What Are You Reading / Reviews - July thru December 2022

[Book Concierge]

The Confessions of Frannie Langton – Sara Collins – 4****
This work of historical fiction looks at slavery, colonialism, drug addiction, medical experimentation and lesbianism in early 19th century England. This is Collins’s debut novel and it’s an ambitious one. Frannie narrates her story beginning in 1826, when she is already jailed for a double murder, and going back to 1812 and her youth in Jamaica. Frannie is a marvelous character – educated, observant, loving, strong and yet vulnerable. The story was as addicting as the laudanum frequently prescribed for “nervous ladies.”
LINK to my full review

[James]

Giaconda Belli, El infinito en la palma de la mano [2008] 237 pages [Kindle, Open Library] [in Spanish]

The novel which is the reading for next month for the group I'm in on Goodreads, El infinito en la palma de la mano is a retelling of the myth of Adam and Eve. In addition to the short version in the book of Genesis, she used various books of pseudepigrapha and the Talmud, a literature with which I am not very familiar, so I don't entirely know what is from those sources (I found some details in Wikipedia) and what is from her own imagination, though I would assume that the basic idea that Elokim, the name she gives to the Creator, wanted Adam and Eve to have liberty and consciousness as a kind of experiment is probably not in any ancient source. Ever since the Enlightenment and the French Revolution with its emphasis on freedom and the positive evaluation of revolt, the myth of the disobedience of the first couple has been subjected to various reversals and re-evaluations, as well as the role of the serpent (as Blake pointed out, Satan was really the hero of Paradise Lost). El infinito en la palma de la mano is in that tradition.

The novel begins with the creation of Adam and then of Eve, and their lives in the Garden until they discover the two trees in the center of the Garden, the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. The Serpent (always capitalized as a proper name) is the guardian of the latter tree; more honest than his Biblical counterpart, he warns Eve that Elokim has forbidden to eat the fruit and that the result will be death, but he also suggests that Elokim may really want her to eat the fruit and make use of the freedom of choice she and Adam have been given, alone of any of Elokim's creations. Up to this time, she has not heard the name Elokim or known that he created Adam and herself; they have felt that someone they called "The Other" has been observing them, but they have been unable to find him (in fact they discover the trees while trying to discover where he is). Of course as in the Bible they eat the fruit; Adam is very afraid of Elokim and what he will do to them (throughout the first half of the novel he is the timid, fearful one, who wants to be reconciled with Elokim) and takes Eve to a cave where they spend the night making love for the first time. They are woken up in the morning by an earthquake and great storms, and when they manage to get out of the cave they find that they are outside the Garden, which is now surrounded by a deep abyss. They interpret this as punishment for eating the fruit (or perhaps, Eve wonders, for having sex) but Eve later comes to think that rather than a punishment it was always part of the plan, the experiment, to see whether creatures with freedom and knowledge would be able to survive in nature.

We then see them trying to survive and learn more about their environment, and eventually having two sets of twins (Cain and Luluwa, Abel and Aklia). According to a very short Wikipedia article, the idea that Cain and Abel had twin sisters is in some of the ancient sources, and the idea that Cain's killing of Abel was because God had decided they should marry cross twins and he wanted to marry his own twin is apparently from Moslem tradition (although the bibliography of the book does not include anything Moslem, there are some secondary works that might have mentioned the idea). One interesting difference of the novel from the Bible is that Adam and Eve never actually see Elokim, and while they believe they have heard him it is always in dreams or ambiguous signs; on the other hand they frequently converse with the Serpent, and nearly everything they suppose about Elokim is from him (although Eve ultimately suspects that he actually pretends to know much more about Elokim than he actually does.) The real essence of the novel, however, is in Eve's constant questioning of everything, her desire, from even before eating the fruit, to know the truth about everything. The novel ends with Cain and Luluwa leaving and Aklia following her own destiny, which I won't reveal because it is the one really unexpected turn in the book.

