Standard staff bookshelf: Collection of book reviews

“Lydia is dead. But they don’t know this yet.” This blunt, gripping two-sentence passage marks the start of Celeste Ng’s 2014 debut novel “Everything I Never Told You.” I came across “Everything I Never Told You” in a rental house during October break, 1,043 miles from the corner seat of the sofa I normally read on.  Scanning the bookshelves of the master bedroom, the contrast ...

Two million individuals aged 16 to 74 have experienced domestic violence in the U.K., according to the Office for National Statistics. Expanding this one-dimensional statistic into a multifaceted and devastating story about one particular survivor, “It Ends with Us,” written by New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover, is a romance novel that delves into this prevalent issue.  The novel ...

Welcome to my fifth review of viral books circulating the TikTok For You page. This week’s installment dives into “The Secret History” by Donna Tartt. Typically, novels publicized online gain popularity soon after being placed on store bookshelves. However, published in 1992, this novel immediately caught my eye as one of the oldest books trending on the platform. Under #thesecrethistory on TikT...