Finally! Let’s talk reading again, specifically my favorite books of 2023 so we can move onto what lies ahead in 2024. It was an interesting year in that I don’t remember another time when I had this many 5-star nonfiction books. I’m not even sure I’ve ever read so much great nonfiction in one year (and I’m too lazy to go back and check)! Somehow, 2023 came ... Read More...
Atalanta by Jennifer Saint
How much Greek mythology is too much? Apparently, there is no limit so far. I loved Jennifer Saint’s last novel, Elektra, so knew I wanted to read her latest, Atalanta. Especially because this is a character about whom I know nothing, except she’s a Greek princess who is the only woman to sail with Jason as an Argonaut on his quest for the golden fleece. Atalanta’s father has ... Read More...
Clytemnestra: A Novel
I may be struggling with my new release reading recently, but Greek mythology retellings continue to make me all kinds of happy. Clytemnestra by Costanza Casati is my latest favorite, a bold portrayal of a woman known only as the vengeful wife of Agamemnon, the King who won the war with Troy. The other ‘facts’ of Clytemnestra are these: Helen of Troy was her sister, she had an ... Read More...
Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes
How wonderful to start the week with a book I loved so much I’m ready to read it again. Stone Blind by Natalie Haynes is her latest foray into the retelling of famous Greek myths from a female perspective. In this case it is the fearsome Medusa, known as one of the most terrifying monsters in the ancient Greek world. One look from her turned any living object into stone. In the ... Read More...
Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver
Barbara Kingsolver is back with Demon Copperhead, a serpentine tour-de-force set in the southern Appalachian Mountains. A modern-day David Copperfield, the novel follows Damon Fields from his ignominious birth in a trailer to a single, teenage mother doped out of her mind, all the way through his teens. It’s not a journey for the faint of heart, but the world Kingsolver builds ... Read More...
Beautiful Little Fools
A sweltering August day, a stunning estate, and a crystalline pool, its pellucid water tinged red by Jay Gatsby’s blood. Shot once and now dead. We all know this is how The Great Gatsby ends but in Jillian Cantor’s Beautiful Little Fools, it’s just the beginning. Although the police have closed the case, Detective Frank Charles has been hired by an old friend of ... Read More...
