An Upper Valley native, Emma moved back to the area after 5 years working in sunny Los Angeles. After nearly a decade at Hanover-based INGO Grassroot Soccer she joined the Norwich bookstore in late fall, 2020.
Dedicated to all things garden- and tennis-related…with a fondness for Ottolenghi and appealing book covers.
My favorite kind of book - utterly hilarious then surprisingly moving. Mayflies is about the friendship of two Scottish men during different points in their lives. They're rough and tumble kids, passionate and thrill-seeking young men, then in their 50's confronting mortality. After I finished the book, I realized I missed the characters - it was that good.
A collection of intense short stories that capture pivotal moments in ordinary lives. Moniz's intimate stories are quick, tight, and often jarring. They will haunt you and you’ll want to read them again.
A novel shortlisted for the Booker Prize is always worth a try, but Burnt Sugar is not to be missed. Avni Doshi’s depiction of the relationship between a mother and daughter is filled with raw honesty and brutal humor — not unlike the 2020 Booker winner, Shuggie Bain (which I thoroughly enjoyed as well.)
Even the cover art, which drew me to the book in the first place, plays a part in Eula Biss’s examination of our economic system at a personal level. (The cover contains details from a conceptual art project by Danica Phelps: in brief, every green line represents a dollar of income, a red line represents a dollar spent…)
Though relevant to any readers, this book is likely to resonate with the author’s (and my own) demographic [College-educated liberal American woman under 45-ish, especially with family and friends in academia...too specific?] as we confront societal, familial, and personal expectations in our career paths and life choices. Eula Biss grounds her shrewd observations in research, studies, and history.
Frankly, it’s quite satisfying to have someone articulate and reflect on one's own ruminations in a published book ...especially with an appealing and clever cover.