I'm sorry I left this book with very little to say. I didn't love it, and I also didn't feel strongly in a negative way, either. I am quite interested in her work, but this wasn't the one for me. no biggie.

After rereading “Hamnet” this month, I felt the quiet, insistent beckoning of “Piranesi” to return to “the house” and be reminded of his softness, curiosity and appreciation for the world he inhabits. Life is so hard, and despite it all, I know that there are insular and meaningful connections to be made through literature, community, resistance and even within myself. Returning to a book that breaks your heart and gives you hope is sometimes the easiest thing we can do.

As people have been saying since its release, it is still the best advice to go into this slim little novel knowing nothing. Piranesi, the narrator, will be your guide and there is not a better one. He is sweet and open and endearing from the moment you open the book. I love him, we all do, and you will too — I’d think. It takes place in a house, or so it is called, but this isn’t a typical house, it’s a world, a seaside and there are statues and some things familiar presented in unfamiliar ways. Let is wash over you, like the tides wash through the house. That’s all you need to know. Years later it is still unique, touching and fascinating. It isn’t overly sentimental, there is a lot to discover, and I’d recommend this to basically everyone.

I can’t talk about the specifics but it taps into something that might resonate with us all now in regards to home, the world around us, the power of the natural world, the importance of love and empathy and the actions perpetuated by power hungry men. I love Piranesi, as I’ve said, and loving him makes me remember that I love other people as well. That there is suffering outside of my own, and that I do not need to be devoid of pain to help someone else through theirs… but also — to know that it is okay to be helped, myself. I would like to be more like him. I’ll keep trying.

Two women who have always been aligned on their stance NOT to have children begin to diverge. What will this do to their friendship, their identities and how can they support each other despite those different journeys.

This novel is about the desire to have (or not to have) a child, what motherhood means and how a woman's opinion to have a child can ebb and flow over time. The story explores the nuances and complexities, often contradictory, of womanhood, motherhood and what it means to love a child.

This was absolutely excellent. There are difficult topics like compromised pregnancy and infant illness but it's handled with honesty AND care.

This was so compelling, despite being very quiet in both tone and plot.

We begin the story with a closed off, bitter woman, set in her ways, critical and demanding. She is unlikeable to say the least, but Isabel’s disposition is borne of a life limited by duty and fear of her own truth. A woman, Eva, her brother’s new girlfriend, comes to stay in the house and is her antithesis in demeanor and actions. Confronting for Isabel, a change happens. But the novel shifts and a great betrayal reframes the entire narrative, emphasizing the power of perspective and experience, the past and even the truth. I was blown away by this poignant and evocative storytelling and the lesson re-impressed, of having the whole story —

I think the less you go in knowing, the better. Let it catch you off guard. Highly recommend!

[Winterween prompts: vampires, 2025 release, red on the cover, at night, horror]

The novel opens with a woman researching the newly discovered journal, belonging to an ancestor. Through this journal she comes to know him better but also the mysterious subject of his journal. In a unique take on a classic horror genre we unpack white violence, colonization, preservation of native culture, and the responsibility we carry for the actions of our ancestors. This was so well written, poignant and riveting. It’s gruesome in some scenes, it’s horror, but an important read, for sure!

[Winterween Prompts: at night, horror]

THIS is gothic, historical done right. I can see why so many people have fallen under the spell of this novel. While it is more overt in it’s storytelling than Shirley Jackson, I believe fans of her work will also love this. We have three POV chapters, one in an asylum as a doctor tries to understand what has happened to his patient and what she may or may not be guilty of, another is her account of that time, and the other a diary from over a hundred years prior. The titular companions are portraits but as wooden standees, and as if that wasn’t unsettling enough, it takes place in an old house belonging to a family with secrets in its history. A couple of the scenes gave me chills and one in particular made me say, outloud, “what the fuck?!”