The Book of Everlasting Things is a multigenerational debut spanning the globe from India to Europe. Initially set in Lahore, India in the 1930s and 40s the novel encompasses 70 years in the lives of one Hindu boy and one Muslim girl. Two children, who despite different backgrounds, grow into love only to have it, and their lives, shattered when Great Britain partitions part of ... Read More...
The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson
It’s May 1940, but Hitler is already on the move, invading and collecting countries like Monopoly properties. In Great Britain, Prime Minister Chamberlain has lost the confidence of his party and is going to be replaced. It is a momentous time in the world and in British history. Winston Churchill fulfills his lifelong dream of being Prime Minister when he is chosen as the ... Read More...
November Reading Wrap-Up
November- what a month! I made it from Seattle to Ann Arbor and had a fabulous time driving across country. All our belongings showed up intact and on time with only a few hiccups. We’re still unpacking, organizing, and dealing with the ‘our furniture doesn’t fit in this space’ confusion. And getting hit with an unexpected storm that left 6” of snow behind. I knew I’d have to ... Read More...
The Only Woman in the Room
For those of you who aren’t old movie buffs…why not?! Old black and white movies with all their stylized glamour are one of the best escapes out there. But I digress. If you’re not aware of Hollywood in the 1930s then you won’t recognize the subject of Marie Benedict’s new novel The Only Woman in the Room. It’s Hedy Lamarr, who at the peak of her career, was known as one of the ... Read More...
Love and Ruin by Paula McLain
It wasn’t bravery when you did what you had to do. Paula McLain’s novel, Circling the Sun, was one of my favorites of 2015, largely because she portrayed Beryl Markham so well as a woman who wasn’t content to follow the norms of her times—get married, have children—but who understood that the only way to follow her own path meant the norms would never be an option. ... Read More...
Above the East China Sea
How has he not had it drummed into him that brats don’t whine? We don’t plead. We don’t need. We require nothing. Not even real roots. We’re air ferns. In Sarah Bird's new novel Above the East China Sea the island of Okinawa is the centerpiece of a multi-generational drama that plays out during World War II and modern times. Tamiko is a native of the ... Read More...
