Sometimes a synopsis can come out of nowhere and make you pick up a book you never thought you would, but it’s a dicey proposition because marketing people are wily devils. Their entire purpose in life is to seduce. But it still doesn’t quite explain why I thought a novel about a Sri Lankan male inmate in an American prison in the midst of a riot would make for something I ... Read More...
Mothers’ Week: Mother Country
Nadia’s life is not an easy one. She works not one, but two jobs—as a home attendant for an elderly man and as a nanny for a little girl. It’s necessary because she lives in Brooklyn while her daughter Larissa is still back in Ukraine. They’ve been separated for six years. Lonely years for Nadia as a non-English speaker, looked upon with distrust by the other Ukrainians she ... Read More...
Mothers’ Week: The Island of Sea Women
This coming Sunday is Mother’s Day so this week my reviews are focused on three books with very different perspectives on motherhood. Each offered something important in its own way and reminded me how, like so much of what women do, it is impossible to fit the role of mother into one finite slot. Off the coast of Korea’s mainland is an island called Jeju. There was ... Read More...
Like Lions by Brian Panowich
On Monday I reviewed Brian Panowich’s explosive debut novel, Bull Mountain. Today I’m back with the sequel, Like Lions. Although they could be read as standalones, I feel like Bull Mountain is so strong you should read it first. And, if you’re going to do that, this review has some spoilers so you may want to take a pass and come back later. Clayton Burroughs survived the ... Read More...
Park Avenue Summer by Renee Rosen
When I was a pre-teen and even into my early teen years I would go to the local library and, using ‘safe’ magazines like National Geographic as covers, slip issues of the completely unsafe and utterly wicked Cosmopolitan to a quiet spot where I could learn: 3 easy ways to make a man fall for me, why eyeliner is the difference between having a date Saturday night and staying ... Read More...
Bull Mountain by Brian Panowich
The first words that come to mind when I think about Brian Panowich’s debut novel Bull Mountain, are: blown away. Every day for a week after finishing it whenever I thought of it, I shook my head. It’s that good. It’s the story of three generations of the Burroughs family living in north Georgia. For decades they’ve lived outside the law by running moonshine, then marijuana, ... Read More...
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