Lark Benobi's Reviews > 2022 on Goodreads

Extraordinary reading year for you. The best in 2023.

There is no such thing as too many books read. Happy 2023 and much reading pleasure to you.

Thank you, Kalliope and Mark! I do plan an adjustment for 2023, though. Less books, less stressful books, and less despair in my books.

It's much easier to write something ugly and cynical than it is to write something beautiful, but true--in that it doesn't tip into sentimentality.

I think I want to spend more time letting those kinds of words and thoughts and images into my brain this year. It will cut down on the number of books I read, no doubt, because there are fewer books written to begin with that have a sincere humanistic belief at their core and are at the same time not shallow or unrealistically optimistic.

What an amazing reading year! I'm bowled over by the sheer number. Best wishes for 2023. I enjoy your reviews very much.

And you find time to write as well!
Happy new year, Lark.

Happy New Year, Cecily!

You may know already that I wrote another novel? I finished it July 4, 2022, and I've been waiting ever since...first for my agent to read it, then my editor, then to have it accepted for publication, and now I'm waiting for edits back from my editor...and in all this time since July 4 I have NOT been writing and have NOT been thinking about writing, which equals a lot of reading time! I just totally misjudged how long everything can take in the publishing world. This isn't a complaint. This is publishing reality. I need to learn better work habits! It's hard to be motivated to work on something new, though, when the old thing is still somewhere in the pipeline and there are so many books to read.

Congratulations! I assumed you were probably writing something, but I've read only Chouette and The Book of Dog. I enjoyed both, but they're very different from each other, so I'm intrigued about your forthcoming book.

Thanks, Cecily!

Here is the notice about my next novel, from Publishers Marketplace, October '22:

PEN/Faulkner nominee and author of CHOUETTE Claire Oshetsky's POOR DEER, about a girl whose childhood has been indelibly shaped by a fatal mistake she made at age four, exploring the thorny search for atonement and the stories we tell ourselves to grapple with life's most difficult moments, again to Sara Birmingham at Ecco, by Alexa Stark at Writers House (NA).

I honestly love this next book more than Chouette. Which is saying a lot, because Chouette meant a lot to me. I hope it keeps going that way, where the next one feels more personally meaningful than the last. I hope I never run out of stories.

How exciting. I look forward to reading it. After at least three books, I doubt you'll run out of stories. (I'd like to have a single one I could write.)

there are fewer books written to begin with that have a sincere humanistic belief at their core and are at the same time not shallow or unrealistically optimistic.

That sounds like my favorite literary road right there as well. Hope you find many of them this year.

There is no such thing as too many books!

What a selection! I don't know half of the books on your list. Always enjoyed reading your review.

Oh, I’m so excited you have another book coming out! Do you know the release date yet? Chouette blew me away….and you like it more than that? Wowser!

Chouette reminded me of a strange animal book I read long long ago called Birdy. Check it out some day if you haven’t heard of it. I’m an old fart so I’m thinking it never got to younger generations.

I’m blown away by the number of books you’ve read. Ha, I’m in the little league!

Have a good new year in books as you await the publication of your new one. I’m an unabashed fan so I’ll be in line!

Debbie, this is the nicest message. Thank you! Poor Deer is scheduled for winter 2024 with the actual publication date somewhere between Jan 1 and Mar 31. I’m just about to begin my first round of edits for my editor. It’s one of my favorite times in the publication process.

Thanks for the recommendation. From its description I believe it is the same Birdy that was made into an extraordinary film starring Nicholas Cage and Matthew Modine. Almost unbearably sad but also very great. I still remember the music.