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April Reading Recap

April 30, 2021

april

  My April graphic is a lovely, but inaccurate depiction of the month this year. At least here in Michigan where we swung from bright spring days to snow last week. My reading followed the same path—with nonfiction continuing to be strong, but new-release fiction being hit or miss.     Vera is fast, light historical fiction. Edgarian evokes the terror ... Read More...

5 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Feature Tagged: historical fiction, mini-reviews

What Could Be Saved

January 18, 2021

saved

The word “normal” ceases to exist in families who lose a child. Either they re-form together into a new unit or they separate. After 8-year-old Philip disappears in What Could Be Saved, the Preston family is the latter. They shatter, with the four remaining members—father, Robert; mother, Genevieve; daughters, Beatrice, and Laura, leaving Thailand to return home to the U.S. ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: cultural, family, Southeast Asia

2020 Underrated Gems

December 21, 2020

Well, it’s that time of year again…the extravaganza of lists about everything BEST in the world. I’ll be joining the fray, but my two lists (debuts and overall best) won’t be going up until after Christmas. For today, I wanted to give some love to four very different books I thought were gems, but that didn’t get much attention. Interestingly enough, none are light reading. I ... Read More...

10 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Feature Tagged: contemporary life, literary, memoir, Middle East

The Last Castle by Denise Kiernan

December 16, 2020

last castle

One of the main nonfiction backlist books I wanted to read this month is The Last Castle: The Epic Story of Love, Loss, and American Royalty in the Nation’s Largest Home by Denise Kiernan. I loved her book The Girls of Atomic City about the women in America who were part of the effort to win WWII. The Last Castle is about an almost mythical point in American history where money ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Non-fiction Tagged: 19th century, history, wealth

We Came Here to Forget: A Novel

November 16, 2020

we came

It seems to me that you lose yourself quickly, and that you lose others little by little.   Katie Cleary is on top of the world—almost literally. An alpine downhill racer she’s won an Olympic medal, her best friend is her boyfriend, Luke, who is also an Olympic ski medalist, and they’re set to dominate the Winter Olympics in Sochi. She has endorsements, sponsors and is ... Read More...

6 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life

Backlist Beauties: Mini-Reviews

October 29, 2020

backlist

Last week I was supposed to start reading another fall new release novel. It's even one I'm looking forward to, Ken Follett's The Evening and the Morning, but the thought of 900 pages made my brain hurt. It's a sad truth—my attention span lately has shrunk to an amount of time easily measured by counting on my fingers. Except I usually forget what number I’m at before I hit ten ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Feature, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, literary, relationships, women

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