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Good Company: A Novel

April 12, 2021

good company

A happily married woman discovers her husband’s engraved wedding band in an envelope buried in a filing cabinet. Fifteen years ago, he told he lost it. Now, it’s the night of their daughter Ruby’s high school graduation and Flora sets aside her emotions to attend a party for Ruby, given by Flora’s oldest and best friend, Margot. After that, she’ll deal with what feels to be the ... Read More...

10 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, friendship, literary, marriage, women

Sparks Like Stars by Nadia Hashimi

March 12, 2021

sparks

When Sitara is 10 years old her life is flipped upside down. She goes from being the beloved only daughter of a high-ranking Afghan advisor to the country’s president to an orphan on the run. It’s 1982 and Communist backed forces stage a military coup in Nadia Hashimi’s new novel, Sparks Like Stars. Sitara’s family is killed in front of her, but she manages to hide from the ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: cultural, Middle East, war

We Run the Tides

February 24, 2021

tides

I'm not sure it's an actual publishing trend for 2021, but it's fairly unusual for me to read three novels on the same subject in one year. In this case, it's private girls' schools—always fascinating to me, but to the general public? I guess so. In January, there was The Divines and this month, All Girls. The final novel in this trifecta is today’s review: We Run the Tides by ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, friendship, literary, San Francisco

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...

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

January Reading Wrap-Up

February 1, 2021

january

What a month. Parts of January left me stunned while others made me cry with relief. I’ll leave it at that. As for my reading, the year is starting out strong. I read 18 books, with more than half being 3.5 stars or higher. But I also DNFed three books in January, which is unusually high for me. Last year, I didn’t quit a book until February. One thing that didn’t change? My ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Feature Tagged: history, memoir, wealth, women

The Divines: A Novel

January 22, 2021

divines

Every year there it seems a different theme emerges in fiction. Last year it was twins (The Grammarians, The Vanishing Half, Thin Girls), but this year, although it’s only January, I have three novels in my winter reading that are about girls’ boarding schools. What is it about that subject that entices those of us who were no more likely to attend one than go into outer space? ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, coming-of-age, debut, literary

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