Mistress and the Art of Death is first book of in this series from Ariana Franklin. I didn’t quite know what to expect – a pure historical fiction or a paranormal mystery? It’s actually more akin to a modern murder mystery simply set in 12th century Cambridge. Four children have been murdered and the English community, rife with religious prejudice, blames the ghetto-ized Jewish community. Henry II is forced to step in and quarantine the Jewish people in a nearby castle. Lest they be lynched by the Catholic […]
An uneven, anti-climactic but still thought-provoking read about teenage sexuality and friendship.
This is more like 3.5 stars for me, mostly for the ending, which just fizzled out, after a strong beginning, strong middle, even strong leading up to the end . . . but the end was a nope. Rounding up though, because I’m just magnamimous like that. The Bermudez Triangle (I refuse to ackowledge its new title) follows Nina, Avery, and Mel, who have been best friends since they were small children. In the summer before their senior year, Nina goes away to a college […]
Laugh-out-loud-while-reading-on-public-transit funny
I read this book because I am very slowly working my way through all the books that have won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Dunces won in 1980. There is a certain anticipation when starting an award winning novel. I wonder “What is so special about this work? Why did it win?” I wonder if I am up for the challenge, if I can do the work justice as a reader. I didn’t know what I was getting into.The beginning of Dunces is rollicking and […]
Where has everybody gone?
Station Eleven made a lot of noise when it was published earlier this year. It was heaped in critical praise and when it began to be shortlisted for prestigious awards, even more noise was made about how Mandel had written a novel so brilliant it had defied the limitations of its genre. Such hyperbolic waffle tends to make me roll my eyes and end up disappointed (I’m looking at you, Donna Tartt), so I approached Station Eleven with caution. And as any regular reader will know, the caution […]
A Never Let Me Go For the Senior Set
I’ve never been a fan of dystopian YA fiction and I guess the opposite of that would be SA or senior adult fiction with a dystopian twist, which is what The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist would be. The premise of the story caught me a little off guard, but as a Never Let Me Go, senior citizen edition, I was pretty impressed. When Dorrit Weger moves into the Second Reserve Bank Unit as a permanent resident, she has few expectations beyond having a secure place […]
Poirot doesn’t impress in his first story
Fortieth book reviewed as part of the 130 Challenge. I like mysteries and thrillers, but this one didn’t impress me much. It might be because Agatha was such a pioneer in this genre that a lot of other writers must have borrowed from her and so, this particular story (the first perhaps, in her famous Hercule Poirot series) appears to be far too familiar.The plot was quite simple. I was even able to guess the most likely culprits. However, as soon as Hercule starts to […]
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