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 expansive story encompassing four generations of Irish women with ... Read More...
This Other Eden
In 1911 there was a small island off the coast of Maine comprised of a group of families who were the descendants of the island’s original 1792 settlers—an escaped slave, his Irish wife, and later, other refugees from society. The island is still there, but its inhabitants are long gone. Paul Harding’s novel, This Other Eden, is the elegiac recounting of their history, lives, ... Read More...
Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes
How wonderful to start the week with a book I loved so much I’m ready to read it again. Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes is her latest foray into the retelling of famous Greek myths from a female perspective. In this case it is the fearsome Medusa, known as one of the most terrifying monsters in the ancient Greek world. One look from her turned any living object into stone. In the ... Read More...
I’m Glad My Mom Died
How to review a memoir with a title so jarring I felt bad for even looking at it? Especially as my mother has always been one of the biggest supporters of my writing and reads every review (Hi, Mom, I love you!). Here goes. Jennette McCurdy was a child actor on a popular Nickelodeon show called iCarly. Now in her mid-thirties she’s released her memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died. The ... Read More...
The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness
I don’t often discuss personal issues in this blog, but for those of you who have been around long enough, you know I have multiple sclerosis. Recently, I read a book that resonated so deeply with me I knew it could have the same impact on other readers. The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness by Meghan O’Rourke is a memoir of sorts about the slippery, nasty nature ... Read More...
2022 Wrap-Up
I started 2023 strong with The Light Pirate, a book I found riveting, but before I go full bore into the year, I need to wrap up 2022 as I read a lot more books (180 to be exact) and never reviewed some of them. I’m also going to do something I’ve never done before: recommend a book without a real review, just a sentence or two. Basically, you take my word for it that this is a ... Read More...
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