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What have you just read? Opinions, recommendations, reviews Part 2
A memoir, written by an Australian adolescent psychiatrist, on her own trauma experience.
When the Light Goes Out by Lisa MyersMy review 4★
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Read and reviewed Slaughter and Forgetting by Graham Brack - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5281327162
Finished a couple on vacation. My thoughts:
. Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My review of Stars Over Clear Lake by Loretta Ellsworth
3 and a half stars
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Suz wrote: "
The Understudy by Julie BennettMy review 2.5★
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."
Good balanced review Suz. I wasn’t overly enamoured with this one either in a lot of respects..
So many readers have loved Barbara Kingsolver's important novel, Demon Copperhead, that I'm sorry I didn't (probably because I'm already familiar with the subjects). But I'm glad she felt compelled to write it.
3★My review of Demon Copperhead
What an amazing woman! Helen Keller, deaf and blind from a childhood disease, travelled the world, inspiring leaders and the public. This children's picture book by Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara is all the better for the wonderful artwork by Sam Rudd.
5★ My review of Helen Keller with several illustrations
Mod
For those interested here's my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My reviews of The Handkerchief Tree by Anne Douglas
3 stars
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and
Tremarnock by Emma Burstall
4 stars
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Girls, Crimes, and the Ruling Body by Barry R. ZimanMy review 3.5★
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Dale wrote: "Suz wrote: " The Understudy by Julie BennettMy review 2.5★
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."
Good balanced r..."
Thanks Dale, we were in the minority with this one.
Here are the books and reviews from my reading during a fortnight's holiday in Lanzarote - a good haul of 13 books during the holiday:-Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel
- 4*https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Dead Lock by Damien Boyd
- 4*https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood
- 4*https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Look Both Ways by Linwood Barclay
- 5*https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Jonah by James Herbert
- 4*https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Lies I Told Him by Vanessa Garbin
- 4*https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Trust by Hernan Diaz
- 3*https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Noonday by Pat Barker
- 4*https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Robbers by Paul Anderson
- 4*https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Apartment by K.L. Slater
- 4*https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
A Little Bird by Wendy James
- 4*https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Verity by Colleen Hoover
- 5*https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Catch by T.M. Logan
- 4*https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I read Maggie O'Farrell's The Marriage Portrait, inspired by Robert Browning's poem, "My Last Duchess." O'Farrell captures the texture of life in the courts and palazzos of 16thC Italy. The narrative is full of suspense and intrigue. Imagery is visual and tactile. I enjoyed it, but I think her Hamnet is a better novel.My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Oh dear (for me)
Into the Water by Paula HawkinsMy review 1.5★:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I finally read Edith Wharton's 
The Custom of the Country. Not a character to connect with, but a still-relevant societal critique. My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...And another I've wanted to read forever, a lovely Dickens after-Christmas story
The Cricket on the Hearth. Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...Then something a little more current, Colm Tóibín's debut novel about art and anarchism,
The South Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
What a good start to an offshoot series of my favourite author.
Shelter by the talented Harlan CobenMy review 5★
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
If you have ever heard sisters bicker, you will recognise the shrill voice of the two in this 80-year-old short story, Why I Live at the P.O, by Eudora Welty. With very few changes, it could have taken place today.
4★ My review of Why I Live at the P.O.
Gimpel the Fool, sometimes studied in schools, is a fable-like tale written by Isaac Bashevis Singer and translated by Saul Bellow, who was famous at the time. Good publicity never hurts!
3.5★ My review of Gimpel the Fool
My reviews of The Forgiving Jar by Wanda E Brunstetter
3 and a half stars
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
and
Apple of My Eye by Claire Allan
3 and a half stars
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My review of The Secret Life of Albert Entwistle by Matt Cain
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I think a lot of readers will love
The Extraordinary Life of Sam Hell
by Robert Dugoni. Sam Hill is the 'devil boy' with red eyes, who is bullied and ostracised throughout his school years, but his mother assures him God has extraordinary plans for him.
3.5~4★ My review of ...Sam Hell
I Stand Here Ironing is about a mother who is 'informed' that her 19-year-old daughter needs help, so please come in and talk about how 'we' can help her. What follows, is those 19 years in this poignant, very short story by Tillie Olsen. I loved it.
5★ My review of I Stand Here Ironing with a link to the story online.
Mod
by Elizabeth Jane Howard and liked it a lot describing, as often in her writings, a "perfect" family that is not so perfect after all, but that somehow manage to eliminate all that can endanger its life...the odd girl out in this case.Really beautiful
Catch up on reviews:Read Death On Duty by Graham Brack - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5285972212
The Lying Dutchman by Graham Brack - reviewed- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4738326927
and a Christmas crime anthology with a Graham Brack Slonsky series story - Midwinter Mysteries: A Christmas Crime Anthology edited by Keith Moray - reviewed - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5311554651
The Neuroscience of Excellent Sleep by Stan RodskiMy review 2★
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My review of Creative Differences and Other Stories by Graeme Simsion
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Mod
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show..."
It's been on my TBR list for a while...
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales2 stars & DNF - but I had a lot of fun writing the review.
Review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
If you think you might enjoy historical murder mysteries, I recommend C.S. Harris's Viscount Sebastian St. Cyr series, set in London, early 1800s. Terrific characters and atmosphere. When Maidens Mourn, #7, is another winner.
5★ My review of When Maidens Mourn
It's been years since I first read this famous John Cheever short story, The Swimmer, but I was surprised how much I remembered. It was also made into a Burt Lancaster film (which may have helped my memory).
5★ My review of The Swimmer with a link to where you can find it and other info
All About Books
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4 stars
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...