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Caitlin | Book Therapy Philly

@booktherapyphilly

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Every summer a girl (I instinctively want to call her little, but she’s now a sophomore in high school 🥹) I used to nanny for and I read a book together.

We started many years ago with children’s lit that I’m sure will be a classic to her one day, but that was of a new generation for me (The Candymakers, The One and Only Ivan) and then gradually progressed to more mature authors: Agatha Christie, Stephen King, and last summer, Jhumpa Lahiri.

This year, she picked *the* book of the summer, Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke. We both devoured it and didn’t understand the criticism it has received, from both average people and big name publications, about it not being serious enough or smart enough or a reflection of our times enough. It brings to mind a Stephen King quote I heard recently of the bizarre sentiment that people can have that “if everyone likes this it must be shit”.

Yesteryear was well-written, smart, sharp, funny, twisty, and a clear reflection of our times: everything I want in any novel, but especially a quick-paced literary thriller, which is the best lens to view it in IMO vs. the other option that leans more towards pure satire.

The reality is that literally every friend or family member I have talked to about this couldn’t be buzzier book has either genuinely liked it or, at the very least, has had very thoughtful reflections about what it brought up for them. Flip through for the discourse ➡️ taken in Bradford Bath and Tennis Club by @booktherapyphilly

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3 days ago

To read if you too had a niche obsession with the Salem witch trials as a kid and want some soft, comforting, nostalgic writing for the fall 😌 taken in Roberts Pool by @booktherapyphilly

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14 days ago

If a murder ballad/fantasy/fairy tale novella is your sort of thing, The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar is for you!

I don’t think I fall into this category, but I *did* appreciate how the beautiful illustrations added to the story, the folklore nature, and how expert the writing was.

The parts I didn’t like were very much related to things that are common in fantasy writing (mentioning unknown places and concepts with zero explanation, gratuitous whimsy…), so if you’re a lover of fantasy don’t let me reading outside of my comfort zone deter you 🙃

This was my bookclub’s September pick and, as always, I loved getting into the details about a book whether it actually resonated with me or not. We’re reading Main Characters by Bobby Palmer for October and I think it’s going to be *just* the Nick Hornby/Sally Rooney yearn-y novel I want to read this fall, but we will see! taken in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by @booktherapyphilly

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19 days ago

A couple of new releases that I think you should check out:

-Exit Party by Emily St. John Mandel: Station Eleven is one of my favorite novels of all time and I’ll continue to read anything and everything that Emily St. John Mandel writes. Her newest release (out today!) chronicles the collapse of the United States after a very near-future civil war that includes doppelgängers and a man disappearing, all set against a vivid LA. The more St. John Mandel’s career evolves the more I think she’s becoming the millennial Margaret Atwood (complimentary). #partner @aaknopf

-My Person by Tea Mutonji: a debut novel about a friendship breakup that, from the snippets I’ve seen so far, seems to acknowledge that a long-term friendship ending can be just as intense as any romantic relationship. Mutonji explores race, privilege, codependency, and what exactly alters a life. I’m very much looking forward to diving into a buzzy new author’s work. On shelves now! #partner @putnambooks. by @booktherapyphilly

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a month ago

Everyone on the internet (+Oprah+The Booker) has already told you that John of John by Douglas Stuart is one of the best books of the year…and they’re correct.

So I’ll just add that you should pick this one up when you’re in the mood for a highly atmospheric story (coastal small town Scotland 😌) that shows the deepest complexities of humanity through a father/son relationship that is filled with repression, love, turmoil, religiosity, and a consistent grapple of what it means to be true to yourself amongst real and perceived societal expectations.

It’s also worth noting that Stuart has a shockingly astute male gaze towards women’s inner thoughts and navigating oppression that I haven’t seen since Jeffrey Eugenides wrote The Virgin Suicides. taken in Parc Rittenhouse by @booktherapyphilly

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a month ago

Fiction or non-fiction, I haven’t read or seen anything that humanizes the opioid epidemic better than Demon Copperhead.

And since Barbara Kingsolver is a master at what she does she also manages to take a deep look at systemic poverty, regional discrimination, and boyhood, all with gorgeous storytelling and characters that feel, of course, Dickensian, in the most satisfying way.