[James]

John Wyndham, The Trouble with Lichens [1960] 160 pages

I have sometimes thought about what would happen if someone invented an effective anti-aging drug, and considered it likely that it might be legally suppressed; and I have also thought that a way to disguise it might be as a cosmetic process, in beauty parlors. That in a nutshell is the plot of John Wyndham's 1960 novel The Trouble with Lichens, which as far I can remember I have never read before. Science fiction novels about immortality or extremely long lifetimes and the problems that would cause in society are of course common enough today, and when I read one a couple years ago for a Goodreads group I did some research and found a long list of them, unfortunately now a dead link, but Wyndham was an early pioneer, as in many other subgenres of science fiction. As always, he excels at the social analysis.

Diana Bracken discovers an anti-aging drug, as she calls it an "antigerone", derived from a rare species of lichen, and hopes that the extended lifetimes it makes available will lead to a feminist revolt, because no one could accept two hundred years of the trivial pursuits which are considered suitable for women in twentieth-century middle-class society.

I was surprised by the feminist theme at such an early date; not only is the main character a strong intellectually brilliant woman, but she is always pointing out things like the way society (and the beauty industry) cons women into basing their self-image on physical beauty, and the waste of intellect caused by tracking women into marriage, maternity and domestic life which she characterizes as a "dead end career." Of course, this doesn't prevent some internet reviews of the novel from calling it a "chauvinist" book, apparently because of a very understated romantic substratum -- as if a strong female character could not have feelings (at least not heterosexual.)

[Book Concierge]

The Library of Lost and Found – Phaedra Patrick – 3***
A heart-warming and enjoyable read. Martha Storm volunteers at the local library and would love to have a permanent paid position there. She’s clearly unappreciated, but soldiers on. And then one day a book of fairy tales is left for her, and as she tries to puzzle out where the book came from and how it came to be in her possession, she uncovers family secrets. Patrick writes quirky characters with hidden secrets very well. These are nearly broken people who keep their heads down and try to exist without much support or joy in their lives. And yet …
LINK to my full review

[Melissa]

I finished 2 books right at the end of August.


Dark Roads by Chevy Stevens
5 ★

Hailey McBride becomes an orphan when her father dies in a car accident and goes to live with her aunt and her control freak cop uncle. Hailey is forbidden to work, socialize, or date, so she runs away into the woods to escape it all. Her disappearance gets the town talking. One she one of the notorious Highway Killer's victims or just a runaway troubled teen? Beth Chevalier comes to town a year later to find out the truth about her sister's death at the hands of the Highway Killer. Her determination uncovers more than the truth.

I was hooked as soon as I read the prologue. It was so intriguing and sad. I just had to know what happened to the girl.
Hailey's uncle, Vaughn, is a horrible man. The way he tries to control Hailey is mean and uncalled for. There were a few scenes that were straight up inappropriate and creepy. I was thrilled when she ran away because I was truly worried about what he may do to her.
Hailey's best friend, Jonny, is the definition of a true friend. He helps her and takes care of her throughout the whole book. I puts aside plans for his own future to make sure she is safe. He takes so much crap and abuse from Vaughn that most guys would have left town way sooner. Jonny was probably my favorite character.
The mystery of the Highway Killer is a good one. I thought I had it all figured out, but I was completely wrong and shocked at the reveal. Chevy Stevens is a new author for me and I look forward to reading many more books by her. She is a great mystery suspense author.


A Court of Frost and Starlight (A Court of Thorns and Roses, #3.1) by Sarah J.Maas
4 ★

As the Night Court continues to rebuild after the war, Feyre prepares for her first Winter Solstice as High Lady.
There is no looming dark violent event in this book, but it does hit on some issues that we are sure to see in the next book and any that follow. Many of the chaptes are narrated by Feyre and Rhysand, but we do get a few chapters from Cassian and Morrigan. It was a nice change and a chance to hear their thoughts and learn more about them. The reader gets to see how Amren is handling her new body and how Nesta and Elain are doing with the change and move to the Night Court. It was a nice story that gives one a break from the violence in the last book. I really enjoyed it.
I am very much looking forward to the next book, though. Nesta is quite the killjoy in this book and I love the tension between her and Cassian. The next book focuses on them and I am so excited.

