September

 Even though it's the fall, will be looking for good beach reads!

Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage by Belle Burden, 2026

A New York City socialiate with an impressive lineage, Burden comes from old money. 

This is her no-holds-bar memoir of when her husband decides to leave her. During the pandemic.

It's hard to feel too sorry for her as he leaves her at their large Martha's Vinyard estate to flee back to their large Manhattan apartment.

The emotions are raw though, and she is brutally honest with no filter. She feels guilty for being in pajamas when she learns that her husband is having an affair. 

Should she have put more effort in her appearance? Even during quarantine?

She notes that more women were shocked at the honestly in her memoir than of her husband leaving her. That friends were not appaled by her husband's decision to leave his family and not ask for shared custody. 

Realizing that if she, as a woman, had done that, she would be ostracized.

The memoir is well-written and its honestly and self-awareness impressive. It shows how something so devastaing can strip someone to their true selves. 

July/August

Last Night In Brooklyn by Xochitl Gonzalez, 2026

A fun book that captures the carefreeness, sense of invicibility and freedom of being young, (semi) single and in living in a city in your 20s. 

Story of Brooklyn before it became gentifried. 

Alicia Forten was raised by a single mother in Fort Greene, Brooklyn but exposed to the elite world through her distant father and spending summers at Martha's Vinyard with her cousin Devon.

She lives across from up and coming designer La Garza who has a larger than life personality and rides the high of being the darling of New York City. La Garza also dated Devon previously.

Provides insight into being Black while in Finance and growing up as part of the elite upper class. As well as struggling to make it (and selling out) in New York.

Great characters and memorable story. I enjoyed Gonzalez's writing so much that I plan to read her  novel Olga Dies Dreaming.

Kin by Tayari Jones, 2026

Exquisitely written. Beautiful language. Jones is a gorgous writer. With so many details that stick - like how Hattie Lee is a 'trifling' woman. The character Babydoll, or Ruth Anne.

The story takes place in the 1950s/1960s in Lousiana of two girls born motherless in small town Honeysuckle.

Vernice is given the nickname Niecy, what her cradle friend Annie calls her. 

Niecy's mother has been murdered by her father. Her aunt Irene comes back from Ohio to raise Niecy, fleeing back to Ohio once Niecy heads off to Spelman College in Atlanta.

Annie is haunted by the fact that her mother Hattie Lee is out in the world, leaving Annie with her mother to raise.

Annie flees town with her boyfriend Clyde from a neighboring small town. They are heading to Memphis where Hattie Lee's last known address is.

Their lives diverge as Niecy enters another world at Spelman, where she rooms with the wealthy and worldy Joette. She is all but selcted by a Spelman alum to marry her wealthy son Franklin where is enveloped in the world of a Housewife who gets her anger out on dust and joins groups where all white, with no breaks, is required.

Annie's adventures to Memphis are met with detours, with their car breaking down. She ends up in a relationship with Clyde's cousin Bobo. They live a simple and modest life in Memphis.

The women keep in touch through letters and visits. Despite their starkly different worlds, they remain each others sisters.

All Fours by Miranda July, 2024

How fitting I read July's book in July! Recommended by a friend. Story centers around a woman going through an identity realization (or idealization?) while peri-menopausal. 

She takes off from her home in California for a road trip to New York City but ends up getting off at nearby Monrovia where she stays for the week creating a new life and world for herself while under the guise of driving cross country.

Her relationship with Davey is compelling and messy. When she retunrs home, there are fallouts from what she has discovered on her trip. 

I liked how the story played out the fallout versus her returning to life as usual with either her or her husband changing and realizing they were wrong all along.

Despite compelling moments, it was more sexually charged than I typically enjoy reading and would have stopped reading it except that a friend whose book taste I share had recommended.

June

Down with the Shipmans by Meg Mitchell Moore, 2026

A fun 'beach read' for my plane trip over to Europe. Lots of references to Boston and its surrounding areas, so that was also enjoyable. 

The story is of three very different sisters who return to their family beach house in Rye, NH.

Jordan is the eldest, a corporate titan in PR living in NYC. Natalie is the middle child, a tradwife influencer married to Ty, who grew up on a farm in the west.

Mae is the youngest, working two jobs and bouncing around in Colorado as she tries to figure out her identity.

Their recently widowed and remarried father beckons the girls to Rye for a mandatory family vacation where he announces that he will be selling the beach home.

The coastal living portrayed in the book also is fitting as we have been considering purchasing an ocean front property.

