’t met a fragment too small) that connects the story to its wider themes of beauty and archetype. Though the word “wound” appears on the first page (nay, the very first line!), the rest of the book redeems it.

Which line made me feel something? So many strange lines to chew on: “Is innocence just one of the disguises of beauty? / He could fill structures of / threat with a light like the earliest olive oil.”

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? Multiple pals have recommended this to me, and hey, you gotta love that cover art.

Why not 3 or more stars? I offer my biggest gripe in the form of an alternate title: “Telling, and Telling, and Telling.” Indeed, the nod to Shakespeare’s famous soliloquy from Macbeth doesn’t quite work for this novel, which aims for the stars with a bazooka full of plot. As a reader, I struggled spending page time with Sam, a sniveling Jude St. Francis type who happens to be one of our protagonists. If you ignore the dialogue, the chapters that detail the creative process behind the games that Sam and Sadie build together make for some good reading.

On Writing by Stephen King

3/5 stars

What's it about? Stephen King shares his personal path to writing as a career and tips for the aspiring author. Sound advice abounds.

How’d I find it? Shoppers frequently requested this title during my time book slinging at Busboys and Poets. Had to read it for myself.

Who will enjoy this book? Try Amy Tan’s Where the Past Begins or Anne Lamott’s Bird by Bird for other blends of memoir and craft chat.

What stood out? I appreciated learning about King’s approach to the page and his writing absolutes (like him, I struggle with the hated adverb). His thoughts on writing testify to his mastery and success, with the bonus of learning the backstories behind some of his hits, like Carrie and Misery. A major takeaway on craft comes from how he advocates for firm boundaries, necessary for churning out creative work. And work it is—King has definitely put in the time. One thing that irks me: I found how King relates to gender and sex in the old school binary ways off-putting, though it doesn’t bother me in his fiction. The more you know…

Which line made me feel something? Enjoy this graphic praise of British grammar: “a British advertising man with a proper education can make magazine copy for ribbed condoms sound like the Magna goddam Carta”.

Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry

5/5 stars

What's it about? On the Day of the Dead in 1938, former British consul Geoffrey Firmin embarks on the last bender of his life upon the return of his ex-wife Yvonne to their home in Quauhnahuac, Mexico. A masterpiece.

How’d I find it? The Lost Avenue Book Club picked this read.

Who will enjoy this book? For another book about someone’s last day alive, check out A Simple Man by Christopher Isherwood.

What stood out? Geoffrey’s hopeless self-destruction hangs over the novel as he drinks himself into oblivion to forget his personal grief and the world’s descent into violence, the specter of World War II already on the horizon. Among the many achievements of the book is its precision in place and time; this work could have no other title. Under the Volcano is rife with symbolism, the depth of which I only grasped after reading the letter, included in my edition, from Lowry to his publisher defending the manuscript’s structure and length. Lowry had a reason for everything: the number of chapters, the Joycean ride that is chapter 11, and even the opening of the book, which takes place a year after the story’s events.

Which line made me feel something? I wouldn’t dare rob you of the book’s prettiest passages, so I’ll focus on its humor instead. Take this quip from Geoffrey to a bartender: “I love hell. I can’t wait to get back there. In fact I’m running. I’m almost back there already.”

The Renunciations by Donika Kelly

4/5 stars

What's it about? Donika Kelly finds courage and healing in an examination of the links between childhood abuse and the wreckage of a soured marriage. Powerful and devastating.

How’d I find it? Always a fan of the work put out by Graywolf Press, I read whatever Kelly publishes since discovering her debut collection Bestiary.

Who will enjoy this book? Those who appreciated In the Dream House, Carmen Maria Machado’s haunting memoir / essay collection, might admire how Kelly uses mythology to address similar themes.

What stood out? The way in which Kelly summons archetypes brings resilience to the personal tragedy of this collection; she is a storyteller, an interpreter, an oracle. The poems titled “Dear—” that appear in both the past and present sections contain line for line the book’s most stunning verse.

Which line made me feel something? From “Sanctuary”: “I call this the difficulty of the nonbeliever, / of waking, every morning, without a god. / How to understand, then, what deserves rescue / and what deserves to suffer.”

On Earth As It Is Beneath by Ana Paula Maia, translated by Padma Viswanathan

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? My quest for contemporary Portuguese literature continues! When I learned this was shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, I put a hold on a copy from Multnomah County Library.

Why not 3 or more stars? In an isolated penal colony, the rules change when a warden loses his humanity. A book of few surprises in language or plot until the final pages, when a supernatural flourish vanishes as suddenly as it appears.

The Living and the Rest by José Eduardo Agualusa, translated by Daniel Hahn

2/5 stars

How’d I find it? In preparation for a trip to Portugal, I’ve been seeking out contemporary fiction in the language. I don’t remember how I became aware of this title, but I borrowed a copy from Multnomah County Library.

Why not 3 or more stars? Writers convene on the Ilha de Moçambique for a conference, then find themselves cut off from the rest of the world during a storm that seems to annihilate everything beyond the island. This strange, open-ended book embraces metafiction and thoughts on the creative process while navigating its apocalyptic subplot. While dreamy, its mysteries aren’t cohesive, and the disjointed ideas don’t quite add up to a satisfying read.