Summer Fun Reading: Mini-Reviews
Let’s face it, this is not the time of year for War and Peace. Actually, I’m not sure there’s ever a time for War and Peace, but that’s another post. Right now, if you’re lucky, you’re sunning and...
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The Mothers: A Novel
Upper Room Chapel is a church that is at the center of a Southern California black community in Brit Bennett’s debut novel, The Mothers. In the last year, it is where Nadia Turner’s mother was last...
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March Reading Recap
I don’t know about you, but I couldn’t tell lion or lamb about March all month. We had warm warms and cold colds. My reading kind of felt the same way. On the one hand I read another 5 star book, but...
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Into the Water: A Novel
Somehow I ended up reading two books recently on the same esoteric subject—witch hunting in England in the 1600s. Earlier this week I reviewed The Witchfinder’s Sister and now I’m back with Into the...
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It’s Monday, June 12th: What Are You Reading?
There is nothing like a vacation filled with family, momentous occasions (high school graduation, reunion with college friends) to dynamite even the best of reading intentions. What I mean is: I didn’t...
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The Lost Letter by Jillian Cantor
In the present Kate’s father is succumbing to dementia. As his memory flickers on and off, she wants to give his life’s work meaning and so takes his enormous and beloved stamp collection to an...
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The Dreaded DNF: Summer Edition
What can I say? 2017 is halfway over and my reading has been bipolar all year. I might think it was me, but I know too many other readers who report the same thing—high highs and low lows. And then the...
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Dystopian Summer: Mini-Reviews
The title of this post might make you think I’m alluding to the dumpster fire that is current American politics, but you’d be wrong. Although the generalized anxiety so many of us are feeling is likely...
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September Reading Wrap-Up
Goodbye summer! What an odd one it was—mostly chilly, but dry with only three days got that anywhere near hot. The worst of it was in with the fires in the Columbia Gorge when, even though we live up...
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My Absolute Darling
What do you need to know about Turtle Alveston beyond her weird name? Well, she knows her way around almost every firearm there is and she eats raw eggs for breakfast. She is fourteen, but while she...
View ArticleThe Female Persuasion
There has been a lot written about Meg Wolitzer’s new novel, The Female Persuasion. The novel will resonate with an entire generation of women who, after joining the workforce, longed for a mentor to...
View ArticleAlmost Everything: Notes on Hope
Anne Lamott’s new book Almost Everything: Notes on Hope is not straight path reading. It’s not her style and I, for one, am grateful for that. But if you looking for succinct advice on how to feel...
View ArticleCity of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
Anyway, at some point in a woman’s life, she just gets tired of being ashamed all the time. After that, she is free to become whoever she truly is. If you read Elizabeth Gilbert’s book, Big Magic, you...
View ArticleA Prayer for Travelers
Cale doesn’t have a lot of people in her life. In fact, there’s only one since her mother left her in a hospital room when she was an infant. Her grandfather, a quiet old man who has no experience with...
View ArticleLong Bright River
Mickey has been a Philadelphia police officer for 13 years. She’s got the brains and the experience to become a detective, but stays as a patrol cop in a neighborhood called Kensington. A high crime...
View ArticleWe Wish You Luck
When Hannah, Leslie, and Jimmy arrive at Fielding for the school’s MFA (Masters of Fine Arts) program they don’t know each other. Their backgrounds are wildly different as are the backgrounds of the 14...
View ArticleIf I Had Your Face
I would live your life so much better than you if I had your face. Last week, I visited historical Korea when I read Pachinko. I learned so much about the country, but once again, fiction is taking...
View ArticleAll Adults Here
Astrid Strick is in downtown Clapham where she’s lived for most of her life, when she witnesses a school bus hitting and killing a woman she knows. A tragic death like this could be the focus of most...
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