London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family's Search for Truth by Patrick Radden Keefe, 2026

The true story of the death of Zac Brettler, written by Patrick Radden Keefe, author of Empire of Pain about the Sackler family and the opiod epidemic. 

Amazing story about the violent underbelly of London due to the loose rules and regulation England has around wealth and allowing people like oligarch Russions to rule the City.

An insight into the perception of wealth, convoluted trusts to default on debts - it's amazing what Akbar Shamji (and his father) does. 

He starts companies and investments only to spend proliferately on private jets, luxory homes, vacations leaving behind debt that cannot be reclaimed.

He has no assets - the home he lives in is owned by a trust, the company he purchases are owned by trusts. Amazing.

Akbar befriends Zac, who pretends to be the son of a Russian oligarch with hundreds of millions to invest. Akbar introduces him to Verinder Sharma, also known as Indian Dave. 

Verinder is a violent criminal who collects debt (through violence and warming of knives so that they are easier to cut through skin) for drug dealers. Both Akbar and Verinder befriend Zac, aiming to scam him of his wealth.

However, Zac is the one who ends up scamming the men. He is not the son of a Russian oligarch but the son of Rachelle and Matthew Brettler, an upper-middle-class family who reside in Maida Vale.  

The coincidences and tangled webs are amazing. Zac takes his 'Zac Ismailov' alias from a neighbor, whose last name is Ismailov.

A compelling read with so many coincidences, facts and excellent reporting - a trademark of a Patrick Radden Keefe book. 

Clutch by Emily Nemens, 2026

A story of five college friends gathering to celebrate their 40th birthdays, Clutch seemed to be the natural book to read as I got ready to meet up with my friends from college for our annual trip.

Bella and Carson live in NYC. Bella is an attorney striving for partnership, married to another NYC attorney striver. Carson is a writer who still lives with roommates.

Gregg is a former actress turned politican as a state representative in Austin, TX where she has married a striving and harsh billionaire. Zeke owns a company making rockets to travel to space; intensity and quirkiness a la Elon Musk.

Hillary is a surgeon, struggling with her marriage to a fellow surgical resident who has become an addict. Her residency bought her to Chicago.

Reba is a former management consultant, traveling and focused on her career throughout her 30s. She has now retired and undergoing feritlity treatment with her ex-military husband Terrence.

Each chapter begins with a text, reminiscent of the group chats that my friends from college have. There are many feelings from my friend group that is captured in Clutch.

It was challenging keeping track of the women. I had to refer to the "In the Group Chat" summary page at the beginning of the novel often.

It was also hard to get invested into the characters. There was only a fleeting glimpse of things from their point of view and the rest were summarized by another character.

Many elements of the writing rung true. The challenges Bella faced at her law firm where she was the only one in her starting class who had not left or made partner resonates, as well as the judgement of Carson still living with roomates.

The friendship and experiences the women were going through resonated with me enough though, that I wanted to know what happened to them.

Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake: A Memoir by Anna Quindlen, 2012

I have never read anything by Anna Quindlen yet have heard so much about her. Her memoir is a collection of shorts (she is a columnist) about being in her 50s. 

With a great title and apropros topic, I thought this book would be perfect as I reflect on entering my 50s and starting the next phase of my life.

Quindlen is a beautiful writer. She captures emotions so well. One of the many quotes that resonated with me: 

"They [her kids] forced me to relearn the catechism of self: instead of focusing all the time on how they ought to behave, whot they ought to be, I tried to focus on who the really were. In the process, I finally got a handle on who I really was."

I loved her writing so much, that I reserved one of her fiction books from the library.

May

In True Face: A Woman's Life in the CIA, Unmasked by Jonna Mendez, 2024

Mendez started out as a CIA wife before entering the CIA and becoming trained in photography and disguises. True CIA spy stories - like camera lens that can take pictures from the gap of a briefcase. 

While meeting with George W. Bush to discuss budgeting for the CIA, Mendez attended the meeting in disguise and then revealed herself!

Her Technical Services Dept got the funding.

Her husband was Tony Mendez, who wrote about Argo.

After retirement, they were able to talk about their time in the CIA and contribute to things like the Spy Museum in Washington, DC.

The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession by Michael Finkel, 2023

A perfect case of truth being stranger than fiction, Stephane Breitwisier grew up where museums provided solace from his turbulant childhood resulting from his parents' divorce. 

He loved looking at the pieces and became a master theif, slipping objects into his the back of his pants or into his girlfriend Anne-Catherine Kleinklaus's tote bag.

His boldness and desterity in grabbing objects allowed him to steal hundreds of pieces valued at billions of dollars. 

