“You seem to me, Miss Archer, a person possessed of a large potential; do be careful not to underspend your resource.” I read Henry James’s Portrait of Lady a long time ago, but still remember how bad I felt for its heroine, Isabel Archer. She’s a young American who goes to England and comes into a small fortune, is taken in by a worldly older woman who educates ... Read More...
A Star Called Henry
There may be a lot about the reality of historical Ireland that I don’t like (being a woman and all), but fictionally, male Irish authors are some of the most lyrically gifted I’ve ever read. My longtime favorite was William Trevor (The Story of Lucy Gault, Death in Summer) and then this fall I added John Boyne (The Heart’s Invisible Furies, The Boy in the Striped ... Read More...
The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
I wasn’t planning on making this my week of impressive, but painful, tragic books but here we are. Reading Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad is like watching 12 Years a Slave—both are extremely important, but neither are entertaining or enjoyable. They're too real for that. Cora is a slave who decides to escape from the brutal Georgia plantation that is the only home ... Read More...
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
Bruno is nine years old and lives with his parents and his annoying sister in Berlin. His father is a very important man in the German army and after his boss, the Fury comes to visit, Bruno and his family have to leave Berlin and move to a new home. Bruno is understandably upset—their home is a marvel of hidden rooms, places to hide and an amazing bannister for sliding ... Read More...
Fates and Traitors
Fates and Traitors is a novel about John Wilkes Booth as told from the vantage point of the three women who were most important in his life and one near stranger who let him into her life. There is his mother, Mary Ann Booth; his sister, Asia; and Lucy Hale, his secret fiancé. Mary Surratt is a woman sympathetic to the Confederate cause, who owned the boarding house where he ... Read More...
We Were the Lucky Ones
According to Polish law, a person of Jewish heritage belongs not to Poland but to a Jewish nation. Just when I think I have read as much fiction about the Holocaust as I need to, when I’m sure there can’t be another permutation of the horror and struggle for survival, I’m proven wrong. This time it was the gentle nudging of my blogging friend, Sarah at Sarah’s Book Shelves, ... Read More...
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