Read Her Like an Open Book

A blog dedicated to honoring women's literary fiction and memoirs. It features reviews, interviews, guest contributions from authors, updates on books, and much more!

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Ten slightly belated suggestions for Short Story Month

3 weeks ago | billwolfe.substack.com | Bill Wolfe

Somehow I failed to put together a post for Short Story Month, but I’m hoping June 1 is within the grace period. 😉 Since short story collections rarely get the big publicity push, they are overlooked and almost never make the bestseller list. Many people refuse to even read them, having a strong preference for the longer form of the novel. All of that is a shame. I love telling people about great story collections, confident that these books will provide a memorable reading experience.
Hey, you should read this book!

1 month ago | billwolfe.substack.com | Bill Wolfe

My piece last week about eight worthwhile books you may have missed got a very positive response here and on my Instagram account. Many people said they hadn't heard of any of the books but were adding some (or several) to their reading list. The situation with highly publicized books by famous authors or the few selected by celebrity book clubs is similar to that of major studio movies and independent films.
Eight Great Reads You May Have Missed

1 month ago | billwolfe.substack.com | Bill Wolfe

In the flood of books that are published each year, it is easy to miss worthy books, especially those published by independent presses that lack the marketing muscle of the big houses and which are never chosen by one of the celebrity book clubs. One of my favorite things is to help readers find these books. Here are eight books from the last ten years that offer a satisfying read and might be just the right choice for your book club.
Guest author Marty Ross-Dolen: The Story of Telling My Story

1 month ago | billwolfe.substack.com | Bill Wolfe

In December 1960, my grandparents were killed in an airline collision in the blustery skies over New York City. My mother was fourteen at the time, and her parents were traveling from Columbus, Ohio, to seek placement of their family’s iconic magazine, Highlights for Children, on the newsstands. I was born six years later to a mother suffering from protracted mourning. I knew very little about this life-defining tragedy while I was growing up.
Spring book awards highlight novels that are flying below the radar

1 month ago | billwolfe.substack.com | Bill Wolfe

Book awards season has begun in earnest with three somewhat lesser known, but still important, prizes: the Joyce Carol Oates Prize, the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prizes. Jennine Capó Crucet and Willy Vlautin were named winners of the Joyce Carol Oates Prize for Say Hello to My Little Friend and The Horse, respectively.
Barbara Stark-Nemon: The Emergence of a Heroine

2 months ago | billwolfe.substack.com | Bill Wolfe

I was on the third day of a bicycle trip from Lisbon, Portugal to the Alhambra in Granada, Spain, and had just huffed and puffed up a steep hill to a Celtic standing stone circle.
Early April reading recap: Here, there and everywhere

2 months ago | billwolfe.substack.com | Bill Wolfe

The last two weeks have felt fragmented. First, there’s the anti-democratic chaos [waves arms wildly in all directions], which has been totally distracting, infuriating, and frightening. I've been working extra hours before I go on vacation. And I’ve had a pretty good cold for the past week. The first week of the month I read Jennifer Haigh’s excellent Rabbit Moon (review to come). But for now, I’ll just say that you should read any (or all) of her books.
Nina McConigley: How a nightlight illuminates the way

2 months ago | billwolfe.substack.com | Bill Wolfe

The first thing I learn in our newborn-care workshop is that babies like the dark. Their room should be so dark that you can’t see your hand in front of your face, the teacher instructs. She tells us not to worry, they aren’t scared. They don’t know a fear of the dark yet; that will happen later. And she is right: It is when my daughter is two that she suddenly says, “Too dark!” after we turn out the light. She thinks there is something under the bed, in the closet.
A Conversation with Lauren Stienstra, author of The Beauty of the End

Mar 26, 2025 | billwolfe.substack.com | Bill Wolfe

What if there was a biological clock for extinction in every living creature’s DNA and there are only four generations left for human beings? In her thought-provoking debut, Lauren Stienstra examines this shocking situation. Twin sisters Charlie and Maggie Tannehill decide to join the Mendelia, a government-run human husbandry program that designs embryos in the hope that a particular combination of genes will lead to a mutation that can save humanity.
Ten books to read for Women's History Month (and beyond)

Mar 22, 2025 | billwolfe.substack.com | Bill Wolfe

I'm late in getting to my Women's History Month post (it's been that kind of month). But I figure better late than never because most of you read historical fiction by and about women year-round. So here are ten books (plus a bonus) to consider reading, whether sooner or later. I made my selections based in part on whether a book had not received as much attention as it deserves. (That’s why this list doesn't include books like Pachinko, Great Circle, Hamnet, The Love Songs of W. E. B.