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The Comfort of Monsters

August 11, 2021

comfort

Milwaukee in the summer of 1991 was focused on one thing only—the arrest and investigation of Jeffrey Dahmer. The scope of his crimes dominated not only the local news but national as well. For Peg and her family, it meant the disappearance of her younger sister got no media attention and only limited help from the police. The Comfort of Monsters moves between that hard, heavy ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: debut, literary, mystery

Other People’s Houses

August 9, 2021

other people

After a July of aggressively dark reading I gave myself some mental respite by starting August with two light backlist novels. I reviewed The Bestseller on Friday and today I’m happy to start the week with Other People’s Houses—a contemporary look at family life, marriage, and friendship in one L.A. neighborhood. Frances, is the novel’s anchor and its every-mom. She takes all ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, humor, marriage

The Bestseller: A Novel

August 5, 2021

bestseller

The Bestseller had two things going for it when I saw it in my library online catalog. One, it was Available Now so not hold list to wait through and two, the author’s name, Olivia Goldsmith, sounded vaguely familiar. Sure enough, she was a popular writer in the 80s and 90s and I’d read several of her books. It’s wild to go back an author I thoroughly enjoyed 25 years ago and ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: chick lit, New York City, publishing, vacation reading

July Reading Wrap-Up

July 30, 2021

july

  July. What a month! On the bright side there was this: Me getting to see my mother after 18 months apart. She's the person who encouraged my love of reading. And that’s about as much as I need to write about July because everything else was just life. My reading was odd, but I’m hearing from a lot of friends that they’re going through the same thing. Namely, the ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Feature Tagged: contemporary life, cultural, humor, mini-reviews, vacation reading

We Begin at the End

July 28, 2021

we begin

Somehow, in the past two weeks I stumbled into two novels that were antithetical to my usual, lighter summer reading. Both are standouts, but require the right head space. Monday was The Paper Palace and today it’s We Begin at the End—the story of Walk, a small-town chief of police, and Duchess, a teenage girl who’s developed a tough persona to deal with the bad hand that is ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction

The Paper Palace

July 26, 2021

paper

No more regrets for what I haven’t done. Now only regrets for what I have done. I love him, I hate myself. I love myself, I hate him. This is the end of a long story. These are the words of Eleanor (Elle) a 50-year-old, happily married woman who had sex last night with Jonas, her best friend. He’s been in love with her since they were tweens. Their furtive encounter took place ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, childhood, contemporary life, literary, marriage

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