Last week was devoted to sad summer reading—challenging, rewarding books that left me emotionally wrung out. This week I'm swinging in the opposite direction with something much more fun, beginning with: A Sociopath's Guide to a Successful Marriage by M.K. Oliver. Really, who could resist that title? Sophie is supremely confident, intelligent, attractive, a devoted wife and ... Read More...
Land by Maggie O’Farrell
One family and a country wiped out by famine are the heart and soul of Land, Maggie O’Farrell’s sweeping new novel. The lives of Tomás, Phina, and their children, Liam, Enda, Rose, and Eugene play out on the page with all the verdant vibrancy of the land they love. It's a decade after the Great Hunger in Ireland and Tomás has found much needed work as a cartographer for the ... Read More...
Whidbey by T Kira Madden
I’ve always been open to challenging reading, but admit that I may have found the book that pushed too far. Whidbey by T Kira Madden is told from the perspectives of three women, all of whom have had their lives irreversibly changed by a pedophile. Two are victims and one is the man’s mother. Although they’ve never met they’re all caught in the same insidious net caused by one ... Read More...
Whistler by Ann Patchett
What begins as offhanded teasing between a wife and husband turns into a momentous occasion that unfolds across the pages and years in Ann Patchett’s exquisite new novel, Whistler. Daphne and her husband are at the Metropolitan Museum when they notice an elderly gentleman following them. Jonathon jokes that he’s staring at Daphne, and it turns out he is, but only because he was ... Read More...
Looking for Funny: Mini-Reviews
Somehow, without paying attention, I read two spring releases back-to-back that were written by comedy writers and not just any comedy writers, but two who both wrote for the same show, Arrested Development, a show I loved. But while the tone and voice of both these writers was funny the plots weren't, leading me to think being a great television comedy writer doesn’t always ... Read More...
Ruins by Lily Brooks-Dalton
What if there was another advanced civilization on Earth, older than ours, that has remained undiscovered? Ember is an archeologist who believes this to be true and has spent her life trying to find proof of this pre-historic society. In Ruins, after years languishing in academia, she finally receives an artifact from a colleague supporting her thesis. She’s given funding for ... Read More...
