If you are looking for a gritty British detective/mystery novel for the weekend, Fiona Barton’s The Widow is a fine choice. Set in the years 2006-2010, the plot involves Internet chat rooms, child porn and a missing toddler named Bella Elliott. Our main characters are Detective Bob Sparkes, who is obsessed with finding Bella, journalist Kate Waters, who is obsessed with getting the scoop, Glen Taylor, who is obsessed with child porn, and his wife Jean, who tries her best to protect her husband and […]
Feminist Witch
This surprising gem of a book, which happens to have been the very first “Book of the Month Club” selection (1926), came to my attention through the delightful New York Times “By the Book” series. Every week, an author or other famous person is interviewed about their favorite books and authors, their least favorite, etc. About a month ago, Helen Macdonald (author of H is for Hawk) was the subject and she mentioned Lolly Willowes as a favorite book. Having never heard of it, I […]
Growing up in war – a surprisingly delightful read!
So people have been raving about this book for years and, as per usual, I am so late to the station that the train has already traversed the planet and come all the way back to drop its passengers off. It wasn’t until a friend literally pressed the book into my hand and commanded me to read it that I finally did. This time I should’ve gotten on the train sooner. So why didn’t I? Well people kept raving about the book, but every time […]
A Fearsome Kind of Love
The Door (1987), by Hungarian novelist Magda Szabo (1917-2007), is the story of a writer’s relationship with her older cleaning woman. The two women, a generation apart, develop an antagonistic or love/hate kind of friendship. Emerence, the cleaning woman, is a force to be reckoned with; she has strong views on politics and religion, and she is unafraid of authority. While she is known in the neighborhood for her hard work and generosity, she shows her employer, never named but referred to by neighbors as […]
Science vs. Magic: Can’t We All Just Get Along?
Charlie Jane Anders’ new novel is about science, magic, and the need to work together for the sake of the world. Our two main characters are the embodiment of science and magic. Laurence is a gifted geek who, in 8th grade, figured out how to make a wristwatch time machine. It could only take you 2 seconds into the future, but still…. Patricia is a magic and nature geek who occasionally can talk to animals and once spoke with a tree. In adulthood, Laurence and […]
Holiday Book Exchange! Thanks Badkittyuno!
First, I’d like to thank fellow Cannonballer Badkittyuno for sending this novel to me as part of the holiday exchange. I had mentioned that, to my shame, I had not read any of Isabel Allende’s novels and Badkittyuno sent one of her personal favorites, Island Beneath the Sea. And now it’s one of mine. This is a work of historical fiction set in late 18th century Haiti and Louisiana. The novel shows the effect of slavery and revolution on a group of people, slave and […]
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 29
- 30
- 31
- 32
- 33
- …
- 41
- Next Page »