i read three books in november that scratch the very specific itch i nearly always have for good stories set in the twentieth century. if you love cat sebastian's chronicle and/or cabot series, or if you love books written in the twentieth century like the best of everything or harriet the spy, or if you enjoyed emily henry’s great big beautiful life or taylor jenkins reid’s the seven husbands of evelyn hugo, these books might be for you! two of them are dual timeline and one is solely historical.

(no one paid me to say any of this, but i will get a tiny bit of money if you buy through my affiliate links.)

hot desk by laura dickerman—in the immediate aftermath of covid, two publishers have to share office space and institute a hot desk policy. rebecca has the desk monday and tuesday, ben has it wednesday and thursday. (i don’t remember if friday is mentioned in the book, but i assume everyone is wfh.) they both want to win publishing rights to the estate of “the lion,” a legend of nyc literary fiction who is recently deceased. meanwhile, in 1981, jane begins an internship at the literary magazine founded by the lion, who is at the height of his career. (cw: rape)

after hours at dooryard books by cat sebastian—look, i probably don’t have to sell you on a cat sebastian novel set in 1968 in a used bookstore in the west village where everyone is a political dissident, but in case i do: it’s so fucking lovely, it absolutely meets the moment we’re in, and it made me cry (admittedly a very easy accomplishment). there’s a very good baby and a very good dog and two idiots fall in love. (cw: telegram from the war department, among other things to grieve)

the one and only vivian stone by melissa o’connor—margot is clearing out her beloved late grandmother’s house when she finds a box with seven cassette tapes. without a working tape player, she turns to her high school boyfriend leo, who still lives nearby. as they listen together to vivian’s story of making it in hollywood, falling in love with one man and marrying another, old feelings between margot and leo creep back—but they can’t find the missing eighth tape or figure out why vivian gave them to margot’s grandmother.

still on my tbr: the singer sisters by sarah seltzer; the lions of fifth avenue by fiona davis

also: i have a book idea that i’ve been tinkering with since 2021 that fits right in with these other books and can’t decide if it wants to be YA or adult. hmmmm. time to revisit it? perhaps.

what have you been reading lately?

xxoo
annika