It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of the rich, entitled white man’s club, but what happens when the man is the face of American network news? A man watched and admired for over twenty years? Who, on his 59th birthday has a really bad day and is videoed screaming at a young woman off-screen, calling her a Russian whore? It’s certainly not good or excusable, but how far do we go ... Read More...
Dark Fiction: The Line That Held Us
I hadn’t planned on a week of reviews about dark (or difficult) fiction, but realized that’s where my reading had gone after finishing David Joy’s The Line That Held Us. It’s the story of Darl Moody, who while poaching on a neighbor’s land, shoots and kills another man. The man he kills is the brother of Dwayne Brewer, a behemoth of a man, known for violence and ... Read More...
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
On Monday I mentioned having a book hangover and Delia Owens’s debut, Where the Crawdads Sing, is the culprit. What is worse is that I tried to read my way out of it and got mired in overwrought, pretentious prose that pushed all of Crawdads beauty out of my head and filled it with a tarry gunk that immobilized my brain. A foolish mistake that I’m paying for now. Still, I’ll ... Read More...
The Banker’s Wife by Cristina Alger
Matthew is a successful young financier so when he has the opportunity to move to Geneva for his job he and his new wife Annabel jump at it. It will be a short-term adventure after which they can return to the States and start a family. And the money! So much of it, beyond anything Annabel can imagine. Except the work takes Matthew away, leaving her alone more often then she ... Read More...
Tin Man: A Novel by Sarah Winman
When Sarah Winman's Tin Man begins the tragedy of Ellis Judd’s life has already ended. He is a 45-year-old man who works the night shift at a car plant near Oxford, England. He lives alone with a life of monotonous routine and works nights because he can’t sleep. Can’t sleep because he’s left with nothing but memories of his wife, Annie, and his dearest friend, Michael, both of ... Read More...
The Immortalists
Chloe Benjamin swings for the fences with the concept of her new novel: how would you live your life if you knew the date of your death? The Immortalists is about four siblings: Varya, Daniel, Klara, and Simon, who visit a psychic when they are children and are, one by one, in private, told the day they’re going to die. They never share these dates with each other, but the ... Read More...
