Amy’s August 2022 Picks and Pans

  I spent much of August traveling, so I am a trifle embarrassed by my monthly total. It was an interesting month of reading; no 5-stars books, and more 3-stars novels than is typical. Maybe it was a post-vacation let-down? Still, I suspect every reader will find something to add to his or her TBR list here. My blog will have a major renovation later this fall. First, it will have a new name: “Gourmet Bookworm” to highlight my two favorite pastimes… cooking and reading. The format will also change. Not only will I be reviewing the books I read each month, but some posts will also include author interviews […]

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Small World Book Review

Jonathan Evison’s Small World tells the stories of a train’s passengers in 2019 and their mid-nineteenth-century ancestors after a disastrous crash. There’s Walter Bergen, a veteran train conductor on his last run before retiring, and a descendent of Irish twin orphans. Malik, a young basketball star, is the descendent of a slave. Then there’s Jenny, a corporate consultant whose ancestors were Chinese immigrants, and Laila, a Native American, fleeing her abusive husband. Small World chronicles 170 years of American nation-building from many points of view across place and time. This inventive work explores the immigrant experience, and that of the modern era in the United States. I read and reviewed Jonathan Evison’s last […]

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