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...
Killers of a Certain Age
Before I dash into Thanksgiving week, I thought I’d review the kind of novel everyone needs when dealing with too much family togetherness and food. It’s Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn and it is FUN. Which may be an odd word choice for a novel about assassins, but there you have it. Natalie, Billie, Mary Alice, and Helen are all in their sixties and have known each ... Read More...
Lessons in Chemistry
It's the 1960s and you’re a brilliant chemist exploring one of the most elusive topics in chemistry—the chemical reaction that led to life. You should be at the forefront of the scientific community. Instead, you’re grappling with your thesis advisor as he tries to rape you and later being called “luscious” by the director of a chemical laboratory where you work. This is ... Read More...
August Reading Wrap-Up
August, what a month for reading. Even better—not just quantity, but quality. All this despite the fact that I cancelled my second cataract surgery because I found the results from the first so unsatisfactory. I’m making do with the new fuzzy implanted lens and a contact lens in my other eye. Not where I thought I’d be, but I’ll have to get it figured out. On to the books! I ... Read More...
Other People’s Houses
After a July of aggressively dark reading I gave myself some mental respite by starting August with two light backlist novels. I reviewed The Bestseller on Friday and today I’m happy to start the week with Other People’s Houses—a contemporary look at family life, marriage, and friendship in one L.A. neighborhood. Frances, is the novel’s anchor and its every-mom. She takes all ... Read More...
July Reading Wrap-Up
July. What a month! On the bright side there was this: Me getting to see my mother after 18 months apart. She's the person who encouraged my love of reading. And that’s about as much as I need to write about July because everything else was just life. My reading was odd, but I’m hearing from a lot of friends that they’re going through the same thing. Namely, the ... Read More...
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