The Shadows by Alex North
I read this book a month and a half ago, and it seems like a lot has happened since then… I cannot remember all the things I thought while reading this book, but I gave it 4 stars, so I must have liked it. This books follows a man named Paul who has returned to his hometown to care for his ailing mother. Being back home brings back memories of his friendship with some local boys – James, Charlie, and Billy. The latter two are […]
Germs: A Memoir of Childhood by Richard Wollheim
Bingo Square Rep But not what you think. Let Wollheim explain. “. . . such was the hope, I would, in saying one thing after another after another after another, each with a grain more of truth to it than its predecessor, come to spill the beans: I might, if only the ear stayed steady, and that was another hope, find myself, with one broad archaic gesture, scattering the germs.” Wollheim was born in England between the two wars to a German Jewish theatrical producer […]
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume
Okay people. I think the last three reviews I have written start with hand-wringing about being behind in reviews. This time is no different. Except for how I am determined, or should I say DETERMINED to get caught up. I have a twisted process in that I don’t like to keep reading if I haven’t reviewed, so now I’m in this twisted merry-go-round of I want to read, but I’m behind in reviews, but I’m more behind than I’ve been in a bit so it […]
Breasts and Eggs by Meiko Kawakami
The inside cover of Mieko Kawakami’s Breasts and Eggs is extremely misleading. I don’t think I usually put a lot of faith in the short descriptions that live on the insides or backs of books, so I guess normally this wouldn’t have bothered me, but I received Breasts and Eggs as a gift and knew only one thing about it when I unwrapped it: the book had been featured on a very short list of recent stellar stories that contained asexual protagonists. So maybe that’s […]
The Speckled People: A Memoir of a Half-Irish Childhood by Hugo Hamilton
The speckled people is a memoir of a childhood in Ireland in the 1950’s, growing up between languages. Hugo’s mother is a german emigrant and his father is an Irish nationalist determined that his children will revive the Irish language. Hugo himself is just a boy who wants to fit in with the other kids – who all speak English. The book is written in a soft language, floating in and out of the memories of a young boy. His father is a brutal tyrant […]
Every Heart A Doorway by Seanan McGuire
Children have always had a habit of disappearing into different worlds, whether they’ve strayed off a path in the woods or climbed into a wardrobe during a game of hide and seek, but what happens to those children once they come back home? For many of those children, they never wanted to return in the first place. And for the parents of those children, they just want their child to be the one they were before they disappeared, stop talking nonsense about the fairy worlds […]
