Scribner Archives - The Gilmore Guide to Books

A Different Viewpoint: Amnesty

Catherine — Wed, 26 Feb 2020 05:31:22 +0000

Last week I reviewed a light, bright novel set in 1950s Sydney, Australia. Today I’m back with another novel set in Sydney, but in recent times and with a much darker tone. Amnesty by Aravind Adiga is about Danny, an illegal immigrant from Sri Lanka. His visa expired three years ago when he dropped out […]

The post A Different Viewpoint: Amnesty appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

The Women in Black

Catherine — Wed, 19 Feb 2020 05:40:39 +0000

Somehow February has become a dreary month, both for my reading…and well, everything. Bad news and toxicity all around. We’ve been fortunate not to get much snow here in Ann Arbor, but where we live there’s nothing but brown and gray for miles, with a sullen sky overhead. I’m grateful we’ve had very little snow […]

The post The Women in Black appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

Ask Again, Yes

Catherine — Mon, 25 Nov 2019 08:21:05 +0000

This post may include Amazon links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Ask Again, Yes is a complex family story that begins with the lightest of connections. Brian Stanhope and Francis Gleeson are two young men from Ireland who begin their careers as cops together in New York City. They move to the […]

The post Ask Again, Yes appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

Mothers’ Week: The Island of Sea Women

Catherine — Mon, 06 May 2019 07:41:36 +0000

This coming Sunday is Mother’s Day so this week my reviews are focused on three books with very different perspectives on motherhood. Each offered something important in its own way and reminded me how, like so much of what women do, it is impossible to fit the role of mother into one finite slot. […]

The post Mothers’ Week: The Island of Sea Women appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

Quiet Summer Reading: The Verdun Affair

Catherine — Fri, 27 Jul 2018 07:15:43 +0000

Last week I started this little feature for books that don’t quite fit in the normal summer reading mold. This week’s pick is still a quiet character study, but about a devastating time in history. I have read many, many novels about World War II, but very few about World War I. That, plus […]

The post Quiet Summer Reading: The Verdun Affair appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner

Catherine — Wed, 23 May 2018 07:30:56 +0000

There isn’t any status in it unless you’d be impressed to know that the Mars Room is not a middling or mediocre strip club but is definitely the worst and most notorious, the very seediest and most circuslike place there is. In stark contrast to all that was warm and lovely in Monday’s book, […]

The post The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

Self-Portrait with Boy: A Novel

Catherine — Fri, 23 Feb 2018 08:21:00 +0000

A startlingly unique and uncomfortable premise is at the heart of Self-Portrait with Boy: an artist is in the midst of taking a series of self-portraits against a window of her apartment when she hears a commotion and learns that the 9-year-old son of her upstairs neighbors, has fallen to his death from the […]

The post Self-Portrait with Boy: A Novel appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

Hell Hath No Fury: Mini-Reviews

Catherine — Fri, 05 Jan 2018 08:58:59 +0000

OK, OK, the real quote ends with “like a woman scorned”, but I’m taking creative license and dropping “scorned”. I’ve spent much of the last year in a rage-y haze thanks to 1) a misogynistic Congress determined to take away every right women have and 2) learning that there are a lot of men […]

The post Hell Hath No Fury: Mini-Reviews appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

September Reading Wrap-Up

Catherine — Mon, 02 Oct 2017 07:06:14 +0000

Goodbye summer! What an odd one it was—mostly chilly, but dry with only three days got that anywhere near hot. The worst of it was in with the fires in the Columbia Gorge when, even though we live up in Seattle, we had ash settling on our deck, trapping the heat and smoke for almost […]

The post September Reading Wrap-Up appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.

Sing, Unburied, Sing

Catherine — Wed, 13 Sep 2017 07:48:24 +0000

JoJo lives in Bois, a small town in rural Mississippi, with his Pop and Mam—his mother’s parents, and his little sister, Kayla. His mother, Leonie, is a sometime visitor, but drugs and other past-times mean she’s not around much. His father, Michael? He’s in Parchman prison. And he’s white, which means JoJo has a […]

The post Sing, Unburied, Sing appeared first on The Gilmore Guide to Books.