[Book Concierge]

Klara And the Sun – Kazuo Ishiguro – 4.5****
Klara, the narrator of this extraordinary work, is an artificial friend (AF). She is a keen observer and tries to be a good friend to Josie, the young girl she’s ben bought to accompany. For all her intelligence and perceptiveness, Klara cannot quite understand emotion and she certainly doesn’t have feelings of her own. Her interpretations of what she observes are sometimes quite naïve. What does it mean to love? Can science duplicate that essentially human quality in an artificial intelligence being? Do we want scientists to try?
LINK to my full review

[Book Concierge]

Melissa wrote: "I finished 2 books right at the end of August.


Dark Roads by Chevy Stevens
5 ★..."

I really liked the one book I read by Stevens. Putting this on my tbr. Thanks for the review!

[James]

Miguel Angel Asturias, Hombres de maiz [1949] 438 pages [in Spanish]

While the fame of his first and best-known novel, El Señor Presidente, for a long time eclipsed Asturias' later works, today many critics consider his second novel, Hombres de maiz, to be his most important book. He returns here to the mythical style of his first book, the story collection Leyendas de Guatemala, in a complex novel which is one of the founding sources of "magical realism". The title means "Men of Corn" (in the American sense of maize, not the British meaning of "grain".)

It is a difficult work, both because of the style and because of the language, based on Guatemalan rural dialect and with many Indian words. This is not a book one can read with a dictionary, because most of the unfamiliar words are not "dictionary words", but represent the actual dialect pronunciation of normal Spanish words; rather it is necessary to try to imagine the Spanish words that are presented in dialect form. The dialogue is also very elliptical and uses idioms which are not found in more standard Spanish novels. The Indian words are mostly for plants and animals, or items of Indian cuisine and culture, and probably do not have Spanish (or English) equivalents; some are explained in the short glossary at the end but many are not, and I could not do any better than, "It's a tree, it's a fruit, it's something they ate." Nevertheless, it was not too hard to follow what was actually happening, although why things were happening the way they were is often not explained until later on, in some cases not until the last two chapters which tie everything together.

The exact setting in both place and time and the chronology are deliberately vague, although I think it would be safe to say it is set somewhere in rural Guatemala over a period of perhaps twenty or thirty years beginning somewhere near the opening of the twentieth century; some of the action also takes place in a mythical subterranean space. The situation it presupposes, and which we put together somewhat later, is that the region it is set in, called "Ilom", has been inhabited by Indians or "Men of Corn" (an allusion to the myth of the Popul Vuh in which the Indians were created by a pair of creator deities from corn), who regard corn as sacred and use it for the nutrition of themselves and their families, but recently a class of poor farmworkers, the "maiceros" (which ironically could also be translated as "men of corn") have begun clearing the forests to raise it as a cash monocrop.

The novel opens in a very surrealistic style with El Gaspar Ilom, whom we eventually find out is the chief of the Indian tribe in the area, and his wife sleeping on a "petate" or sleeping mat on the ground; he has a dream, or rather a vision, in which the spirits of the Earth call to him and accuse him of allowing the "eyes of the land" to be put out, or as we ultimately realize is meant, the trees to be cut down or burned. The mythical style is represented by frequent repeated phrases, in particular involving "yellow rabbits"; as the book goes on we eventually find out some of the symbolic meanings of the yellow rabbits (the moon, the ears of corn, and especially fire) but in this first chapter it is a mysterious phrase. The next morning, he decides to wage war on the maiceros, killing them whenever they are alone or in small groups. I had a problem with this, in that the novel obviously considers the war against these poor farmworkers to be just, when obviously (to me) the problem was with the imperialist companies they were working for and being exploited by.

