The White Road by John Connolly
This is a tough one. I’ve been waiting for four rather long books (by mystery standards) for John Connolly to deliver the goods. I’ve received glimpses into what makes him a good writer and what makes these stories work: some well done mystery scenes and a dash of the supernatural. But I’ve been patiently waiting for him to take the next step. Does he do it here? Yes. But! Sigh… Ok, I’ll go with what works first and what I’m having a hard time with. […]
The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Despite the backlash due to Coates’ writing and speeches on his time in Palestine, there are really three narratives in this travelogue. The Palestine one is the third one and it’s the one I’m going to spend as little time as possible on because I don’t want this page to be a forum on what’s happening there right now. I actually think the best essay here is the first one, where Coates finds himself in Dakar, Senegal. He has written at length about the rejection […]
The Devil At His Elbow: Alex Murdaugh and the Fall of a Southern Dynasty by Valerie Bauerlein
While I enjoy true crime with the best of them, I tend to avoid the True Crime Podcast Industrial Complex, which has turned a bunch of amateur know nothings into wannabe Hercule Poirots with cameras. The field is currently saturated with amateurism, leading people to consider and conclude the most ridiculous things. It also turns the crimes they cover — most often homicide — into a carnival and ignores the fact that these are real people with real tragedies and our justice system is ill-equipped […]
The Pocket Guide To LGBTQIA+ Identities by Queer Haven Books
I try not to review books that are not easy to get, but sometimes I must. This just means you, other dear readers, need to find a library, interlibrary loan or a preloved website or shop. But rarely (if ever) does that mean to go to a specific bookstore because I have never seen it anywhere else. Queer Haven Books is (according to their website) South Carolina’s only independent, queer bookstore. Shop Queer Haven Books for books, sit down with a cup of coffee, read […]
The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors by Dan Jones
A Lowcountry Bride by Preslaysa Williams
Bone White by Ronald Malfi
Alexander the Great by Phillip Freeman
Nero: Matricide, Murder and Music in Imperial Rome by Anthony Everitt and Roddy Ashworth
Beyond a Boundary by C.L.R. James
A Stab in the Dark by Lawrence Block
The Killing Kind by John Connolly
Shōgun by James Clavell
Nobody's Angel by Jack Clark
A Murder in Hollywood: The Untold Story of Tinseltown's Most Shocking Crime by Casey Sherman
Village in the Dark by Iris Yamashita
Nestlings by Nat Cassidy
Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic by Tom Holland
The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age by Michael Woolraich
Rain, rain, go away. I thought my reading count looked too low and then I realized I didn’t do leftovers for February, so here’s Feb-March combined. The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and Rise of the Tudors ***** Jones is such a talented historian. Gets all the important stuff of the Wars of the Roses in great detail and lets the story entertain. His Templars book will soon be on my radar. A Lowcountry Bride**** Had to read this for a library […]
My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix
The other Grady Hendrix book was the one I really wanted to like. The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires had its moments and its subtext was a clever metaphorical look at societal exploitation. But I couldn’t connect with the characters the way Hendrix wanted me to and I felt like he got too caught up in the concept to execute well. That’s not the case here. While both are 4-star reads in their own ways, this felt like a more realized book. Because while the […]
