This was a cute little collection of stories about Jewish moms, written by their daughters, most of whom make a living either writing, acting or doing stand up (or some combination of the three). It was hardly an earth shattering read, but the stories were sweet and funny and make you want you call your mom. My mom is not Jewish, but she was raised Roman Catholic and there’s a lot of overlap in the stereotypes: obsessed with feeding you, meddling in your life and […]
The Virgin of Small Plains by Nancy Pickard
This was a good, twisty read. I almost dropped it to 3 stars, just because the third act was precisely what I had predicted, until Pickard threw a curveball that surprised me while also fitting perfectly. Great ending! “It had come as a relief when she had been forced to go into the hospital in Emporia, where she could be given drugs that made her sleep, sleep through an investigation that did not include her sons, sleep through the quiet departure of her older boy […]
Summerland by Michael Chabon
Y’all this was so good. So, so good. It was like the best of what I love about Stephen King novels — grand, sweeping adventures like Dark Tower or The Talisman that focus on young kids getting wrapped up in mythology and having to save the world. It reminded me quite a bit of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods as well — mythology in the modern world, the old gods forced to adapt to the new. A Michael Chabon treatment of this kind of adventure? Sign me up! “Mr. Feld […]
The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion
The Rosie Project has been reviewed a few times on Cannonball Read, so I’ll see if I can add anything new. Like most of those who read it, I thought it was a really cute, funny story. I read the whole thing in a day, and just loved it. I am kind of disappointed that a sequel appears to be in the works — seems unnecessary! “But I’m not good at understanding what other people want.’ ‘Tell me something I don’t know,’ said Rosie for […]
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
“We are not idealized wild things. We are imperfect mortal beings, aware of that mortality even as we push it away, failed by our very complication, so wired that when we mourn our losses we also mourn, for better or for worse, ourselves. As we were. As we are no longer. As we will one day not be at all.” I really tried, but I didn’t like this one. I feel like maybe I’m not the right audience. It’s a book about loss, primarily, and […]
Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett
Looking for intelligent historical fiction with a dash of dirty bits? Ken Follett is your man. He’ll educate you up good while throwing in some Nazi/lonely Englishwoman sex for good measure. “Our whole strategy must be to prevent the Allies from securing a beachhead, because once they achieve that, the battle is lost…perhaps even the war.” The Eye of the Needle takes place during World War II. Our Nazi is a spy, occasionally called Faber, who has discovered the truth behind Calais. Basically, the Allies […]
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