book nation by jen

Fiction

“The Mountains Sing:” A Beautiful Family Saga Written From the Heart

I have recently read wonderful books by Vietnamese authors, Ocean Vuong's On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous and Thannha Lai's Butterfly Yellow along with Chris Bohjalian’s new book The Red Lotus, which partially takes place in Vietnam. Each of these books pieces together for readers how beautiful the country is and how…

Jennifer BlankfeinMarch 25, 2020

Fiction

“The Man Who Saw Everything:” Perceptions, History and a Touch of The Beatles

There is a barber showing photographs and a banker in a motorcar in Deborah Levy’s new novel, and this may remind you of a popular tune. “Penny Lane” was in my ears and in my eyes as I read this short yet complex story sprinkled with Beatles references by this…

Jennifer BlankfeinJanuary 15, 2020

Fiction

“The Lost Family” Covers Marriage and Love Post-WWII

Jenna Blum, author of the bestseller Those Who Save Us, is back with another novel, one that is equally heartbreaking and haunting. Covering topics of grief and love, Blum artfully and skillfully reminds us that the past never seems to stay there, and that the repercussions can still be felt decades and…

Jennifer BlankfeinJuly 16, 2018

Fiction

Syrian Refugee Struggles Run Deep in “The Beekeeper of Aleppo”

Author Christy Lefteri is a daughter of refugees, and spent several summers volunteering with refugees in Greece. There is no doubt she beautifully and accurately taps into the suffering of her characters with the heartfelt storytelling of the plight of Syrian refugees in The Beekeeper of Aleppo. This emotional story…

Jennifer BlankfeinJanuary 22, 2020

Fiction

Sally Rooney Depicts the Highs and Pitfalls of Two Teens in Love

sSally Rooney’newest novel, Normal People (Hogarth) is an engaging page-turner focusing on the shifting relationship between two teenagers from Ireland. This propulsive novel from the author of Conversations with Friends was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize, with little wonder. Connell is a smart, popular athlete with a working class single mother,…

Jennifer BlankfeinMay 22, 2019

Fiction

Rewilding Wolves in the Scottish Plains Speaks to Empathy in All Its Forms

With incredible writing and a compelling story, author Charlotte McConaghy shines with her new novel, Once There Were Wolves (Flatiron Books). Inti Flynn is a member of a team of people trying to slow down climate change by rewilding wolves in the Scottish Plains. The local farmers are not happy because…

Jennifer BlankfeinNovember 30, 2021

Fiction

Novel Highlights Real Danger of Hitler’s Food Tasters

Sharing a meal is typically viewed as a binding activity, creating closer relationships with all present. However, you may want to toss your assumptions of intimate connections over food straight in the garbage after reading Rosella Postorino’s latest novel! Based on truth, At the Wolf’s Table (Flatiron Books) is a historical…

Jennifer BlankfeinMarch 1, 2019

Fiction

Navigate Family Life Between Canada and Hong Kong in Pik-Shuen Fung’s “Ghost Forest”

With evidence of soul searching and self questioning, author Pik-Shuen Fung’s unnamed narrator shares honest, revealing and humorous moments in Ghost Forest (One World). When her family decided to make a life in Vancouver, her father had to return to Hong Kong to work. The mother went through a tough time…

Jennifer BlankfeinJuly 15, 2021

Fiction

“My Dark Vanessa” Explores Issues of Consent, Complicity and Coercion

On the heels of the American Dirt conversations, Kate Elizabeth Russell's novel, My Dark Vanessa, has been met with its own controversy. Another highly anticipated novel — one that garnered its author a six-figure book deal — has entered the conversation on the gap in opportunities available to Latinx authors. My…

Jennifer BlankfeinMarch 10, 2020

Fiction

“Mother Daughter Widow Wife” Examines Women’s Power, Agency and Identity

“Wasserman has a unique gift for describing the turbulent intersection of love and need, hinting that the freedom we seek may only be the freedom to change.” — Liz Phair, author of Horror Stories Mother Daughter Widow Wife (Scribner) by Robin Wasserman is about women, identity and power. This is the…

