“America’s been living on borrowed time all these years, Dominick,” he told me. “Playing the world’s whore, wallowing in our greed. Now we’re going to pay the price.” —Wally Lamb, I Know This Much is True. On the afternoon of October 12, 1990, Thomas Birdsey, a paranoid schizophrenic, entered the Three Rivers, Connecticut, public library, retreated to one of the rear study carrels, and committed a shocking act of self-mutilation. He prayed to God it was an acceptable sacrifice. Thus begins I Know This Much is True, which follows the parallel lives of Thomas and his identical twin brother, Dominick as the two approach middle age. Narrator Dominick Birdsey […]
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The Seamstress of New Orleans Book Review
The Seamstress of New Orleans is set against the backdrop of the first all-female Mardi Gras krewe at the turn-of-the-century. For those who don’t know what a krewe is (I had no clue), it is a private organization that stages events during Mardi Gras. Here, the event is the leap year ball of Les Mysterieuses, during which women could make advances toward men that would be taboo at other times. The novel brings together two women from unique backgrounds. Upon the sudden disappearance of her husband, pregnant Alice Butterworth leaves Chicago for the more hospitable climes of Louisiana to make a living by providing sewing lessons at an orphanage. […]
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Gilded Mountain Book Review
“I asked a man in prison once how he happened to be there, and he said he had stolen a pair of shoes. I told him if he had stolen a railroad, he would be a United States Senator.” — Mary Harris “Mother” Jones. The early 1900s is an epic time in American history and Moonstone, Colorado, is a harsh place to live. In Gilded Mountain, author Kate Manning introduces readers to Sylvie Pelletier, an unforgettable teenager who bravely exposes the corruption that enriches her father’s employers. Sylvie is a first-generation American and the daughter of French-Canadian parents. To help put food on the table, the sixteen-year-old serves as […]
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Their Eyes Were Watching God
First published in 1937, Their Eyes Were Watching God was out of print for almost thirty years—due largely to the initial audiences’ rejection of its strong black female protagonist. It was reissued in 1978 and has since become one of the most widely read and critically acclaimed works of African American literature. Their Eyes Were Watching God tells the story of Janie Starks, fair-skinned, long-legged, independent, and articulate, who sets out to be her own person—no easy feat for a black woman in the ‘30s. After three marriages, she journeys back to her roots, where her small southern black community buzzes with gossip about the outcome of her affair […]
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The It Girl
Now I can see why this book was nominated by readers in the Goodreads Choice Award Best Mystery & Thriller category last year—it’s a killer psychological thriller! The It Girl is told in alternating before and after chapters beginning at Oxford University (did you know Oxford comprises 39 separate colleges?) when freshman Hannah Jones meets her new roommate. April Coutts-Cliveden is sophisticated, wealthy, the ultimate “it” girl. “She had the kind of beauty that hurt your eyes if you looked at her for too long but made it hard to tear your gaze away. It was, Hannah realized, as if a different kind of light were shining on her […]
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The Best Romance Novels of All Time
It’s Valentine’s Day, so this post seems appropriate. After conducting loads of research, walking down memory lane reminiscing, and donning my thinking cap, I’ve come up with my list of the 50 most romantic novels of all time. Depending upon your age and tastes, your list may look very different. You’ll notice very few contemporary books here—I’m shooting for romance more than sex (hence no 50 shades happening here). How many of these have you read? What should I add to the list? The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy The Bride by Julia Garwood The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James […]
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November 2022 Picks and Pans
Another month of reading came and went, and so did my deadline for writing this post! Oh well, I hope you find something to love here. Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid “We live in a world where exceptional women have to sit around waiting for mediocre men.”—Taylor Jenkins Reid, Carrie Soto is Back I’ve never been much of a tennis fan, although I took the obligatory tennis lessons at Wesley Park several summers through community ed and then married into a tennis crazed family of jocks. Despite my lack of athleticism, Carrie Soto is Back was engrossing from start to finish. When Carrie Soto retires […]
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The Madness of Crowd
Louise Penny just keeps getting better. The Madness of Crowds is number seventeen in her Chief Inspector Armand Gamache series, and I am now just one book away from being caught up. So many books to read, too little time! As always, she’s composed a multilayered novel with the diverse, well-drawn characters I’ve come to love. It’s best to read her books in order, but she does a fine job referencing events from previous books to keep new readers in the loop. The Madness of Crowds is about man’s inhumanity to man (or woman’s inhumanity to woman, whatever the case may be). Chief Inspector Gamache’s winter holiday is interrupted […]
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Messenger of Truth
Once again, Maisie Dobbs did not disappoint. I love historical mysteries, and author Jacqueline Winspear gets extra points for having the detective be a woman, which in 1931 would have been unprecedented. It was a 2006 Agatha Award Nominee for Best Novel—always a good sign. (Incidentally, Louise Penny has won the award seven times.) Nicholas Bassington-Hope was commissioned to paint war propaganda after sustaining injuries in combat. On the night before the opening of his exhibition at a celebrated Mayfair art gallery, he falls from a scaffolding to his death. The police rule it an accident, but the dead man’s twin sister suspects foul play. Where is the painting […]
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Fox Creek
Another fabulous novel by Edgar winner William Kent Krueger! Fox Creek is the nineteenth installment of the Cork O’Connor series and my twenty-first book by this talented writer. Do I enjoy his work… you bet as we sat here in Minnesota! In Fox Creek, Cork races against time to save his wife Rainy, Ojibwe healer Henry Meloux, and a mysterious woman from violent mercenaries. Dolores Morriseau has come to Henry for guidance. When men fill the woods trying to capture her, Meloux leads them to safety deep in his beloved Boundary Waters Canoe Area. Well over 100 years old, he must do his best to outwit the mercenaries who […]
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