Not surprisingly, the cavalry then shows up and massacres the Indians. A group of shamans called "the witches of the fireflies" then puts a curse on everyone concerned. From then on, everything that happens in the novel is overdetermined; in addition to the "natural" causes of events, they are also the working out of this supernatural curse, although this is not always obvious to the reader at the time they are happening. I won't go into the details to avoid spoilers. The plot of the fifth part (the book is divided into six parts) and its continuation in the last part in particular seem to have little relation to the rest of the book, which is one of the problems the earlier critics had with the book; later it was realized that the unity of the novel is at a different level than the surface plot.

Although not always acknowledged, this novel and the work of Asturias in general was a major influence on later Latin American writers, especially the earlier works of Gabriel García Márquez and Mario Vargas Llosa; all three are Nobel Prize winners.

[Book Concierge]

Miss Julia Rocks the Cradle – Ann B Ross – 3***
Book number twelve in the Miss Julia series, featuring a woman of a certain age who cannot help but get involved in the goings on in her North Carolina town. What I love about this series is Miss Julia, herself. She’s a real firecracker of a woman. The supporting cast of characters are wonderful as well. A fast, fun, comfort read.
LINK to my full review

[Melissa]

Listen to Me (Rizzoli & Isles #13) by Tess Gerritsen
4 ★

Rizzoli and Isles are back and the case they have is a confusing one. As they try to unravel the case that evidence shows may connect with a previous hit and run, Angela Rizzoli tries to figure out what is going on with the new couple in her neighborhood without getting herself into trouble.

I was so excited to see this duo back together. It has been a long 3 years since the last book. The story was great and there are no gaps in time. The reader jumps back into their lives as if no time has passed. It was a very smooth reintroduction.
I really liked how Angela played a big part in the book. She is always on the sideline worried about Jane and this time we got to see the detective side, not just the nosey side. She may seem like the neighborhood snoop, but she is very observant. Hopefully Jane will remember this the next time her mom says that something fishy is going on.
This case has some interesting twists and I enjoyed watching everything come together. As usual I tried to figure it out for myself and failed. I really thought one specific person was involved.
I have my fingers crossed that we get another Rizzoli and Isles novel soon.

[Book Concierge]

Atomic Love – Jennie Fields – 3.5***
This work of historical fiction captured my attention from the beginning, and the twists and turns in the plot kept me turning pages. Set in 1950 Chicago, it focuses on Rosalind Porter, previously the only woman physicist working on the Manhattan Project, but now selling jewelry at Marshall Fields. It’s a fast-paced espionage thriller with a romantic triangle. It held my attention and I found it hard to put down at times.
LINK to my full review

[James]

Giuseppi Bellini, Mundo mágico y mundo real. La narrativa de Miguel Ángel Asturias [1999, Sp. tr. 2008] 242 pages [Kindle, Biblioteca Cervantes] [in Spanish]

Since I will probably not be reading more of Asturias for a while, I decided to read this book which summarizes all his novels and story collections in chronological order, to get an overall picture of his work. It is by an Italian scholar who knew Asturias and specialized in Latin-American literature; the book I read is the Spanish translation of a book written originally in Italian. I have read four of Asturias' books, chronologically from Leyendas de Guatemala and El alhajadito through El Señor Presidente and Hombres de maiz; this book also summarizes the Banana Trilogy, Week-end en Guatemala, Mulata de tal, El espejo de lida sal, Maladrón, and Viernes de Dolores. Many of these seem interesting, but before I get around to reading them, if I do, I want to read some of Quevedo and Pio Baroja, who are apparently important influences, so it will be a while.

Bellini is very much a defender of Asturias' work; much of the discussion here is in response to other critics of his novels and of him personally for his political positions (he was, according to Bellini, "marginalized" by other writers because of his acceptance of an ambassadorship). There is therefore very little in the way of negative criticism in the book. Probably the most useful part of the book was the appendix containing short lectures by Asturias himself explaining his works and his view of literature and language.

