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The Comfort of Monsters

August 11, 2021

comfort

Milwaukee in the summer of 1991 was focused on one thing only—the arrest and investigation of Jeffrey Dahmer. The scope of his crimes dominated not only the local news but national as well. For Peg and her family, it meant the disappearance of her younger sister got no media attention and only limited help from the police. The Comfort of Monsters moves between that hard, heavy ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: debut, literary, mystery

May Reading Recap

May 31, 2021

May

  I’ve only experienced one Michigan spring, but this May felt very different. We’ve had almost no rain and the temperatures jumped from the 50s to the 80s in days. Ugh. Except, as I write this, the heat is on again (after a/c for two weeks), I’m wearing a sweater and it’s pouring. Go figure. As far as reading goes, I was on a tear this month. Lots and lots of books, ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Feature Tagged: contemporary life, friendship, mini-reviews, mystery, women

Sorrow and Bliss: A Novel

May 5, 2021

sorrow

Sorrow and Bliss opens after Martha and her husband Patrick have returned from a party he threw for her 40th birthday. It did not go well and two days later Patrick says he’s leaving. It’s both an ending and a beginning for Martha as she grapples with what to do next in a life that often feels like too much to bear. When she’s 17 Martha is suddenly under such physical, ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, debut, mental health, relationships

A Thousand Ships: A Novel

February 22, 2021

thousand

Happy Monday! I don’t often say that because, well…Monday, but today I’m back with a novel that kept me captivated.  A Thousand Ships is Natalie Haynes’s retelling of the Trojan War or, more specifically, the immediate aftermath of the war. Not exactly new territory, as any number of writers have memorialized this greatest battle of Greek mythology, except Haynes chooses a ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: literary, mythology

Five Best Debuts of 2020

December 28, 2020

five best

  Welcome to the last week of the longest year in history. I’m going to avoid any rehashing of what a nightmare it was for so many and stick to the easy stuff: my best books of 2020! Today I have five debut books that really stood out for me. Normally, I’d have more, but there was nothing normal in 2020. Like a lot of other readers, my taste and what worked for me was ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Feature Tagged: book clubs, debut, historical fiction, India, memoir, racism, social issues, women

The Unraveling of Mercy Louis

November 23, 2020

mercy

Take high school sports, an oil refinery explosion, a grandmother ready for the Rapture, and layer in a fetus found in a dumpster and a Purity Ball and you have the world that is The Unraveling of Mercy Louis. Ostensibly, the novel is about Mercy, a high school senior who is one of the best basketball players in the state of Texas, but the events listed create a vortex of ... Read More...

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Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, coming-of-age, friendship, literary

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