Viking Archives - The Gilmore Guide to Books

The Queen of Dirt Island

Catherine — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 08:21:02 +0000

The week Saoirse Aylward is born her father is killed in an accident, leaving her mother, Eileen alone to raise her. Their lives in a small village in western Ireland are at the heart of Donal Ryan’s boisterous, tender novel The Queen of Dirt Island. Although the novel stays within the village’s borders it’s an […]

The post The Queen of Dirt Island appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World

Catherine — Wed, 04 May 2022 04:53:11 +0000

A Turkish woman lying murdered in a rubbish bin hardly seems like the appropriate subject for a piercingly tender novel about the damage done to innocence in childhood and the bonds of friendship as family, but 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World is a singular work that defies labels. The same is true […]

The post 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

January Reading Wrap-Up

Catherine — Mon, 31 Jan 2022 05:07:21 +0000

What to say about January? A month that went so fast, but didn’t seem to move at all. With subzero temperatures and a broken supply chain that left Costco with no Diet Coke (I can go without my meds, but no Diet Coke is a bridge too far). Those are the lows, but the important […]

The post January Reading Wrap-Up appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

February Reading

Catherine — Mon, 01 Mar 2021 05:39:39 +0000

What to say about February? Mostly that it felt like the only real month of winter and that’s here in Michigan. For those of you in the South and Pacific Northwest I’m sure it felt like hell. As for reading, it was an interesting month. My reading felt oddly decisive—loved or hated books. There […]

The post February Reading appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

How Could She: A Novel

Catherine — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 04:10:30 +0000

How Could She by Lauren Mechling is the perfect palate cleanser after reading two tomes in a row about the Tudors. Defiantly contemporary, it’s the story of three friends. Or maybe, frenemies? It’s a blurred line. Rachel, Sunny, and Geraldine all met in Toronto when they worked for the same magazine. Later both Sunny and Rachel […]

The post How Could She: A Novel appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

Good, Better, Best: Nonfiction

Catherine — Fri, 10 Jan 2020 10:15:37 +0000

Last year was another outstanding year for my nonfiction reading. I read a little less nonfiction than 2018 but the majority was 4 stars or above, with 5 books getting a perfect rating from me. I wasn’t able to review all of them then so am starting 2020 with 3 options that were good, better, […]

The post Good, Better, Best: Nonfiction appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

Know My Name by Chanel Miller

Catherine — Fri, 03 Jan 2020 05:57:57 +0000

Emily Doe was the name given to the young woman sexually assaulted by Brock Turner, a Stanford student-athlete in 2015. If that doesn’t ring a bell, this should: he was given a sentence that was offensive in its leniency, inciting an outcry around the country. Know My Name is a memoir written by Chanel Miller. She […]

The post Know My Name by Chanel Miller appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

September Misses: Mini-Reviews

Catherine — Thu, 26 Sep 2019 07:57:04 +0000

I’m not sure when exactly something can be considered the home stretch, but I think we’re getting there with our move. We have a closing date on our Ann Arbor house and we’ll be moving east at the end of October. However, there is still so much to be done that I’m not able to […]

The post September Misses: Mini-Reviews appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

July Reading Wrap-Up

Catherine — Wed, 31 Jul 2019 07:59:48 +0000

July has turned out to be a schizo kind of month, both for my reading and for life. On the life side it began with all my energy focused on getting us out of Seattle, into an apartment, and getting Seattle house rented out—all by the end of the month. That all came to a […]

The post July Reading Wrap-Up appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

Annelies by David Gillham

Catherine — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 08:37:11 +0000

As much as I love historical fiction, there are some people who should be left to history rather than brought back in fiction. After reading David Gillham’s Annelies I believe Anne Frank is one of these. She is too deeply imbued by her own writing, the writing she left behind to be reconsidered by another […]

The post Annelies by David Gillham appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.