Halloween may be over but the advancing winter weather still makes a perfect backdrop for creepy reading. Last week I wrote about Killing Commendatore, a Japanese novel that was oddly unsettling, but today I have another book that has truly left me flummoxed. It’s Laird Hunt’s In the House in the Dark of the Woods and the title is almost longer than the book. It’s the story of ... Read More...
Gone So Long: A Novel
Gone So Long is both the title and the main situation in this new novel from Andre DuBus III. Daniel Ahearn is dying of cancer. He lives a quiet life alone in a small New England town and works repairing fine furniture. Before he dies he is determined to find his daughter, whom he hasn’t seen in 40 years. Twenty-five of those years were spent in prison for murdering his wife, ... Read More...
Quiet Summer Reading: The Garden Party
Summer is fun and light and for a lot of people, me included, my reading turns the same way. I want thrillers, chick-lit, humor. But just like anything else in life, too much of the same thing, even when it's good, can make me cranky. Or just a bit manic. Fast reading=hyper brain and that’s not a good look on me. So, this feature will be for reading that is the antithesis of ... Read More...
The Stranger in the Woods
In case this news slipped by you, as it did me: In 2013 a man was apprehended at a children’s summer camp in northern Maine stealing food and supplies. Not particularly interesting except that when asked by the police he can tell them his birth date, but not how old he is—he has no idea what year it is. Further questioning reveals he has no address, no vehicle, no mail, none of ... Read More...
The Broken Girls: A Novel
She made herself keep her gaze forward. To look back would be to tempt it. If she only looked forward, it would stay away. You know how sometimes there are places that feel wrong? Idlewild Hall in Vermont is one of those places. In the 1950s it was a school for troubled girls or just girls who might be trouble. Katie Henry is one of those girls, as are her friends ... Read More...
It’s Monday, August 7th: What Are You Reading?
Hello, Monday! Once again, I’ve gone with a photo that represents where I’d like to be reading. For whatever reason I have always wanted a hammock, but none of the houses I’ve ever lived in had hammock-friendly backyards. My reading seems to be falling along those lines—wanting something I don’t have or can’t find. I’m heading back to historical fiction this Monday because it ... Read More...
