There is always some fact in fiction but in The Jaguar’s Children by John Vaillant there is likely to be much more than expected. The story is a simple one in terms of characters and staging because it takes place inside a water tanker truck over the course of three days when it is left in the desert near Nogales, Arizona after stopping due to mechanical problems. The ... Read More...
Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands
Sweet sixteen—a time of so many changes. Learning to drive, first dates, preparing for college, and, if you’re Emily Shepard, a nuclear reactor meltdown near your tiny town in Vermont, your parents disappearing, and being evacuated from your school with only the clothes on your back. This is sixteen as seen by Chris Bohjalian in his new novel, Close Your Eyes, Hold Hands. When ... Read More...
Cara Hoffman- A Letter
By and large this blog is composed of book reviews, author events, anything bookish. I don’t extend myself into the political or economic arenas because I’m not always savvy enough to know what I’m talking about. But sometimes I do raise my head from a book long enough to see something I believe needs to be shared. On Wednesday I reviewed Cara Hoffman’s new novel, Be Safe I ... Read More...
Fever: A Novel
When Mary Mallon leaves Ireland for the United States in the late 1800s she has already seen too much of death—both of her parents, her sister, and her sister’s young children. Death holds little mystery for her but life in Manhattan is full of opportunity when her aunt teaches her to cook. Rather than live as a laundress, with her arms up the elbows in scalding hot water or ... Read More...
I Can Barely Take Care of Myself: Tales from a Happy Life Without Kids
I Can Barely Take Care of Myself is comedienne Jen Kirkman’s humorous look at her decision to have a life without children. A decision that is questioned and tut-tutted over by virtually everyone she knows and many whom she does not. The book’s humor and strength begin even before the first chapter, meaning READ THE DEDICATION. One of the many reasons I loved this book was ... Read More...
Darkest: Daddy Love
Joyce Carol Oates is a seductress who leads you into whatever world she is exploring. This can be poignant, uplifting, or deeply disturbing. In the case of Daddy Love it’s the latter. The first four chapters recount the same time span in a mother’s life—the moment when her child is taken from her. Yet she was conscious of the terrible loss. The child’s hand had ... Read More...