[Book Concierge]

Ordinary Girls – Jaquira Díaz – 4****
In this memoir, Díaz relates her childhood and teen years with brutal honesty. She grows up in Puerto Rico and Miami, with a mentally-ill and drug-addicted mother. And looks to her friends for the love and support she does not get at home. I found her writing gripping and enthralling. There were times when I wanted to turn away, because the scenes were so painful, but her writing kept me going. My heart went out to the young girl and struggling teenager. I applauded the woman she became.
LINK to my full review

[Melissa]

Missing: Storm Warning/Now Way Out/A Deeper Fear (Lucy Kincaid #14.5, 16.5, 17.5) by Allison Brennan
4 ★

Storm Warning (Lucy Kincaid #14.5) by Allison Brennan

Nate and Lucy are tasked with transporting 2 inmates during a hurricane and end up in the middle of a far worse storm.

This was a nice quick short novella that shows how great a team Nate and Lucy make. They trust and care very much for each other. They are quite the team.
The reader also gets to find out what happened with Jesse after his mother’s death. It was a nice addition to the story.

No Way Out (Lucy Kincaid #16.5) by Allison Brennan

Kane Rogan and Siobhan Walsh are finally getting married, but a rescue they were involved in 9 years ago comes back to haunt them just days before they say their vows.

This was an intense short story. It almost felt like Kane was giving up at one point, but everything happened so fast that he just needed time to think. Lucy did an amazing job throughout the whole situation. With Sean being in danger as well she really took charge and put her foot down. I was proud of her.

A Deeper Fear (Lucy Kincaid #17.5) by Allison Brennan

Lucy and Sean head to Sacramento for a conference and get pulled into an investigation when the head of the drone demonstration is left for dead and her equipment is stolen.

This story wasn’t very suspenseful, but it was interesting. Sean has been having a hard time dealing with the events of the last book and this case really helped him out. He was able to think about something else and work with good cops. I also think Jack really helped him by putting his foot down with Sean and giving him the push he needed.
Lucy played the game well with Sean, but I agree with Jack. She coddles Sean too much. I like how she handled things this time.
Well, this is the last Lucy Kincaid story at this time and I am eagerly awaiting the next. I highly recommend this series, starting with the trilogies, to anyone, and everyone, who enjoys a good mystery suspense story with an amazing cast of characters. There is nothing better than strong families and strong female characters.

[James]

Boubacar Boris Diop, Murambi, le livre des ossements [2000] 206 pages [Kindle] [in French]

Probably Diop's best-known novel, Murambi is a fictional history of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. It is very different from any other of Diop's novels in being written in a more or less traditional style rather than the highly experimental style he is generally associated with. It was written as part of a 1998 project by authors from many countries to document the genocide in literature. Unlike many books on the massacre, which focus on the horrors of the killings (although there is plenty of that; this is not a novel for those with weak stomachs), Diop tries to provide insight into the history and context of the event. One of his characters complains that people in other countries considered it a spontaneous product of long-time ethnic hatred between the Hutu and Tutsi and as an extreme case of events which are endemic in recent African history (if not even a mutual massacre), which is certainly the way it was and still is presented by the media, but says instead that, while the Tutsi did oppress the Hutu at one point under colonial rule, there was little friction between them before 1959, when a fascist movement known as Hutu Power began a campaign against the Tutsi consciously modeled on the Nazi campaigns against the Jews in the years leading up to the Holocaust. Many of the characters -- the book is written from multiple perspectives, although four characters, Simeon Habineza, Dr. Joseph Karakezi, his son Cornelius Uvimana, and Jessica Kamanzi are the central figures -- refer to previous massacres of Tutsi by the Hutu Power militia, the Interahamwa, the most important of which, in 1973, caused the (fictional) exile of the then twelve-year-old Cornelius to Barundi and eventually to Djibouti and the (historical) growth of the guerilla struggle of the mostly Tutsi FPR (Rwanda Patriotic Front). The fact that these earlier massacres were never punished certainly encouraged the "Final Solution."

