Beauty is Frederick Dillen’s new novel and in it we meet Carol McLean, who spent her teen years helping neighborhood boys find parts for their beat-up cars but grows up to work for a private equity firm that buys companies only to sell their parts. She is the go-to person for these company shut downs, known as an undertaker, for coming in and laying off all staff and ... Read More...
The Museum of Extraordinary Things
The Museum of Extraordinary Things is both the name of Alice Hoffman’s new historical novel and the name of the museum Coralie’s father owns. She lives alone with him in the house next to the museum on Coney Island. Her mother died when she was an infant and her father is highly protective so the only company she has is their housekeeper, Maureen. He is also adamant she not go ... Read More...
The Hundred-Foot Journey
I am almost speechless at how much I enjoyed this book. The Hundred-Foot Journey is a beautiful, thoughtfully written story about one man’s trek from unwelcome immigrant to renowned chef in Paris. Hassam Haji starts life living above his grandfather's restaurant in Mumbai. When they family leaves india and settles in France it becomes Hassam's dream to be a chef in a French ... Read More...
Doctor Sleep: A Novel
If you are one of the five people on the planet who has never read Stephen King let me bring you up to speed. He is the prolific writer of some of the all-time scariest books in history. The only way I was able to read The Shiningwas when I worked in a manufacturing plant, on work breaks, midday in a brightly lit room, sitting on a chair with my back to the wall and an open ... Read More...
The Kingmaker’s Daughter
I’ve already professed my love for the work of Philippa Gregory so I’ll keep this brief. I reviewed The White Princess two weeks ago which chronicles the end of The Cousins’ War and the beginning of the Tudor dynasty. That was book five in the series, which I read knowing I had missed book four, but that I would return. For the last three days I did. The Kingmaker’s Daughter ... Read More...
The White Princess
I’m going to begin with full disclosure: I love the work of Philippa Gregory. I first read her novel, The Other Boleyn Girl, and from there was hooked on the early history of England. After several books she completed her narrative on the later history of the Tudors and moved to a less-known time, the Cousins’ War, which preceded the Tudor dynasty. It was also known as the War ... Read More...
