It is a rare occasion when the title of a book not only hints at the plot but perfectly describes the stylistic tone as well. The Rules of Civility is just such a book and it is a grand first effort for author Amor Towles. Towles takes us into Manhattan in 1938. Wealthy Manhattan, where what is said and seen on the surface is often not what is happening underneath. ... Read More...
City of Women
The grandpa just stares backward at a world that no longer exists, or forward to a world beyond his comprehension. For Sigrid Schröder her life in 1943 Berlin is one of grinding tedium, working days as a stenographer and spending nights in a small apartment with her mother-in-law and withdrawn husband. Her only escape is a movie theater where she can sit quietly in the ... Read More...
Semi-Charmed Life
Beatrice Bernstein, of the art world Bernsteins, is faced with a difficult decision: spend her senior year living in a roach and mold infested basement apartment or ghost-write a blog for the chic and mysterious socialite, Veruca Pfeffernoose. Balancing her ethics against sleepless nights fully clothed to avoid any contact with anything in her closet-apartment and Beatrice’s ... Read More...
The After Wife: A Novel
One of the reasons reading is such a marvelous thing is because it can be tailored to suit every mood. When I’m reading a book to be reviewed I need to pay attention, a bit like studying in college but if you only ever had to study your favorite subject. Sometimes, I want to read the way I watch bad TV- blindly with no greater goal than to be amused. No thought involved. Gigi ... Read More...
Suite Française
There are novels that come with a backstory so complex and heartrending the book itself can be overwhelmed. Irène Némirovsky, was a Ukrainian Jew living in Paris with her husband and two young daughters. She was a successful author and had written the first two parts of Suite Française in Paris during the German occupation. In 1942 at age 39 she would be sent to her death ... Read More...
Age of Desire
There are two stories of love in Age of Desire. One is Edith Wharton’s affair with a young journalist and the other is the more enduring constant love between friends. In 1907, Wharton resides in Paris for the winter with her husband, Teddy, and assistant, Anna. Her marriage to Teddy is in name only: he is much older and they have nothing in common. As Edith describes herself ... Read More...
