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Kala: A Novel

August 14, 2023

kala

Even when it’s a tourist destination on the Irish coast a small town is still just a small town to the teens who live there—a boring place to escape as soon as possible. For the six disparate, but tightknit friends in Colin Walsh’s novel, Kala, teen boredom and energy lead to a prank that goes wrong, starting a domino effect that leaves one of their group missing and their ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: coming-of-age, Ireland, literary, mystery

The Librarianist: A Novel

August 10, 2023

librarianist

Bob Comet has lived a quiet life, immersed in his one great love: books. A voracious reader he became a librarian, sharing that love with the patrons he helped. Now, in his early 70s, retired, but still living in the house he grew up in in Portland, Oregon he wants to share the joy of books again in Patrick deWitt’s quirky new novel, The Librarianist. It's the inadvertent ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, literary, senior life

Strange Sally Diamond

August 8, 2023

strange sally

In rural Ireland 44-year-old Sally lives alone with her elderly father. They seldom come in contact with the outside world because Sally is neurodivergent and interactions with people never seem to go well. When Liz Nugent’s novel Strange Sally Diamond opens her father has just died. Sally handles the situation exactly as he told her to, but the after effect of her actions ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, mystery, suspense

A Fever in the Heartland

August 4, 2023

fever

I had little idea what to expect when I picked up Timothy Egan’s new book, A Fever in the Heartland. I knew it was about the Ku Klux Klan, but its subtitle seemed a bit dramatic: The Ku Klux Klan’s Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who Stopped Them. It actually proved to be accurate in this little-known history of the KKK at a time and in a place I had never heard ... Read More...

10 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Non-fiction Tagged: 1920s, history, racism, social issues, true crime

July Reading Wrap-Up

August 1, 2023

July

Goodbye, July. It was a busy month of travel, family reunion, and not-so-fun adulting, but overall there was some great reading to be had amongst the gorgeous weather here in Seattle. I’m sorry for you lovelies who struggled with sweltering. One week in Colorado in the 90s was enough to make me overjoyed to return to days in the 70s and nights in the 50s. My favorite kind of ... Read More...

5 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Feature Tagged: essays, literary, magical realism, mini-reviews, mystery

Banyan Moon: A Novel

July 28, 2023

banyan

The complex and delicate relationships between mothers and daughters is at the center of Thao Thai’s debut novel, Banyan Moon. Towards the end of the Vietnam War, Minh and her daughter, Huong, left Vietnam for America to settle in Florida. Huong’s daughter, Ann, is born there and the three live together in a decrepit mansion called Banyan House until Ann leaves home. Now, Minh ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, cultural, family saga

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