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Black Chalk

December 16, 2015

black chalk

  There are many games to be played in college but none quite like the one designed by Jolyon and his friend Chad in Christopher Yates’s debut novel Black Chalk. The novel, just like the Game itself, begins with innocuous pieces to lure you in—Chad, the shy American determined to make the friends in England that he could not make at home; Jolyon, the funny British boy who ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, coming-of-age, debut, friendship, mystery, Picador, suspense

Give a Book!

December 14, 2015

give a book

It’s that time of year when most of us are feeling pulled in even more directions than usual. Work+family+holidays= overload. Too much to do and not enough time to do it so, in the spirit of giving, I’m going to give you, my favorite readers, the perfect excuse to grab a warm beverage and sit back for a moment. If anyone asks, you’re working on gift ideas (nudge nudge, wink ... Read More...

8 Comments
Filed Under: Feature, Reading Tagged: gifts, lists, reading

Furiously Happy

December 9, 2015

furiously happy

I have learned that every person in the world is on the spectrum of mental illness. Many people barely register on the scale, while others have far more than they could be expected to handle. Even specific disorders are incredibly individualized.    Jenny Lawson found her tribe through her blog, The Bloggess, and went on to write a funny memoir of her childhood called ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Non-fiction Tagged: book clubs, humor, Macmillan, memoir

A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding

December 7, 2015

a dictionary of mutual

  Imagine, if you can, your entire life changing in a flash. Literally, and by ‘flash’ I mean a blinding light the force and magnitude of an atomic bomb. This is what happens to Amaterasu Takahashi in Jackie Copleton’s new novel A Dictionary of Mutual Understanding. She and her family live in Nagasaki and on August 9, 1945 instead of meeting her daughter at a nearby ... Read More...

1 Comment
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, debut, historical fiction, Japan, WWII

Unbecoming

December 2, 2015

unbecoming

  Unbecoming follows a young woman named Grace from present day Paris to New York City and even Garland, Tennessee, slipping back and forth as her story and life unspool. In Paris, she is not even Grace but calls herself Julie and works for a woman who restores antiques and pays cash. As a young girl there was no stability in her life so when she met Riley in the fourth grade ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, mystery, thriller

A Wild Swan: And Other Tales

November 30, 2015

a wild swan

When I think of Michael Cunningham many things about his writing come to mind: poetic, compelling… so many adjectives, and yet funny is not among them. Not that he is dark or his writing is without joy, but until I read his newest book, a series of short stories called A Wild Swan, he’d never made me laugh out loud. Now he puts a modern spin on eleven fairy tales and does so in ... Read More...

5 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: fairy tales, Farrar Straus Giroux, literary, retellings, short stories

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