Ten Novels I Like That I’m Pretty Sure My Mom Would, Too
(Among their features? A contemporary voice that welcomes readers rather than stiff-arming them; clarity of storytelling; warmth rather than coldness; likeable characters whom the fates (and the author) treat, if not always kindly, then at least not savagely; relatively few structural or verbal games; and magic is welcome, but not weirdness. I’ve arranged the list alphabetically by author.)
Damnation Spring by Ash Davidson
We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves by Karen Joy Fowler
Little Sister by Barbara Gowdy
Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin
The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henríquez
A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
Mathilda Savitch by Victor Lodato
A Reunion of Ghosts by Judith Claire Mitchell
The Housekeeper and the Professor by Yoko Ogawa
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
— December 17, 2021