Current Medicaid cuts are affecting individuals experiencing substance use disorders eligibility and access to treatment. Consider donating to Kingsolver’s Higher Ground, a women’s recovery residence serving rural Appalachia, to help keep life saving services as accessible as possible (hgwrr.org) 💛

*skip slide 3 if you don’t want a minor spoiler taken in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by @booktherapyphilly

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a month ago

Alice Hoffman is the ultimate comfort read author for me. I read the first Practical Magic book as a teenager and never picked the series back up until now, despite multiple intriguing installments since.

I can report back that, so far, they hold up (although there was a 22 year gap between books 1 and 2) and I’ll be continuing to happily immerse myself back into the lives of the Owens family between now and @practicalmagicmovie’s release 🐈‍⬛

But also, soaking in all the last days of summer and decidedly not rushing fall 😌 taken in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by @booktherapyphilly

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2 months ago

Some recent and upcoming titles that I think you should read:

-Switzy by Emma Cline: I’ll read anything that Emma Cline writes and everyone is saying that this is her best work yet! I want to know as little as possible going in, but was too curious to not gather that it’s an on the road novel written from a man’s POV (interesting choice for someone who has very much focused on women prior) and his grapples with an unraveling mind-whatever that means! On shelves 9/8/26 and also recently placed on @thebookerprizes Longlist. Thank you so much @randomhouse. This is a most anticipated read of 2026 for me!

-A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst: one of the buzziest books of 2025 is now out in paperback and I want to see what the hype is about! In case you’ve somehow missed this one, it’s nonfiction about a couple stranded at sea. I think it sounds fascinating, but when I recently saw my favorite literary guide, Ann Patchett, on book tour for Whistler, someone asked if she had read this book and her response was “yes. Next question”. 😳 looking forward to forming my own opinion! Ty @riverheadbooks

-The Dream Hotel by Laila Lalami: also newly out in paperback. A dystopian novel about a woman detained for a crime that she will supposedly commit in the future (murdering her husband 😬), as determined by a government led algorithm that monitors dreams. I love a dystopian future novel and I can’t think of anything more intriguing than this one atm. Also, I recently booked a trip to Morocco for next year and am already thinking of which Moroccan authors I want to tote along! Please send any other suggestions! Ty @ireadvintage

-Unreliable Narrator by Araminta Hall: I saw Hall speak on her last book tour and thought she was lovely, interesting, and smart. I have no doubt this will be a solidly great summer thriller. Ty @putnambooks

-Yellow Pine by Claire Vaye Watkins: I read and enjoyed Battleborn by Vaye Watkins years ago and remember thinking her writing was like if Southern Gothic were Western, which is high literary praise coming from me. Ty @riverheadbooks

I’d love to know what you’ve been reading or looking forward to! taken in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by @booktherapyphilly

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2 months ago

Imagine a lost boy story, but the “boy” in question is in his 50s and still grappling with the exact same passivity and indecisiveness towards life he had in his 20s…that’s The Rest of Our Lives by Ben Markovits.

Is it satirical? Are you supposed to have empathy for a mostly well-to-do middle aged white man who is a martyr within his own life? I remained unclear throughout the whole novel and obviously much prefer the former reading lens.

I appreciated this 2025 @thebookerprizes shortlist title in the same way I found myself tilting my head at the winner of the same year, Flesh by David Szalay. Both take a deep look at a type of man that is not unusual and is not very likeable and explains how they ended up the way they did. Like a macabre coming of age story, if that’s your sort of thing.

Intentionally reading more from the Booker and National Book Award lists over the past year has caused me to pick up more male gaze authors and…I don’t think I like the state of the world that the literature is reflecting back, but I also can’t look away. taken in Warren, Vermont by @booktherapyphilly

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2 months ago

The books I’m planning to read across August and likely a little into September too:

-John of John by Douglas Stuart: I already knew that I loved Stuart’s writing, but after seeing him speak on book tour, was thrilled to realize I liked him as a person too (warm, humble, stylish, a voice I could listen to on loop). Also equally thrilled to see that he made the Booker longlist.

