I seem to have established a tradition of reading Lauren Groff late in the year. The last book I read in 2021 was her Fates and Furies and it ended up as the final addition to my best-of-the-year list. And now at the end of 2022, Groff is once again helping me close out my … Continue reading Matrix
Category: Reviews
bookshelf
Published by Alex Johnson in 2012, bookshelf is a small, square ode to bookshelves and book-centric interior design. Hardly any of the featured bookshelves are traditional. Instead they’re mostly off-kilter, deconstructed, hanging, curved, abstract, and above all, imaginative. The shelf designers featured by Johnson are clever and inventive. There's lots of ladder-type shelves, cubes, honeycombs, … Continue reading bookshelf
Wildfire
It's been a long time since I was in grade school but that didn't stop me from reading Wildfire, which is intended for grades 6-8. Whew! This book begins with a bang and doesn't stop until the last page. Action-packed doesn't cover it. Wildfire, by Rodman Philbrick, is fraught from the start. Sam and Delphy … Continue reading Wildfire
The Unfolding
It's the day before Election Day and therefore a fitting time to tell you about The Unfolding by A.M. Homes. Like our current political hellscape it's darkly unnerving. It's a political novel but it's also a testament to the power women have, the power we give away, and the power we can make our own. … Continue reading The Unfolding
Family Curse: Field Notebooks (1880-2020)
First, I love a novella. Not too big, not too small, sized just right. Who has time for 900-page tomes? Not me. Short stories are great, I enjoy them, but they’re stories, not (mini) novels. Novellas rule by allowing just enough space to set the stage, round out a character, and develop a plot. Tenacity … Continue reading Family Curse: Field Notebooks (1880-2020)
Harlem Shuffle
New! Listen to me read this review here - https://open.spotify.com/episode/21Ri7o9hKABqfP7ublI0Kr News flash - Colson Whitehead can write! I know we know this, he's won not one but two Pulitzer Prizes (for The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys). Harlem Shuffle is completely different from those books but just as extraordinary. Ray Carney is a good … Continue reading Harlem Shuffle
Now you can listen to reviews on my new podcast!
WordPress makes it so easy to turn posts into podcasts so I gave it a try. Click here to listen to my review of Where the Crawdads Sing. Hope you enjoy! https://open.spotify.com/show/5ZCaL5nszGlKQdlLIoLWjq