Blitz by Daniel O’Malley, HC, $38
The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood, TP, $22
Grief is a funny thing, as many of you know. You think you’re managing and something knocks you back out of nowhere. I think one of the reasons I’ve had so much trouble reading these last few years is that the very act of reading is so inexorably linked to my father. The last time I saw him a week before he died, we sat quietly together reading for hours in his hospital room. I was reading The Rook by Daniel O’Malley, a book that Hannah had brought to Dad, and that Dad had loved. And one of things that still stuns me about death is all the things I’ll never tell him, all the books I’ll never know if he would have liked, and all the (unpopular) opinions he might have had.
So look, I’m sorry. Blitz by Daniel O’Malley is the third book in a series. It’s in hardcover. It’s 688 pages. It weighs 2 pounds. It is an extremely awkward book to cart around (just ask Michael who flew two copies across North America). But O’Malley has created this incredibly detailed world that I cannot get enough of. There are two stories here, both in the world of the Chequy, one set during The Blitz in London, and one in modern day Britain. You’ll recognize some characters in both story arcs, but there are lots of new characters too. Whenever I get to settle down and read it, I cannot believe I am so lucky to have a life where I can read books and tell you about them. Probably Dad would have complained it was too heavy and awkward.
Old friends of the store know the rules for Book of the Year are pretty simple. You can only pick one. It’s gotta be published this year. Maybe don’t pick the 14th book in a series in hardcover. You also all know that I’m the editor and I ultimately get to do what I want. (I will note that other family members have ALSO gotten pretty fast and loose with the rules this year.)
I have read 47 books this year, the most I’ve completed since 2018. But if I had to pick my favorite reading experience, it was reading The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood, curled up in a hotel room chair in Vancouver overlooking the water. SO WHAT if it was published last year. It was such a smart and funny book about a world I am semi-familiar with (academia). It reminded me how much I love reading and that reading is about the opportunity to disappear into another world for a little while. Whodunit is so much more than just crime fiction now and I’m delighted to have the opportunity to tell you about more of the books I love reading, particularly romance novels.