What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty
30 Books in 30 Days, Vol. 2 Book 24/30 This one was a long time coming. I’ve owned it for years, and recommended it to a handful of friends, most of whom were confused why I was recommending a book to them I hadn’t read, but I know about books even if I haven’t read them! And they liked it! So! This is the second book of two that I had on my TBR that was about a woman getting a head injury and losing […]
Daughters of the Occupation: A Novel of WWII by Shelly Sanders
Daughters of the Occupation, published this year, is “inspired by true events” and a real gut-punching piece of historical fiction. Author Shelly Sanders discovered some truths about her family’s past as Jews in Riga when both Soviets and Nazis overran the country and persecuted them. She used this information as a springboard to write a novel about Miriam and Sarah, a grandmother and granddaughter who embark on harrowing journeys in very different time periods to find their family members and preserve their history. Chapters alternate […]
The King at the Edge of the World by Arthur Phillips
You know that feeling you have when an author you love has a new novel out? When you scoop it up and get to reading, because previous novels have dazzled you? When you dig in with excitement and anticipation because you know it’s gonna be great? And then you get to the last page and realize it was. . . fine? Arthur Phillips has written two of my favorite novels of the 21st century: The Egyptologist and The Tragedy of Arthur. Granted, Kim’s Favorite Novels […]
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
I knew how this was going to end – of course I did – and yet I went willingly with Patroclus and Achilles towards their doom and my ugly crying. I may have mentioned in earlier reviews that I have trouble slowing down and savoring books, but I was in luck with this gorgeous book because my child and husband were camping and canoeing in the Boundary Waters, so I had a glorious week to nibble at this book and delight in turns of phrase, […]
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
After being convicted of libel, Mikael Blomkvist is hired to investigate the decades-old disappearance of Harriet Vanger, a teenage heiress, with the help of Lisbeth Salander. I read this book a long while ago, but very few things clung in my mind. Certainly not the length, or the amount of time that was devoted to the financial intrigue aspect. Also all the pedantic sandwich making and eating! First, the good. The mystery of Harriet Vanger is a fascinating one and hard to guess the truth […]
If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha
If I Had Your Face is a first novel, and it shows. Frances Cha follows four (or maybe five) young women in Seoul as they try to keep their heads above water. They live in a boarding house and have slowly reached out to each other over time. There’s an artist, an entertainer in a ‘room salon,’ a mute hairdresser, her friend who is obsessed with extreme plastic surgery, and a pregnant lady downstairs who initially looks down on these women, but eventually seeks their […]