-Five by Ilona Bannister: my Bookclubs August pick! I started this one last night and…it’s dark and disturbing…we’ll see how it goes…

-The Maid by Nita Prose: idk it looks cute and fun and I’ve been reading a lot of *heavy* lately, so am hoping this will be a reprieve

-The Witch by Marie N’Diaye: I throughly enjoyed N’Diaye’s last novel, Vengeance is Mine (thanks for putting it on my radar @fictionmatters) and am looking forward to reading her newest title, especially now that I know what to expect from her writing. I found myself making some wild predictions in Vengeance is Mine, I think because I just wasn’t sure what I was dealing with, which was fun, but I was also way way off course in prescribing some fantastical elements that simply were not there. This one was also shortlisted for the International Booker, which is always the cherry on top for me

-Magic Lessons by Alice Hoffman: Hoffman is a comfort author for me and with @practicalmagicmovie coming out soon I’ve been reading through the series and it’s been giving me all of the feelings

-Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke: I’m perhaps the only person left who has not read the (love it or hate it) book of the year. Every summer, a girl I used to nanny for and I read a book together and this was her pick this year. She’s about to start her sophomore year of high school and it’s been fun to have her reading taste lean fully adult now. We will see what we both think!

I would truly love to know what you’ve been reading lately. The summer is my favorite reading season by far 😌 taken in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by @booktherapyphilly

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2 months ago

The Berry Pickers follows a Mi’kmaq family who lives in Nova Scotia and works a seasonal berry picking job in Maine each year. The story begins in the summer of 1962 when the family’s youngest daughter, Ruthie, tragically goes missing. The remainder of the novel proceeds to take a strong look at the grief and generational trauma that results within the family across time, leading to present day.

The storytelling succeeds in depicting the harsh reality of prejudice and dehumanization that Native American people have experienced and while this seems to be the point of the novel, I felt that by only focusing on the traumas of the family vs. other attributes too, it did not depict them as whole people and therefore did not create quite enough emotion around the novel’s events, which are based on a conglomerate of real-life experiences.

Also, half of the narrative follows Joe, Ruthie’s 2nd eldest brother, who was the last person to have seen her. Once again, by only focusing on Joe’s traumas I found him to be almost a caricature of a selfish, self-destructive man that somehow everyone in his life still fawns over, ie my least favorite type of person in life or literature.

Overall, The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters is a debut with a lot of potential that is a little too shallow in its depictions of *full* human life. I can typically gauge the depth of a book based off of the length and quality of conversation that my bookclub has around it and we petered off talking about this one (our July pick!) after about 15 minutes or so…

Amanda Peters has a new title, The Birthing Tree, being published this September and I will be very curious to hear the early reviews to see if her writing has grown in directions that lean more to my “person as a full human amongst life trauma” world view preferences. taken in Collingswood, New Jersey by @booktherapyphilly

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2 months ago

When my sister and I were in Ireland earlier this summer, we each chose an (Irish, ofc) book to read together.

My pick was Foster by Claire Keegan, a sure hit, albeit sad. Her’s was Rachel’s Holiday by Marian Keyes, which I was happy to read since it was what she wanted, but secretly skeptical that it wouldn’t be for me.

Turns out it was the perfect mix of silly and serious that we needed to offset the very good, but very morose Keegan. My sister compared it to Angus, Thongs, and Full Frontal Snogging (which we once read together as teens on a long ago previous family vacation), but grown-up and I couldn’t agree more. Plus a realistic/well-done depiction of addiction to ground the plot. We laughed out loud. We read sentences to each other. We found ourselves in our quaint side-by-side twin bed set-up staying up late reading.

While I genuinely enjoyed my very first Keyes and will continue to read the rest of the “Walsh family” series that it is a part of, keep in mind that it was written in 2002, meaning certain takes on body image (and probably some other things I’m not remembering off the top of my head) are quite dated, but the book as a whole is not.

Side note: the Irish lit section @hodgesfiggis is the stuff dreams are made of. taken in Hodges Figgis by @booktherapyphilly

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2 months ago