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Where There Was Fire

August 28, 2023

where there was fire

The verdant, extravagant beauty of Costa Rica hosts the three-generation family saga found in Where There Was Fire by John Manuel Arias. The Valaverdes are a united family in 1968 until the night a fight leaves their lives in ashes. Now, the remaining family members, Teresa and her daughter Lyra, reluctantly reunite almost 30 years later, both looking for answers before it’s ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, historical fiction, literary

Whalefall by Daniel Kraus

August 23, 2023

whalefall

The writer’s imagination never ceases to amaze me. How even the smallest bit of news can catch their eye and be alchemized into stories far beyond the wildest imaginings of the rest of us. For Daniel Kraus, it was a small newspaper article about a diver who’d been caught in the mouth of a whale for mere moments before being pushed back out. This tidbit led him to wonder what ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: horror, suspense, vacation reading

The English Experience

August 21, 2023

english

I leaned into dark fiction last week so thought I’d give everyone a break and go light with the latest novel in a series I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. The English Experience is the third novel by Julie Schumacher chronicling the misadventures of hapless English professor, Jay Fitger. Fitger is the department head at the aptly named Payne University—an institution of higher learning ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, England, humor

Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane

August 18, 2023

small mercies

He has no idea where it all comes from—the loyalty and the rage, the brotherhood and the suspicion, the benevolence and the hate. If you’re looking for refined forays into the more delicate human emotions in your reading than Dennis Lehane is probably not an author you read often or at all. He’s a bareknuckle bruiser who writes about a Boston unfamiliar to anyone whose ideas ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: 1970s, book clubs, historical fiction, New England, suspense

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...

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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...

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

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