Loner by Teddy Wayne

I read Loner by Teddy Wayne in one day. It’s not a long novel, but it still indicates how much I enjoyed it.

Here’s why I loved it:

The Gilded Years by Karin Tanabe

The premise of The Gilded Years by Karin Tanabe immediately grabbed my attention. Set at Vassar at the end of the 19th century, it tells the story of Anita Hemmings the first black women to graduate from the gilded institution. While at Vasser, she passed as white until … well, you know. It is wonderfully researched and I loved the afterword that tells you what parts are made up and what is true.

Bradstreet Gate by Robin Kirman

I don’t know whether it’s the rubbish weather we’ve been having or celebration at the end of term, but I tore through Bradstreet Gate by Robin Kirman in less than 24 hours. To start, the story was right in my wheelhouse: beloved  Harvard professor under suspicion for murdering a student. Second, comparisons to Tartt, Eugenides and Wolitzer sealed the deal (and fell short, but that is beside the point), and finally, conjecture that the story was based on actual occurrences at Yale. All that spells great summer (or rainy day) read.

Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher

If you haven’t noticed by now, you should know that I am a sucker for novels set in academia. I loved the campus novel when I was in grad school and I love it even more now, especially if it is a novel about disillusionment in the academy. Cue Dear Committee Members by Julie Schumacher. This book is laugh out loud funny. It took Herculean feats of strength for me not to read every second sentence out loud to my husband.