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The Magnificent Esme Wells

April 20, 2018

esme

Esme Silver is the flaxen haired, china doll, daughter of a Busby Berkley dancer and a handsome, low level grifter. They live in Los Angeles where her parents are certain her mother’s big break into movies is always only a day away. Except the only thing that is ever a day away is them being kicked out of their apartment because her father blew the rent money at the track. ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: 1950s, childhood, Harper, Las Vegas

Educated: A Memoir

April 18, 2018

educated

  I’d always known my father believed in a different God. As a child, I’d been aware that although my family attended the same church as everyone in our town, our religion was not the same. They believed in modesty; we practiced it. They believed in God’s power to heal; we left our injuries in God’s hands. They believed in preparing for the Second Coming; we were ... Read More...

7 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Non-fiction Tagged: book clubs, childhood, coming-of-age, family, memoir, Random House

Only Child by Rhiannon Navin

April 16, 2018

only child

How lovely would it be if the idea of a school shooting was only known as science fiction? Instead, in America, it is a subject ripe with fictional opportunities, thanks to the power of the NRA, who believe the Second Amendment, written to apply to muskets, should also apply to assault weapons so people can have access to as many guns as they want. An important subject, but not ... Read More...

5 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, childhood, contemporary life, debut, family, Knopf, social issues

Millennial vs. Millennial: Mini-Reviews

April 13, 2018

millennial

  Once upon a time (oh-so many decades ago), Baby Boomers captured the attention of writers. That time is waning as the next fascination generation crowds at their aging heels. But if Boomers seemed to be a relatively homogenous group, Millennials are not so easily pegged. Recently, I read two novels that staked their ground at opposite ends of the field, with one going ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: chick lit, contemporary life, Doubleday, mini-reviews, new adult, New York City, William Morrow

The Broken Girls: A Novel

April 11, 2018

broken

  She made herself keep her gaze forward. To look back would be to tempt it. If she only looked forward, it would stay away. You know how sometimes there are places that feel wrong? Idlewild Hall in Vermont is one of those places. In the 1950s it was a school for troubled girls or just girls who might be trouble. Katie Henry is one of those girls, as are her friends ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: Berkley, mystery, New England, paranormal

Circe: A Novel by Madeline Miller

April 9, 2018

circe

No matter what else you might think about them, no one knows how to do drama like the gods and goddesses of Greek mythology. And no one knows how to translate this drama for the modern mind like Madeline Miller. In her last novel, Song of Achilles, she showed the softer side of the god famed as a warrior. Now she is back with Circe, the story of the daughter of Helios (the sun ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, literary, Little Brown and Company, mythology

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