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Small Mercies by Dennis Lehane

August 18, 2023

small mercies

He has no idea where it all comes from—the loyalty and the rage, the brotherhood and the suspicion, the benevolence and the hate. If you’re looking for refined forays into the more delicate human emotions in your reading than Dennis Lehane is probably not an author you read often or at all. He’s a bareknuckle bruiser who writes about a Boston unfamiliar to anyone whose ideas ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: 1970s, book clubs, historical fiction, New England, suspense

Light Summer Reading

June 16, 2023

summer

Apparently, with Tuesday’s review I forgot it’s summer—the time for light, bright reading so I’m back today to fix that. Whether you’re traveling to a new destination for a long getaway or just lounging on the porch, it’s a vacation. And for summer, vacation reading shouldn’t be anything you have to work for. To that end, I have two novels that work well as the kind of easy ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Feature Tagged: contemporary life, historical fiction, mini-reviews, women

Yellowface: A Novel by R.F. Kuang

May 29, 2023

yellowface

I’ve contorted the truth into such ways that I can, in fact, make peace with it. THIS. BOOK. Yikes. Ostensibly, Yellowface is about June Hayward, an aspiring writer who has quietly seethed as her friend Athena gets the success and accolades June craves. When Athena dies in a tragic accident June uses it as an opportunity to take her friend’s current manuscript for herself. ... Read More...

8 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, contemporary life, literary, mystery, social issues

Best Books of 2022

December 29, 2022

best books

  I’m going to cut to the chase: it was a challenging year for my reading. Not due to a lack of options, I just lost my reading mojo for a while. However, there were 8 books that broke through my broken brain and gave me all the pleasure I look for in my reading. If you got gift cards for Christmas, buying any of these will ensure book happiness. There’s no particular ... Read More...

8 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Feature Tagged: book clubs, contemporary life, favorite books, historical fiction, memoir

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

November 14, 2022

demon

Barbara Kingsolver is back with Demon Copperhead, a serpentine tour-de-force set in the southern Appalachian Mountains. A modern-day David Copperfield, the novel follows Damon Fields from his ignominious birth in a trailer to a single, teenage mother doped out of her mind, all the way through his teens. It’s not a journey for the faint of heart, but the world Kingsolver builds ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, coming-of-age, literary, retellings, social issues, Southern life

Remarkably Bright Creatures

August 11, 2022

remarkably

Hello, everyone! I’m easing back in today with a novel that melted my curmudgeonly heart. Remarkably Bright Creatures is a debut by Shelby Van Pelt that takes place in Sowell Bay, a fictional small town in northern Washington State. Tova is an elderly woman, who works nights cleaning the town’s aquarium. It’s quiet work that, on the one hand, suits her wish to avoid prying, but ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, debut, Pacific Northwest

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