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All Things Cease to Appear

March 9, 2016

all things

  Last week I reviewed The Undertaking which is a marvelous read in that it allows the reader to fully revel in feelings of rage, disgust and retribution (which is necessary relief if you’re watching political news these days). This is not the case in Elizabeth Brundage’s novel All Things Cease to Appear. It is much more attuned to contemporary times, when even though a ... Read More...

8 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, contemporary life, family, Knopf, literary, marriage, mystery

Did You Ever Have a Family

September 21, 2015

did you ever have a family

  If you take a major event and separate out all the people involved in that event—whether responsible for it or impacted by it, you get wildly divergent impressions about what actually happened. This is what author Bill Clegg does so soulfully in his debut novel, Did You Ever Have a Family. June’s daughter Lolly, her daughter’s fiancé, June’s ex-husband, and her ... Read More...

6 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, contemporary fiction, debut, family, literary, Scout Press

We Never Asked for Wings

August 24, 2015

we never asked for wings

  For those of us who loved Vanessa Diffenbaugh’s debut novel, The Language of Flowers, her new novel has been a long time coming. Not actually, it just felt that way. Flowers was one of the first novels I read where the protagonist did bad things and yet, I was drawn to her and to the reasons why she was drawn to doing these things. It is a beautifully satisfying novel ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: American life, Ballantine, book clubs, contemporary fiction, family

The Stager by Susan Coll

July 17, 2015

stager

Given that we're still in the midst of our home remodel I thought it appropriate to re-publish this review The Stager, a book I loved from 2014. It's just been released in paperback and is a hilarious satire about the world of home staging and so much more. This time last year we were still looking for a house in Seattle so this novel gave me much needed laughs. Now that we're ... Read More...

1 Comment
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, contemporary life, family, humor, satire

The Nightingale

February 9, 2015

nightingale

The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah begins with Viann Mauriac, living comfortably in a small town in the south of France with her husband and daughter. Her younger sister Isabelle is in one of the many boarding schools their father has sent her to. When she is expelled again she goes to live with him in Paris, which he does not want, as he has ignored both young women since their ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, family, historical fiction, St. Martin's Press, world war II

And the Dark Sacred Night

January 28, 2015

dark

Kit Noonan is in his early 40s and finds himself stuck at a place in his life where he doesn’t want to be. Jobless, he stays at home with his twin son and daughter while his wife works. When she suggests that his inability to get on with his life is related to the fact that he doesn’t know who his biological father is, he begins a backwards search to move forward. This is Julia ... Read More...

1 Comment
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: Anchor Books, book clubs, family

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