Jennifer BlankfeinAugust 25, 2020

Fiction

Memories of the Past and a Vision of the Future

In Another Time (Harper) by Jillian Cantor is a wonderful historical fiction novel with deep characters who love books, music and each other. In 1930s Berlin, Max, a German bookshop owner sees Hanna playing what she loves most, the violin. He is enchanted and in an attempt to get her…

Jennifer BlankfeinMarch 29, 2019

Fiction

Leesa Cross-Smith Writes a Sensitive and Touching Fiction in “This Close to Okay”

Two strangers meet by chance, put just enough trust in one another to share bits of their past, spend one intense weekend together and end up saving each other … what’s not to love? This Close To Okay by Leesa Cross-Smith kept me engrossed from beginning to end and was…

Jennifer BlankfeinMay 12, 2021

Fiction

Joyce Carol Oates Explores the Grief of a Family in “Night. Sleep. Death. The Stars.”

“Timely, monumental, brilliant. ... Spot on for these times of racial divide, as well as in portraying the fractious family dynamic that many of us know all too well. . . . Night deserves the top spot on your quarantine nightstand.” —Star Tribune Night. Sleep. Death. The Stars. by Joyce Carol…

Jennifer BlankfeinAugust 19, 2020

Fiction

“In West Mills,” a Small Town Navigates Hardship

In West Mills (Bloomsbury) by De’Shawn Charles Winslow is a charming story about an African American family in North Carolina spanning from the 1940s – 1987, and the difficult struggles and complexities of love. We meet Knot, who has an unconventional lifestyle, always reveling in her freedom. She lives alone,…

Jennifer BlankfeinSeptember 25, 2019

Fiction

Impact On Countries & Time: Joan Silber’s “Improvement”

Connecting 1970s Turkey and New York today, 72-year-old author Joan Silber, winner of the 2018 Pen/Faulkner Award for Fiction, weaves a tapestry of interpersonal connections and shows how relationships bind us together and decisions have widespread impact across countries and over time in her latest novel, Improvement (Amazon Digital Services). Reyna…

Jennifer BlankfeinAugust 6, 2018

Fiction

“If You Want to Make God Laugh,” Read Him This Book

If You Want to Make God Laugh (Putnam Books) is a masterfully written emotional journey of three South African women where everyone is either running to or from something as they try to find peace and understand their calling. It is a testament to the incredible strength women have and to…

Jennifer BlankfeinFebruary 25, 2019

“The Mountains Sing:” A Beautiful Family Saga Written From the Heart

“The Man Who Saw Everything:” Perceptions, History and a Touch of The Beatles

“The Lost Family” Covers Marriage and Love Post-WWII

Syrian Refugee Struggles Run Deep in “The Beekeeper of Aleppo”

Sally Rooney Depicts the Highs and Pitfalls of Two Teens in Love

Rewilding Wolves in the Scottish Plains Speaks to Empathy in All Its Forms

Novel Highlights Real Danger of Hitler’s Food Tasters

Navigate Family Life Between Canada and Hong Kong in Pik-Shuen Fung’s “Ghost Forest”

“My Dark Vanessa” Explores Issues of Consent, Complicity and Coercion

“Mother Daughter Widow Wife” Examines Women’s Power, Agency and Identity

Memories of the Past and a Vision of the Future

Leesa Cross-Smith Writes a Sensitive and Touching Fiction in “This Close to Okay”

Joyce Carol Oates Explores the Grief of a Family in “Night. Sleep. Death. The Stars.”

“In West Mills,” a Small Town Navigates Hardship

Impact On Countries & Time: Joan Silber’s “Improvement”

“If You Want to Make God Laugh,” Read Him This Book

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