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2020 Underrated Gems

December 21, 2020

Well, it’s that time of year again…the extravaganza of lists about everything BEST in the world. I’ll be joining the fray, but my two lists (debuts and overall best) won’t be going up until after Christmas. For today, I wanted to give some love to four very different books I thought were gems, but that didn’t get much attention. Interestingly enough, none are light reading. I ... Read More...

10 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Feature Tagged: contemporary life, literary, memoir, Middle East

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

December 18, 2020

midnight

Nora Seed is a very unhappy woman. At 35 she feels her life is mainly filled with regrets, that the future holds no hope, and that she contributes nothing to the world. When her beloved cat dies, it’s the last straw. She decides to kill herself with a drug overdose. What happens next is best explained by the book itself: “Between life and death there is a library”, she ... Read More...

6 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, fantasy

The Last Castle by Denise Kiernan

December 16, 2020

last castle

One of the main nonfiction backlist books I wanted to read this month is The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation’s Largest Home by Denise Kiernan. I loved her book The Girls of Atomic City about the women in America who were part of the effort to win WWII. The Last Castle is about an almost mythical point in American history where money ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Non-fiction Tagged: 19th century, history, wealth

This is My America

December 14, 2020

america

Being 17 is difficult enough, but being that age, Black, in a small Texas town, and with a father on death row feels like a mountain too high. For most it would be, but for Tracy Beaumont in the YA novel This is My America, acceptance and resignation are not traits she possesses. Her mother might say she’s mostly “sass”, but Tracy doesn’t feel the need to keep her beliefs ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, contemporary life, racism, social issues, young adult

Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Cosby

December 11, 2020

blacktop

Beauregard (“Bug”) is a man dedicated to his work. His work being cars and anything to do with them, especially muscle cars. This means when Blacktop Wasteland begins, he’s also a man torn. He’s gone legit and opened an auto repair shop, but a new competitor in the small town of Red Hill, Virginia is trying to put him out of business. Despite his promise to his wife Kia and his ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: Southern life, suspense, thriller

Thirteen by Steve Cavanagh

December 9, 2020

thirteen

Right now, fast paced books are my favorite kind of reading. Normally, I love diverse, literary fiction, but it’s not enough to hold my COVID/post-election attention. This is also my backlist reading time of the year, when I’m less about striking out on my own—reading new books you may not know about—and more about reading older books I’ve heard about. The bookish stars aligned ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: suspense, thriller, vacation reading

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