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The Boatmaker

February 25, 2015

boatmaker

In a place where there is a Small Island, a Big Island, and a mainland, there is a man, given to very little speech, but too fond of drinking. When he is sober he is a carpenter A wonderful worker in wood. Every piece he works on comes out right, with nothing wasted. But this skill comes to him without effort. And because it came with no effort he has never respected it—or ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: debut, literary, Tin House

The Headmaster’s Wife: Giveaway and Review

February 23, 2015

headmasters wife

The Headmaster's wife was one of my favorite book of 2014. Its paperback release is tomorrow so I wanted to remind anyone who might have missed this book what a gorgeous piece of prose it is. Plus, I have 2 copies to giveaway so you could win one to read!   Some books are written with the intent to stun a reader with surprise and don’t offer much beyond that. Others, ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Feature, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, event, giveaway, literary, Picador, suspense

The Jaguar’s Children

February 2, 2015

jaguar's children

  There is always some fact in fiction but in The Jaguar’s Children by John Vaillant there is likely to be much more than expected. The story is a simple one in terms of characters and staging because it takes place inside a water tanker truck over the course of three days when it is left in the desert near Nogales, Arizona after stopping due to mechanical problems. The ... Read More...

5 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, contemporary fiction, debut, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, literary, Mexico, social issues

And the Dark Sacred Night

January 28, 2015

dark

Kit Noonan is in his early 40s and finds himself stuck at a place in his life where he doesn’t want to be. Jobless, he stays at home with his twin son and daughter while his wife works. When she suggests that his inability to get on with his life is related to the fact that he doesn’t know who his biological father is, he begins a backwards search to move forward. This is Julia ... Read More...

1 Comment
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: Anchor Books, book clubs, family

Vanessa and her Sister

January 5, 2015

Vanessa

Virginia Woolf is an icon in the world of literature and much has been written about her life so it is a courageous move on the part of author Priya Parmar to explore not Virginia but her lesser known sister Vanessa, in her new novel Vanessa and Her Sister. The novel begins during the heady years when the Stephen family—Thoby, Adrian, Vanessa, and Virginia—are living on their ... Read More...

9 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: 20th century, Ballantine, book clubs, England, family, historical fiction, writers' lives

Free Range Reading: Tinkers

December 8, 2014

tinkers

Tinkers opens with George Crosby, lying on a bed in the living room of the home he built himself, as his mind swirls and flows between the reality of his family gathered to bid him goodbye to the most exquisite reminiscences on life itself and his place in its great tiled framework. …I will remain a set of impressions porous and open to combination with all of the other ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, family, literary, New England

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