No battle and no giants here. Instead, I’ve got quick reviews of two chunkster books I read this fall. Chunkster being the technical term for big-ass, over 500 pages each, tomes. Both are set in prehistoric times and are the kind of books you’ll either settle into or set aside. I’ve read a lot of Ken Follett’s historical fiction and he’s yet to disappoint me. His ... Read More...
The Scandalous Confessions of Lydia Bennet, Witch
If you’ve read the Jane Austen novel Pride & Prejudice or seen the movie you know that Lydia Bennet was one of the most annoying little sisters in the fictional world, nearly bringing down her family’s reputation with her foolish behavior and hasty decisions. But what if there was more to her than that? Melinda Taub answers that question in The Scandalous Confessions of ... Read More...
Parakeet: A Novel
It’s the week before her wedding when the Bride sees her grandmother. Not unusual except her grandmother has been dead for over ten years and what she sees is a parakeet who talks to her. Grandma parakeet is worried about the impending wedding, but more importantly she wants the Bride to find her older brother, Tom, whom she hasn’t seen in seven years. She threatens her with ... Read More...
Nothing to See Here
Friday’s book review was a little dark so I’m starting the week with something much lighter. Not only did I never think I’d read a novel where children spontaneously combust, I definitely didn’t think I would chew through it one night and fall in love with it on page four. Which is to say, don’t underestimate Kevin Wilson’s ability to create improbable worlds and make them feel ... Read More...
Virgil Wander: A Novel by Leif Enger
Greenstone, Minnesota is a hard luck little town. Once known for its taconite mines it has settled into a slow decline when Virgil Wander’s car goes over a cliff and into the lake one night in the midst of an unexpected snowstorm. He’s only alive because the local junkman was on the shore, dove in and saved him, but he suffers brain trauma that leaves him with vertigo, an ... Read More...
She Would Be King
An unlikely trio comes together in the fight for a new nation in She Would Be King, Wayétu Moore’s debut novel about Liberia. There is 18-year-old Gbessa, exiled from her small West African village as a witch, who survives the bite of a poisonous snake. June Dey is a 15-year-old Virginian slave, who kills two men while trying to save the woman who raised him. When others try ... Read More...
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