Karen Palmer Book Recommendations & Book Mentions

Karen Palmer

It's Friday, thank god. I've had enough of this week. #FridayReads, however, is @TobarWriter's excellent novel THE BARBARIAN NURSERIES. As a native Californian, I am entertained—and wincing—at every page.

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Karen Palmer

#FridayReads is Julie Otsuka's THE SWIMMERS. Just started. Already in love.

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Karen Palmer

Reading Jackie Polzin's @latimesfob first-novel-award-winner BROOD—aka "the chicken book." Good grief, it's lovely. The chosen details are stunning. Some writers have such a gift for delineating small moments with care and wit, for showing us how they stand in for all of life.

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Karen Palmer

Is End Times Twitter doing #FridayReads? I've got 3 going: Gabino Iglesias's THE DEVIL TAKES YOU HOME, which is giving my rusty Spanish a workout; Susan Stryker's TRANSGENDER HISTORY, &; Meg Howry's THEY'RE GOING TO LOVE YOU, recommended by the excellent @lacy_crawford .

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Karen Palmer

@TheBookMaven Reading Ethan Chatagnier’s SINGER DISTANCE. #FridayReads

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Karen Palmer

The NYT review of Kushner's BREAKING HISTORY has one of the most memorably icky yucky blech I-want-to-vomit lines ever: "Kushner’s fealty to Trump remains absolute. Reading this book reminded me of watching a cat lick a dog’s eye goo."

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Karen Palmer

@EliseBlackwell Also, for dark Irish humor and crackling dialogue, Kevin Barry's crime novel Night Boat to Tangier.

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Karen Palmer

Okay, so I finished reading Danya Kukafka's novel NOTES ON AN EXECUTION, and wow. A book about a serial killer that fully honors those affected by his crime while also showing us how complicated evil can be, allowing for compassion, even there. What an imaginative tour de force.

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Karen Palmer

Reading Sarah Manguso's VERY COLD PEOPLE. My god, it's compelling, so sad, and so familiar.

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Karen Palmer

Reading 2 books I love and recommend: Mohsin Hamid's novel THE LAST WHITE MAN (he also wrote the spectacular EXIT WEST), and Joe Moran's FIRST YOU WRITE A SENTENCE, which has an infectiously brimming love for, well, sentences. It makes you proud to devote a lifetime to them.

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