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Ryan Effgen

@ryan_effgen

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author of Make Nice, out now via Knopf

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Who is Anne? 🪶

Anne Carson—unwriting the books of the dead, is a poet, translator, and winner of the 2026 Nobel prize in literature.

Carson has spent much of her career studying the ancient Greeks, and has a knack for making literature written thousands of years ago feel somewhat modern.

In the book If Not, Winter, she translates the remnants of Sappho’s poetry, written over 2,600 years ago. Most of Sappho’s poetry has been lost over time, and what survives is often just a few lines.

But Carson doesn’t dabble in guesswork. She leaves the empty spaces exactly where they are, making the poems more interesting and faithful to its source.

Carson preserves the universal, human side of these texts. Love, jealousy, yearning, heartbreak.

It’s a funny thing of life how much time has passed and how little our preoccupations have changed.

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#AnneCarson #Literature #Poetry #Bookstagram #WomenInLiterature

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📚 How has your weekend been? 📚

Make Nice was a lovely slow burn, summer read that had messy family drama, humor that comes from surviving life as an adult, and relatable characters.

A few months after their mother has passed, the Pickford family gathers at Lake Michigan island with their father as their mother’s last wish. Years have passed, the family is no longer close like they used to be, and all have very distinct lives. Being back in a place that holds many memories should have been the perfect time for bonding, instead the dysfunctional family is trying their best to survive life.

I would consider this a slice of life type story. We follow these siblings and seeing how they’re battling the past and what their relationships used to be, and how they’re now as grown adults. It felt like a very raw story, each character with their own distinct struggles and personalities. Family secrets started coming out, hurts from the past, but ultimately it was about this now dysfunctional family learning how to move on without the person that held them together.

I personally enjoyed this book a lot, it was a slow burn in terms of story, but I was enraptured by this family’s dynamics.

Thank you so much to @aaknopf and @ryan_effgen for this gifted copy!
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#bookreview #AAKnopfPartner #literaryfiction #bookcommunity #familydrama

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Book 70 is Make Nice by Ryan Effgen. I love it when I start a book and it just engages me right away--this was one of those books. The story, the writing, the beautiful narration by Helen Laser pulled me in. We meet a family spending a week together on the island where they vacationed together years ago to celebrate and remember their mother who has passed. With all the old hurts and memories and new trials and tribulations, mom doesn't get much attention as we follow Viv, Corey and Pete, their dad, and Viv's daughter throughout the week. I find family interactions very fascinating, and this one did not disappoint.

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Q3 READS, FAVORITES, and NOT-SO-FAVS →

Had a baby in June, then apparently got down to BUSINESS with reading and read 42 books in three months? (!!!)

Some reallyyyy good reads—first features what I think was my favorite read of the year…. ALMOST LIFE by @kiran_mh which I buddy read with some booksta gal pals.

& some books on slide 3 that weren’t really my jam — but they might be yours!💛

pic features @cloudmilkstudio AFTERGLOW kindle case which I recently acquired, just in time to listen to Pink Clouding on repeat!!!!

also my @aerin perfume, @shopmachete claw clip, and @bredastudio watch (none of these are sponsored just a big fan!!!!), all of which I’m using frequently this fall

🔖 reading recap, favorite books, recent reads, litfic, literary fiction, book recs, book recommendations, contemporary fiction, kindle, kindle case, Taylor swift

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September book club 🍁

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Thank you once again for the gifted copy of Make Nice @aaknopf 🥹 you’re too good to me!!

Finally got to reading this wild ride of a story by @ryan_effgen & I freaking loved it! Various sibling relationships, a gay husband, snails, laughs, & drama … need I say more?! 🐌👨🏻‍🤝‍👨🏼🧡

add it to your TBR because it’s a really intriguing & fun read that I’m honestly contemplating reading all over again (and I never do that!!) 💁🏻‍♀️

