Read Her Like an Open Book

A couple years ago I began posting pieces in which I recommended books that I thought had been overlooked upon their publication and then forgotten amid all the noise surrounding new books. These articles got a stronger response than I expected, so I’ve continued to post them every few months.

Today’s guest author, Martha Anne Toll, is a literary and cultural critic, and a novelist. Her second novel, Duet for One, a musical love story and a journey through grief, was published in spring 2025 to acclaim. Her prizewinning debut novel, Three Muses, was published in 2022. She comes to writing after a long career in social justice. For more info, visit http://www.marthannetoll.com. It’s no secret that it took almost 20 years to publish my first novel, Three Muses.

I’m as susceptible as anyone to the allure of a newly-published book with lots of buzz. But I can’t read everything that catches my eye, so a lot of books end up being left behind. Before long, a year or two has passed and they’re “backlist” books. Or I missed a book when it was published and only discovered it later. In both cases, I eventually decide it’s time to read those books. Here are three books from 2024 and 2025 that I wish I’d read sooner.

“‘Where’s Papa going with that ax?’ said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.” Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White contains one of the most effective novel openings in my memory. We learn immediately that Fern’s father plans to kill a runt piglet. The first few paragraphs then encompass the entire theme, trajectory, and drama of the novel. They launch Fern’s attempt to save the pig’s life and establish the book’s concern with mercy, justice, and the inevitability of death.

I took a break for summer vacation that ended up lasting longer than I expected thanks to a computer crash. Now, a few weeks and a new laptop later, I’m back to writing again. I’ve read several books in the last month but thought I would review them two at a time rather than in one long piece. Today I’m reviewing a new book by an author whose previous books I’ve enjoyed and a debut novel by an author from Louisiana. Marriage and Other Monuments — Virginia Pye (Koehler Books, Feb.

Whistler –Ann Patchett (Harper: June 2) Fifty-three-year-old Daphne, an English teacher at a private school, and her husband Jonathan are at the Metropolitan Museum of Art when they encounter the man who was her stepfather for two years when she was a child. Circumstances led Eddie Triplett to leave the family abruptly when Daphne was 9, something Daphne and her younger sister Leda didn’t understand at the time and had mostly forgotten about as her mother remarried and the years passed.

I was planning to post a longer piece with three more reviews today, but several things conspired to interfere with that plan. So I thought I’d share these two reviews now and post the others later this week. Tata — Valerie Perrin (Europa Editions: June 23) I loved Valerie Perrin’s first book translated into English, Fresh Water for Flowers (2020), and enjoyed the follow-up, Three (2022), and her first book, Forgotten on Sunday, when it was made available in English IN 2024.

So you want to be a writer. So you want to tug a reader close enough to feel your breath. You want to write something that really means something, and you want someone to need it. But agents, you say. But publishing. And your heart darkens like the softest spot on an overripe fruit, rotten from waiting. Yes, I want to console you with knowing. Agents. Publishers. Because I know what it means to want so much from words, to want them to take a shape you can hold in your hands.

My July 2 post about distinctly American books that make for suitable reading during the USA’s 250th birthday received such a positive response that I decided to share eight more books that either didn’t get enough attention when they were published or have faded from readers’ awareness. I hope you discover (or rediscover) some books that provide you with a satisfying reading experience.

Americans are living in unprecedented times. And while most of us are protesting and resisting in whatever ways make sense for us, we’re also going on with our lives. It’s the kind of surreal situation I’d previously only read about. In the last year and a half so much has changed so dramatically. I still believe passionately in the America that strives to be good, the America in which the Constitution is our scripture, and the America that celebrates democracy and pluralism.