He targeted smaller museums throughout Europe that did not have robust security gaurds or systems.

He learned how to unscrew or slice open display cases to swipe objects. He deftly removed paintings from walls and their canvanses.

He did not attemp to sell these pieces. Instead, he displayed them throughout his attic room of his mother's house so that he could enjoy all the pieces.

To be surrounded by beauty and to be able to touch pieces that were hundreds of years old - definitely a wonderous experience.

Eventually Breitwieser is caught. Anne-Catherine to speak to him. His mother is incensed and dumps many of his objects into a river and insists that she burned the paintings. 

His estranged father reaches out and visits Breitwieser in jail. He partly blames himself for his son's predicament.  

When Breitwieser is released from jail, he envisions himself as a consultant to help provide museum improve security. However, he is not able to help himself and ends up getting caught for shoplifting clothes. He is sent back to prison and then given probation. 

With both parents shunning him now, he is alone but still fantasizing about art objects where this time, some pieces he attempts to sell on eBay to help make some money. 

Extremely Online: The Untold Story of Fame, Influence, And Power on the Internet by Taylor Lorenz, 2023

A comprehensive history of social media, Lorenz starts off with blogging to current day TikTokkers. A common theme is that social media companies all had to pivot to something else and follow what users were doing with their sites. 

If they did not (like Vine who refused to cater to Creators), the platform met its demise.

YouTube started as a dating site where people could post videos about themselves and their hobbies. Only men posted videos though and despite taking out ads on CraigsList to pay women to post videos, YouTube as a dating site concept did not take off.

Instead, it exploded into the video format of today where Creators vlog about their lives, drawing in millions of views and young subscribers.

Twitter rolled out the  re-tweet, a concept allowing posts to go viral. Musical.ly started off as a platform to offer short 3-5 minute educational videos for students before founder Alex Zhu noticed that kids on his train were always listening to music or snapping selfies. So, he combined the two.

Musical.ly would eventually be purchased by ByteDance, which had launched a similar app to compete with Musical.ly and would be rebranded TikTok.

Facebook started off as a platform for friends and people you knew, but would evolve to remove privacy settings to act more like YouTube. It continues to evolve, following user trends as they move towards other platforms or outright purchasing competitors like Instagram.

Bloggers started off as outcasts where people who never really fit in would draw in views from many others who felt like they never fit in. It also becamse a place where people could be 'real' - like mothers. There is no information or data about giving birth, post-partum and raising a baby, so mothers had to rely on other mothers. 

Social media allowed anyone with a phone to post photos on Instagram or post videos and shorts. It cut out the traditional media companies who controlled who got to make content.  

For those willing to put up with the daily grind of producing content, millions could be made. But the toll and trolling from this forced a lot of Creators to quit. 

The history of the internet/social media is fascinating and eye-opening - especially the power and views some Creators or Influencers have. I did not quite appreciate this new world of celebrity and millions that can come from the shameless self-promotion.

The book felt like reading a long article. I wish it had a deeper dive and analysis on certain topics but it did connect the dots to provide a comprehensive overview of the history of social media.

Rising Class: How Three First-Generation College Students Conquored Their First Year by Jennifer Miller, 2023

I was an FLI (First Generation Low Income) student before the term existed. 

College and high school now provide support for these students, but transitioning into college can still be challenging.

There is so much privilege (like being able to afford thousands dollar Canadian Goose coats) that low income students who can not afford any winter coat can get lost.

The students profiled in this book include Briani and Connor of Columbia, and Connor's girlfriend Jacklynn, who plans to live at home and attend Ozarks Technical Community College before transferring to Missouri State University. 

Although each student has compelling stories (Briani's parents own a Mexican restuarant and vote for Trump for his support on small business; yet he actively seeks to reject people like them from the U.S.; Connor's father died from his Opiad addiction while his mother is a recovering addict; Jacklynn's father is an alcoholic who is not in her lfe), the book fails to engage and goes deep.

The reporting on the impact of COVID - during their freshman year - is fascinating, but nothing new that has not been written about in newspapers. I wish the stories had gone deeper or perhaps told in less of a disjointed way where Connor and Jacklynn's story were told together while Briani's story was separate.

April

Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan, 2024

Kevin Kwan books are so fun. They're a romp through the ultra rich, elite and materialist world of the, well, world... 

Crazy Rich Asians centered around the affluent in Hong Kong, Singapore, etc. while Lies and Weddings take place in England, Hawaii and Los Angeles.