#knopfpartner #sponsored #gifted #makenice #tbr

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FIVE STARS BECAUSE… →

I’ve said before that I give out 5⭐️ ratings like candy, but for different reasons. Here are some of my reasons!!!
✨superb writing — pachinko, the most fun we ever had, the invisible life of addie larue, intermezzo, almost life, & the great believers [lots of lit fic in this category! tmfweh is my all time fav book if you didn’t know!!]
✨couldn’t put it down — the elements, fruit fly, discontent, favorite daughter, atmosphere, may we feed the king [bingeable reads that are just too good to stop!]
✨exquisite vibes — villa coco, make nice, girl’s girl, malibu rising, happy place, the celebrants [these are all just sooooo much fun. great writing too, but the whimsy is what really makes them amazing!]
✨unforgettable characters — the guncle, lessons in chemistry, tomorrow x3, the calamity club, the guncle abroad, the names [I actually remember specific character names from all of these books. How could I forget Patrick, Maisy, and Grant from the guncle?!]
✨I will never forget it — the wedding people, when breath becomes air, my year of rest and relaxation, a little life, nuclear war, I who have never known men [I have reread some of these just to immerse myself again, but even after reading them once they’ll stick with me forever!!]

🔖 reading, five star books, book recommendations, literary fiction, my favorite books, contemporary fiction, unforgettable books

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Thank you @aaknopf for this free copy of Make Nice by @ryan_effgen !

I loved this book and the setting hit me in all of my childhood nostalgia feels - I need to plan a trip to Mackinac Island ASAP 😅 tho, I’m not sure if I’m bougie enough to stay in the Grand Hotel.

If you love family drama with a heavy dose of humor, this is the book for you.

#gifted #bookrec #bookreview #mackinacisland #thegrandhotel

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I took an unplanned break from Instagram this week. I thought I could juggle posting and getting my daughter off to college, but I gave up on that pretty early and decided to focus on spending time with her which was absolutely the right decision and the thing that was always going to happen. I’m feeling behind on my posting and reading, but that’s okay.

My August reading was a mixed bag. Some books I expected to love didn’t quite hit, others I had no expectations about and ended up loving, and a couple I enjoyed just as much as I was expecting. I’m sure the looming prospect of being a half empty-nester (we still have one at home going to college here) affected my reading mood.

Here are the books that stayed with me:

Get Lost by Justin Halpern wasn’t a book I was expecting to love but the father/daughter relationship in this one sucked me in. I’m so grateful to @grandcentralpub for a copy!

I’m still thinking about the characters in Make Nice by Ryan Effgen. This family dramedy was just what I needed last month. Thank you to @aaknopf for a copy!

Wayfarers by Jeff Zentner and Brittany Cavallaro was a beautiful road trip YA romance partly in verse partly in dialogue and it made me fall in love with the genre all over again. I can’t wait to go back and read their first collaboration, Sunrise Nights.

Experiments in Offline Dating by Kat Mackenzie was a romcom set in Ireland that was just as funny as her debut and made me want to move up my (nonexistent) travel plans. Thanks to @avonbooks for a copy!

Philippa Flynn’s Year of Panic & Piracy by one of my favorite authors, Jacqueline Firkins, was a lovely romance about blowing up your life and building something better. I loved this one and hope more readers find it!

What books did you love in August, or do you already have any September favorites? Or what are your plans for the weekend?

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Crime Fiction novels I’d recommend if you’re looking for a new read!

I am a SUCKER for thrillers, crime fiction, psychological thriller, mystery, suspense, etc. so I was beyond excited to get these bad boys to read!!! You can never go wrong with a good thriller!!

A huge thank you to:
@poisonedpenpress
@eriqlasalle
@aaknopf
@e.c.nevinauthor
@ryan_effgen
@celadonbooks
@kevinwade

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One of Us Is Guilty by Steve Cavanagh (Eddie Flynn #10) was THE standout. Ten books into a series and it still hits this hard!
Beyond that it was a strong month of solid 4-star reads, from cozy (You’ll Love It Here, When Lemons Give You Life) to twisty (If Books Could Kill, They Say a Girl Died Here).

Not everything landed, and that’s allowed. 🤷‍♀️ Swipe through for the full month sorted by rating ⭐️

Tell me: what was your best read of August? I’m always building the TBR pile. 👇

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#AugustWrapUp #ReadingWrapUp #Bookstagram PlotTwistsWithPaws

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