Apparently, all roads do lead to Rome—at least in my March historical fiction reading so far! On Monday, I reviewed The Confessions of Young Nero and today I’m jumping forward 1,400 years with Sarah Dunant’s new novel about the Borgia family. In the Name of the Family opens with the scandal soaked Borgias firmly ensconced in power. After much maneuvering and exorbitant ... Read More...
The Confessions of Young Nero
Who hasn’t heard some version of the phrase “Nero fiddled while Rome burned”? It’s long been the standard epitaph for any ruler so decadent and foolish that they were more interested in entertaining and enriching themselves than running a country. Hhhhmmm. Current similarities aside, Margaret George decides to investigate the life of Emperor Nero to see what, if any, of ... Read More...
It’s Not You, It’s Me: Mini-Reviews
Back for the first time in 2017, it's the It's Not You, It's Me review extravaganza. All right, maybe not an extravaganza, but I do have two books I read recently that did not ring my bell but might be just right for other readers. Parallel stories of family, art, and loss are at the center of Ellen Umansky’s new novel, The Fortunate Ones. In the present, ... Read More...
Ill Will: A Novel by Dan Chaon
No doubt this must happen to everyone at a certain age: You look up for a moment and you’re not sure which life is read. You’ve split yourself into so many honeycombed parts that they barely notice each other—all of them pacing, concurrently, parallel streams of thought, and each one thinks of itself as me. Dustin Tillman has a lot on his mind. His wife ... Read More...
The Book of Unknown Americans
We’re the unknown Americans, the ones no one even wants to know, because they’ve been told they’re supposed to be scared of us and because maybe if they did take the time to get to know us, they might realize we’re not that bad, maybe even we’re a lot like them. And who would they hate then? When their daughter, Maribel, suffers a traumatic brain injury that ... Read More...
February Reading Wrap-Up
Month two of 2017 is a wrap and I'm happy to report that by-and-large my reading mojo is returning. Whether that's due to better books coming out or the fact that I've doubled the amount of time I spend working out to keep myself mentally sound while trying to deal with the toxic levels of fear and absurdity in our government right now, who knows? February was still ... Read More...
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