Like some of the other non-fiction books I read last month (Educated, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark), American Radical by Tamer Elnoury reads like fiction. High-wire tension, thriller kind of reading. Tamer Elnoury (not his real name) is an undercover FBI agent. He was brought here from Egypt by his parents when he was a small boy. English is his first language and he speaks ... Read More...
Turtles All the Way Down by John Green
Turtles All the Way Down is my first experience with John Green and it left me mostly with…nothing. On the one hand, I applaud him for writing such an unsympathetic character, but on the other, I didn’t want to read about her. Her is Aza, a teenager with severe OCD. She has a loving and supportive mother, a good psychiatrist, and a drug that helps her—when she feels ... Read More...
Enchantress of Numbers
What kind of child might you get if you matched a world-famous poet known for his outrageous lifestyle and a genteel woman with a penchant for knowledge and restraint? If it was the early 1800s in England then you’d get Augusta Ada Byron, the only legitimate heir of Lord George Gordon Byron. Enchantress of Numbers is Jennifer Chiavarini’s new novel about Ada’s life—a ... Read More...
Fates and Traitors
Fates and Traitors is a novel about John Wilkes Booth as told from the vantage point of the three women who were most important in his life and one near stranger who let him into her life. There is his mother, Mary Ann Booth; his sister, Asia; and Lucy Hale, his secret fiancé. Mary Surratt is a woman sympathetic to the Confederate cause, who owned the boarding house where he ... Read More...
August Reading Wrap-Up
Good bye August and goodbye summer! I complain a fair bit, but here is one thing that I absolutely loved about this summer in Seattle. We only had maybe three days all told when it got above 90°. The majority of the summer was in the mid-70s with dry, sunny days and chilly nights. My kind of weather. I wish I could be as upbeat about my reading, but this year continues to be a ... Read More...
It’s Not You, It’s Me: Mini-Reviews
First of all, how is it that summer is already over?! I know this wasn't the case in most of the country, but here in Seattle we never had sustained summer heat, just a few days here and there. It still feels as if summer lies ahead, even though September is chock full of big releases. Having said that, here are two It's Not You, It's Me books. They did not go ... Read More...
