The one thing to remember about an adventure is that if it turns out the way you expect it to, it has not been an adventure at all. They traveled at night as it was only then that the heat released its grip enough to make movement through the jungle possible. By 8am the temperature and humidity combined to immobilize every living creature. Despite the difficulties, this is ... Read More...
Misfit: A Novel
The 50th anniversary of Marilyn’s death was this month and it’s been heralded by an uptick in new books about her life. I reviewed Lois Banner’s biography Marilyn last week but was interested to see what a fiction author would do, especially as so much of Marilyn’s life reads like fiction anyway. How would one choose which way to go from the trove of material available? In ... Read More...
Rules of Civility
It is a rare occasion when the title of a book not only hints at the plot but perfectly describes the stylistic tone as well. The Rules of Civility is just such a book and it is a grand first effort for author Amor Towles. Towles takes us into Manhattan in 1938. Wealthy Manhattan, where what is said and seen on the surface is often not what is happening underneath. ... Read More...
City of Women
The grandpa just stares backward at a world that no longer exists, or forward to a world beyond his comprehension. For Sigrid Schröder her life in 1943 Berlin is one of grinding tedium, working days as a stenographer and spending nights in a small apartment with her mother-in-law and withdrawn husband. Her only escape is a movie theater where she can sit quietly in the ... Read More...
Age of Desire
There are two stories of love in Age of Desire. One is Edith Wharton’s affair with a young journalist and the other is the more enduring constant love between friends. In 1907, Wharton resides in Paris for the winter with her husband, Teddy, and assistant, Anna. Her marriage to Teddy is in name only: he is much older and they have nothing in common. As Edith describes herself ... Read More...
Tigers in Red Weather
In Tigers in Red Weather It’s 1945 and in a small apartment in Cambridge, Massachusetts cousins Nick and Helena prepare to celebrate the end of the war and the beginning of their lives. Helena is leaving to be with her new husband, Avery, an insurance salesman in Hollywood and Nick is heading to Florida to rejoin her husband, returning naval officer, Hughes. As the years pass ... Read More...
