Every year I read books I loved, but that seemed to go under-the-radar for most people. Yes, reading is a very personal endeavor and what is 5 stars for me may not be 5 stars for you, but I’ve got 7 underrated gems I read this year that I’m almost evangelical about—I loved them that much. So, I’m spreading that love in the hopes that you might discover your next great read ... Read More...
Zorrie by Laird Hunt
Towards the end of last year, the only reading that worked for me was fast paced thrillers. More plot, more action, less literary. This year is taking a turn (or a return) to the fiction that’s always drawn me in, the kind where the words matter more than anything else. Laird Hunt’s latest, Zorrie, epitomizes this style; the power of simplicity. Zorrie is a young girl in ... Read More...
In the House in the Dark of the Woods
Halloween may be over but the advancing winter weather still makes a perfect backdrop for creepy reading. Last week I wrote about Killing Commendatore, a Japanese novel that was oddly unsettling, but today I have another book that has truly left me flummoxed. It’s Laird Hunt’s In the House in the Dark of the Woods and the title is almost longer than the book. It’s the story of ... Read More...
Neverhome: A Novel
There comes a point in a reading life where, short of science fiction, it gets harder to be surprised by a novel’s premise but I have never before read a Civil War novel where the protagonist is a female… soldier. I’ve seen articles and photos of real-life women who fought disguised as men but had not come across it translated into fiction. How marvelous then that an author has ... Read More...
