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Ask Again, Yes

November 25, 2019

ask again

This post may include Amazon links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Ask Again, Yes is a complex family story that begins with the lightest of connections. Brian Stanhope and Francis Gleeson are two young men from Ireland who begin their careers as cops together in New York City. They move to the suburbs, right next door to each other and start ... Read More...

8 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, family, literary, mental health, relationships, Scribner

Mothers’ Week: The Island of Sea Women

May 6, 2019

island

This coming Sunday is Mother’s Day so this week my reviews are focused on three books with very different perspectives on motherhood. Each offered something important in its own way and reminded me how, like so much of what women do, it is impossible to fit the role of mother into one finite slot.   Off the coast of Korea’s mainland is an island called Jeju. There was ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, cultural, historical fiction, Scribner, Southeast Asia, war, women

December Reading Wrap-Up

December 26, 2018

december

This post should be subtitled: Library Reading, because 90% of what I read this month was library books. December is slow month for new releases and for someone who reads ‘professionally’ it is like school vacation. Suddenly, instead of having to refer to a spreadsheet to see what I’m supposed to read next I just go to the library and look around for whatever catches my eye. ... Read More...

11 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Feature Tagged: library, lists, mini-reviews

Books: Bits & Pieces

October 31, 2018

bits

Unless you are the most blessed of readers you have run into slumps, books you could not finish, and those you couldn’t even start. If you’re also a book blogger there is another demoralizing category: books you’ve read that didn’t make enough of an impression to be reviewed. I can’t speak for anyone else, but for me books I loved or hated are easier to write about. A book ... Read More...

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

Quiet Summer Reading: The Verdun Affair

July 27, 2018

verdun

Last week I started this little feature for books that don't quite fit in the normal summer reading mold. This week's pick is still a quiet character study, but about a devastating time in history.    I have read many, many novels about World War II, but very few about World War I. That, plus a level of ignorance that feels embarrassing means I didn’t know that in ... Read More...

6 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Feature, Fiction Tagged: historical fiction, literary, Scribner, World War I

The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner

May 23, 2018

mars

  There isn’t any status in it unless you’d be impressed to know that the Mars Room is not a middling or mediocre strip club but is definitely the worst and most notorious, the very seediest and most circuslike place there is. In stark contrast to all that was warm and lovely in Monday’s book, Tin Man, I’m back today with a book that probably worked because it was ... Read More...

12 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, Scribner, social issues, women

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