According to the novel, far from being spontaneous, although many thousands of ordinary Hutu were ultimately involved, willingly or not, in the killings (as great numbers of ordinary Germans were in the Holocaust), the massacres were carefully planned and well-organized, beginning the day after the assassination of President Habyarimana, a Hutu, whose his private plane was shot down by missiles. The assassination was blamed by the Hutu Power on the FPR guerillas, while the Tutsi characters blamed it either on foreigners or on the Hutu Power group itself, as a kind of Reichstag Fire -- not improbable, given how quickly the subsequent genocide occurred and how well-planned it was from the beginning, and that the first actions of Hutu Power were to assassinate the moderate Prime Minister and other moderate Hutu politicians before beginning on the Tutsi.

The genocide lasted for about three months -- conventionally referred to as the "Hundred Days" -- before the FPR guerillas captured the capital and the leaders of Hutu Power escaped into exile with the help of the French army; the number of Tutsi killed is uncertain, but probably about a million give or take a couple hundred thousand. While it lasted, as the Hutu Power characters brag, it was more efficient than Hitler's Holocaust, killing an average of 10,000 a day. What was most unsettling in the novel (although not really surprising) was the role of the French; the main Hutu leader in the book seems to have expected the French to intervene against the FPR, as they had done in each of the two previous years, and the impression from the French military character is that they were prepared to do so again but the scope of the genocide and the widespread international publicity made it politically impossible.

The novel's most continuous narrative element is the return of Cornelius from exile two years after the genocide and his discovery of what happened to his family. We see the results of the massacres through his consciousness, especially the mass slaughter of the Tutsi of Murambi in the École technique. The novel is considered by some to end on a note of hope, because the FPR did not follow up by a revenge genocide against the Hutu, which is hardly the most convincing reason (and really amounts to accepting the ethnic hatred explanation); in fact, Diop ends the book (leaving aside the Postface to the 2011 reprinting) by suggesting that much of the population, both survivors and killers, are psychologically "dead".

While I am not qualified to say whether all his facts and analyses are correct, the favorable critical responses to the book and the international recognition and prizes it has received suggest that at least it not considered wildly wrong. In any case, a very moving and impressive novel.

[Book Concierge]

Shards Of Honor – Lois McMaster Bujold – 3***
Book number 1 in the space-opera series Vorkosigan Saga introduces the reader to this family. We have a kick-ass heroine, Commander (later Captain) Cordelia Naismith and the leader of the enemy forces, Captain Aral Vorkosigan. Lots of intrigue, adventure, drama, danger, politics and plot twists to keep the reader turning pages. And witty banter to show the attraction between these two blossoming to romance. I doubt I’ll continue the series (just not my preferred cup of tea), but I’m glad I read it.
LINK to my full review

[James]

H.W.F. Saggs, The Greatness That Was Babylon: A sketch of the ancient civilization of the Tigris-Euphrates valley [1962] 535 pages

An older book, but very comprehensive for a popular work and one which is still found in bibliographies of recent works. Despite the title, it does not focus entirely on Babylon or the Babylonian period but covers the entire Mesopotamian history from the earliest times through Sumer and Akkad and up through the Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian empires to the capture of Babylon by Cyrus, including the regions outside Mesopotamia in the periods in which they were part of the Empires. Definitely a good starting place to read about ancient Mesopotamia provided that one follows up with more recent work as a corrective to the points on which it is outdated.