Hong Kong raised model Arabella Leung marries the Earl of Greshambury. An old English title cannot be bought and Arabella knows this. 

The Earl has a life of privilege but not the riches that are made in Asia, like that of Rene Tan, billionaire from the Phillipines.

The story follows the Greshams and the Earl's long-standing friendship with Thomas Tong, a doctor. Thomas lives with his daughter Eden, also an NHS doctor.

Eden and Rufus, the eldest son and future Earl, grew up together and have fallen in love. However, being an Earl and needing to marry into wealth to sustain not only the town of Greshambury, but also debts from his mother's extravagent spending (she is Asian after all) leads to complications.

With far flung locations including Morocco for a wedding and quirky characters include Gopal Das aka Whitney Payne Cabot V, Lies and Weddings include numerous cultural references including exclusive members-only clubs in LA to the latest collectables in modern art.

The footnotes are another level of fun. Similar to RF Kuang's Babel, the footnotes themselves tell their own stories.

Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore, 2020

After reading the detailed biography of Plath including the days leading up to her suicide, I need some light reading.

Oona Out of Order tells the story of a woman who travels to another year of her life on her birthday. This starts when she turns 19 and although internally, she is 19, her 'outer' age is 51.

This time travel gives her perspective. Only two people know about this - her mother and Kenzie, who helps to manage her home.

Lighthearted with the over-arching message that despite what we do, sometimes our fate can not be changed. And perspectives that we have about the people we love may change with experience and age.

Red Comet: The Short Life and Blazing Art of Sylvia Plath by Heather Clark, 2020

After reading The Bell Jar, I wanted to know more about Plath. With her wry humor and vivid writing, Plath was someone I had known about but never read before.

The Red Comet is the definitive biography with almost 1,000 pages of details and 130 pages of references including newly released materials about Plath's life and her struggles with the role women were assigned to in the 1960s. 

She was expected to be a wife and mom, and nothing more, despite her talent for poetry.

Her struggle with the norm is evident in The Bell Jar and throughout her life at Smith College then at Cambridge on a Fulbright Scholarship and finally posthumously. 

As Clark points out, many brilliant writers and artists have intense emotions and thoughts of suicide, but that is what Plath is known for desite her immense talent.

A recognized and published poet while at Smith, Plath decides against marriage after college to pursue her craft at Newnham College at Cambridge University, where she meet Ted Hughes. 

Wtth her American spirite and drive, she pushes Ted and types up his poems to submit them for publication. Withouth Plath's support, Hughes would have settled for a life as a laborer.

Plath and Hughes have a happy and creative marriage. They both enjoy creative success although Plath's letters show that space is also needed for her to work on her writing. They had a daughter and despite Plath's insistent of not choosing between motherhood and a career, she insisted on both, a rare occurance at the time.

Desipte Hughes agreeing to care for their daughter in the mornings (unheard of back then) so that Plath could write, Plath still finds motherhood consuming. She writes The Bell Jar and another novel (which she eventually destroyed), but will find that when she has two children, she can only manage poems, which are shorter to write.

With the stress of the children and constant worrying about money (the Hughes would benefit from the generous checks from Plath's mother Aurelia and benefactor she was introduced to through Smith Olive Prouty), Plath and Hughes's marriage would fall apart.

Hughes would have an affair with a married friend of the couple. Affairs were common at the time and Plath's friends encouraged her to wait out the affair as he was sure to come back to her. However, Hughes had betrayed Plath's trust and she did no longer wanted to be married to him. Although extremely rare in the 1960s, Plath requested a divorce.

Plath would go on to kill herself at 31. A history of depression ran on her father's side of the family, something the family only realized in retrospect since depression and mental illnesses were not hidden and not spoken about. Her son would also commit suicide.

A fascinating and deeply researched and rich biography, Red Comet was a Finalist for the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Biography.

March 2026

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath, 1971

I am glad I finally read this classic. It's a mark of a good book if it holds up 50+ years later. The story of Esther Greenwood, a young woman working for a woman's magazine in New York who struggles with what society expects (for a woman to be pretty, be able to set a nice table, to make a good wife and mom) versus what Greenwood wants from life.

Autobiographical, Greenwood rails against fellow co-workers who are obsessed with the latest styles, boys she date who have a double standard regarding sexual experience, and her mother who pushes her to confirm to traditional roles, to not aim for too much. 

Despite Greenwood's desire to be a writer and a poet, her mother pushes her to take dictation class so that she can support herself. Greenwood blanches at taking notes for men.

