It feels a bit as if alternate realities are all the rage in fiction this year, which is not too surprising if you pay attention to what’s happening in the real world. First, there was The Dreamers, where people fell asleep and dreamed of different lives. Dreams so vivid that upon awaking they believed their dreams were real. Kate Hope Day takes things further in her debut ... Read More...
The Last Romantics by Tara Conklin
I believe now that certain events are inevitable. Not in a fateful way, for I have never had faith in anything but myself, but in the way of human nature. It seems as if there’s a trend in winter fiction about a parent dying, an absentee parent, and a determined oldest daughter raising their siblings. I noticed it first in Anissa Gray’s The Care and Feeding of ... Read More...
February Reading Wrap-Up
February—what a month! On the personal side there was what was known in Seattle as Snowmageddon: 10 days when we were slammed with 3 different storms that left us with 15” inches of snow, unplowed roads, and empty grocery stores. I realize all you readers in places where snow is the norm are laughing right now, but we don’t get snow. Period. This was huge. People were cross ... Read More...
Northern Lights by Raymond Strom
Shane’s father has died, his uncle has kicked him out of the house, and he’s decided it’s time to find the mother who left him when he was ten. In the fall he’ll be going to college in Minneapolis, but armed with a postcard, one hundred dollars, and all his belongings in a backpack he heads to the Holm, Minnesota, the only address he has for his mother. In this rugged, rural ... Read More...
The Deeper the Water the Uglier the Fish
After their mother tries to hang herself, 14-year-old Mae and 16-year-old Edie are sent to live with their father, a man they have not seen since they were very small children. For Mae it is a dream come true. Her mother’s depression and obsessive behavior falls on her, meaning long nights driving around Louisiana swamps or following strangers home. Edie, though, wants to be ... Read More...
Death is Hard Work
Bolbol’s father has just died in Damascus. Before he did, he made one final request of his son—he wants to be buried in the family’s plot in his hometown. It’s two hours away and without thinking Bolbol agrees. It’s only as he’s contacting his sister, Fatima, and his brother, Hussein, that the enormity of his promise hits him. This is Syria, a country being destroyed by its ... Read More...
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 39
- 40
- 41
- 42
- 43
- …
- 74
- Next Page »






