Art | Book Chatter

My Friends
By Fredrik Backman
Atria, May 2025, 448pp.

The Short of It:

A keeper. Whether it’s on audio, in paperback or hardback. Get yourself a copy.

The Rest of It:

The title is appropriate. My Friends promises to be a buddy story, and let me tell you, it does not disappoint. Think Stand by Me or Stranger Things but without the Demogorgons.

Louisa received a postcard of three children on a pier and from that moment on she has been obsessed with that image. More so, because she is an artist herself. Oh sure, she doesn’t see herself as one but her obsession with that image brings her to the museum where that painting is hanging on a gallery wall.

So begins the story. Louisa’s rough upbringing lends her a raw, tattered edge that most see as trouble. She looks homeless because she is. At just 18 years old, she’s seen things and although she has found love once before, the idea of ever finding it again seems impossible. She’s guarded and hides behind her hair most of the time.

One day in an alley, after fleeing a tense situation that she got herself into, she meets a “homeless” man who changes everything for her. Just their meeting sparks something inside of her. Who is this man? And what wisdom does he hold?

I don’t want to give the story away because it’s an amazing story of friendship and love. A buddy story for sure but so much more. These characters are so real, I felt like I knew them. They each represent someone we know. Guaranteed.

Get yourself a copy. You won’t be sorry. There is so much here about love and art and friendship. It brought a tear to my eye a few times.

Highly recommend.

Source: Borrowed
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Tuesday Nights in 1980
By Molly Prentiss
Gallery/Scout Press, Hardcover, 9781501121043, April 2016, 336pp.

The Short of It:

If a book can give you “feels” then this is the one to do it.

The Rest of It:

Synethesia: the production of a sense impression relating to one sense or part of the body by stimulation of another sense or part of the body.

James Bennett is an art critic but one unlike the ones you’ve read about in the past. James is synesthetic. He might experience a “taste” while looking at a painting, or he might “hear” a color, instead of just simply seeing a color. This gives him an edge in the art world but it also creates problems for him and his wife, as his obsession with certain pieces take over their lives.

This was such an interesting, and absorbing read. There are dual story lines in this novel and it is done so beautifully. It took me forever to read this one because nearly every other sentence was worthy of being highlighted. Prentiss does an amazing job capturing the New York art scene. It’s so vivid and full of life. Pulsing, really. There’s tragedy and hope and longing and it’s all so perfectly imperfect, if that makes any sense at all.

I adored this book. I need to own a copy in print just so I can hold it because fondling my Kindle copy is just not acceptable.

Source: Review copy provided by the publisher via Edelweiss.
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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