The Bell Jar also outlines Greenwood's experience with thoughts of suicide, shock therapy and her stay at a mental instutition. Wry observations, tight writing. Easy to see why this is a classic.

Alibaba: The House That Jack Ma Built by Duncan Clark, 2016

An authorized biography of Chinese tycoon Jack Ma, Alibaba is named after the company founded by Ma. 

The book is partially biographical (where Jack's hustle is evident as a child befriending Australian kids visiting China so that he could practie English) as well as a business book outlining the competitive landscape of the internet entering the Chinese market.

Charasmatic despite his looks being compared to ET, Ma focuses his companies and entrepreneurial spirit around the people of Hangzhou, where he grew up. 

Struggling to score well on entrance exams, Ma does well enough to earn admissions to a local university for teachers. This proves to be an advantage as his familiarity with the culture of China is untainted by spending time and studying in the States.

The approach of these entrepreneurs, including founder of Yahoo! Jerry Yang (Taiwainese, studied at Stanford) are markedly different fom Ma. When the internet browser first started becoming popular, Google's clean lines and simplicity worked in the States and Europe, but not in China.

From Alibaba, a word Ma liked because of it could be easily pronoucned across multiple languages, Ma created Tmall (business to consumer platform) and Taobao (which means seeking for treasure in Chinese; consumer to consumer platform) which generate billions of dollars in sales during Nov. 11 on Singles' Day in China.

Alibaba does a deep into competitors who attempted to enter the Chinese market and the missteps that happened. Ma's approach was to always focus on the customer first, even if it meant less profit, which as a private company, he was able to do without pressure. Even when Alibaba did become public, Ma never pressured the CEOs on short-term profit.

Ma had a vision and remained focused on that vision. He also made savvy moves such as raising money when it was not needed. One of his axioms is that when companies go to raise money when it's needed, it's already too late.

Babel: An Arcane History by R.F. Kuang, 2022

Beautifully written. Slight mysticism with the 'magic' of silver but used as an approriate stand-in to talk about colonialism and power. Would highly recommend this epic. There is a deep dive into etymology as well, since words really are the power.

The story revolves around Robin Swift, a boy from Canton who is brought to England to live with Professor Lovell, who teaches linguistics at Babel's, Oxford fictional school of language. 

Babel is an exclusive instituational and the scholars respected throughout the Empire. At Babel, Robin meets fellow students Ramy (an Indian Muslin), Victoire (originally from Haiti) and Letty (the wealthy English daughter of a British General).

Reminds me of Donna Tartt's Secret History except the group of students are at Oxford. Having spent a summer at an Oxford program, was neat to be reminded of the campus.

Despite it's 500+ pages, the story never gets stuck or predictable. I dragged my feet finishing the book because I did not want the story to end! 

February

An Offer From A Gentleman by Julia Quinn, 2001

Such a fun read! 

After obsessing over Bridgerton's latest season with an Asian female romantic lead, I had to read Julia Quinn's novel. 

The Lady Whistledown Society Paper excerpts are so clever. The tone is wonderfully acerbic. 

The Bridgerton family and characters are familiary and cozy. I very much enjoyed the story. A nice light read to get through the winter storms and doldrums. 

The show does take liberties, but the overarching themes and characters remain the same.

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai, 2025

After the gorgous Inheritance of Loss, which won the Booker Prize in 2006, I was looking forward to reading Desai's The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, which was short-listed for the Booker Prize.

The language is beautiful. We are in Allahabad, India where Sonia and Sunny's grandparents reside. And then in Vermont and New York City, following Sonia's isolating time at college during winter break where she enters a relationship with much older artist Ilan.

Sunny is also in New York City, working as a journalist and living with Ulla, a blonde American from Kansas.

The same beautiful language is in this story, but it does drag a bit. There are the wry observations of human nature, the cultural contrasts between India and America. The relationship between Sunny's mother Babita and her Uncles and what happens with the shared townhouse are fascinating.

There is much beautiful language but some parts seem quite tedious. Some portions of the story, such as the more mystical parts of the story around Badal Baba and its symbolism, seemed like it could be edited down.

Eat a Peach by David Chang, 2020

Chang is the founder of Momofuku, which means 'lucky peach' in Japanese. 

Tells the story of growing up Korean American in Virginia, greater DC area. Has bits of details and intense pressure of a professional kitchen that is seen in The Beef.

Comments on how if an Asian ingredient is used for a European dish, it is still European with the Asian influence, but once an Asian dish has a touch of Europeanness in it, it becomes 'fusion'.

Also talks about his battle with depression. An ode to food but also business and building an empire.