msjamgochian'sinfinitebooklist

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake is a luminous tale about the enormous difficulty of loving someone fully when you know too much about them. It is heartbreaking and funny, wise and sad, and confirms Aimee Bender’s place as “a writer who makes you grateful for the very existence of language” (San Francisco Chronicle). I attended Ms. Bender's recent reading at Elliot Bay Books and it made me want to listen to the audio version of TPSOLC. Bender's voice is pure velvet and the depth to which she knows her characters resounds in each sentence as she reads. This book is the perfect literary summer read.

Everyone loves this book; it's been favorably reviewed everywhere. It is intricately woven, sad, funny, and complex. Nevertheless, I was less than captivated as I read each piece (although the headlines as chapter titles were entertaining). The book often feels like a series of short stories all related to the paper in some way - a bit like Olive Kitteridge with less lovable characters. If you are a journalist or have lived in Rome as an expat it will satisfy. Click here to read my friend Brendan Kiley's review or here for an interview with Rachman .