Finished reading: Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino 📚

This might have been my favorite book of 2024 if I had read it last year. Adina Giorno was born the moment the Voyager I spacecraft launched. Before long, this sensitive and observant child of a Philadelphia immigrant learns (or decides?) she is an alien sent to Earth to observe humanity and report back to her home planet via fax(!) about just what it is like to exist here. This charming account of her life and recollections is an absolute joy. Melancholy and funny at once, a profound and carefully observed meditation on longing and belonging.