[Book Concierge]

The Book of Lost Friends – Lisa Wingate – 4****
For this work of historical fiction, Wingate was inspired by actual “Lost Friends” advertisements that appeared in Southern newspapers after the Civil War, wherein newly freed slaves search for family members from which they’d been separated. She uses the ubiquitous dual timeline for this story, and while I’ve come to really dislike this device, I thought Wingate did a marvelous job in this case. I was interested and engaged from beginning to end, and I really appreciated learning about the “Lost Friends” advertisements.
LINK to my full review

[James]

James Wellard, Babylon [1972] 223 pages

Another old book about the ancient near east -- I'm reading the books which have been on my shelves for thirty or forty years; this was published about a decade after Saggs' The Greatness That Was Babylon but doesn't seem any more up-to-date (Saggs' book is the most recent item in Wellard's bibliography.) To some extent, this doesn't actually matter, because Wellard's book is largely about the history of the archaeological exploration and excavation of the region, which occupies about the first half of the book and is mentioned occasionally in the second half. This is certainly the most interesting part of the book, although to tell the truth it is mostly anecdotes of the hardships of the excavators. When the book gets to the history of Babylon itself, it is rather poor, with many old theories that even the earlier book by Saggs describes as obsolete and less facts than the author's annoying pontificating remarks. Not a book I would recommend even if it were more recent.

[James]

Joan Oates, Babylon [1979] 215 pages

A much better book than the above; I read the original edition which I happened to have but there was a revised edition published in 1986, only seven years later. For once, this is a book called "Babylon" which actually focuses on Babylon, both the city and the empire, although there is some background on the history of the region from Sargon to the time of Hammurabi (or Hammurapi, as she spells it.) The title page has a line under the title, "With 137 illustrations" and the many photos were undoubtedly one of the major attractions of the book when it came out; today black and white (halftone) illustrations are not a major selling point.

[James]

Herman Melville, Bartleby the Scrivener [1853] 40 pages

Often I find that when reading a contemporary novel I end up reading or re-reading a classic which is alluded to; for example No One Writes Back caused me to read The Moon and Sixpence and Death Is Hard Work sent me back to As I Lay Dying. In this case, reading Abdulrazak Gurnah's By the Sea which alludes constantly to Bartleby the Scrivener resulted in my pausing that to read Melville's short story. I'm not sure whether I had ever read it before; if so it was probably fifty years ago in high school. Bartleby is the ultimate type of someone who simply says no to all the normal obligations of society: "I prefer not to". There is no explanation of why; it is simply a given.

. Abdulrazak Gurnah, By the Sea [2001] 245 pages

Two refugees from the same city in Africa meet in England and discuss the quarrels of their families in the past, when each accused the other of using fraud to steal their houses and inheritances. The older of the two, whose perspective and memories make up most of the book, is a former political prisoner who just wants, like Bartleby, to be left alone. I enjoyed this more than Admiring Silence, but whether because it is a better novel or just because I was in a different mood when I read it I can't really say. Gurnah reminds me more of Balzac than anyone else.

[Book Concierge]

The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind – William Kamkwamba – 4****
Subtitle: Creating Currents of Electricity and Hope. This is the memoir of an extraordinary young man, the son of a Malawian farmer, struggling in poverty and through famine and drought, but following the spark of inspiration, his own thirst for knowledge, and a desire to help his family and community. William saw a need and thought, “What if?” As he explained to a TED conference, “I tried, and I made it.” It’s the not the best-written book I’ve read, but his story is inspiring and uplifting. Bravo!
LINK to my full review

[Melissa]

Uncultured by Daniella Mestyanek Young
5 ★

**Warning: I do not recommend this book to anyone who has ever experienced physical, emotional, and/or sexual abuse. Although Daniella's story is encouraging, I feel that parts of it could invoke anxiety from past experiences in some.**

Daniella's story is a difficult one to read. The trauma she experienced while a member of The Children of God is horrifying and unthinkable. I don't understand how anyone who claims to be a follower of God could ever do the things the Aunts and Uncles in The Family did. I was saddened and I fear for any of the children who finally do get away from this cult. The transition to the outside world is challenging and depressing for them. Daniella is one of the lucky ones. Although she did think able suicide many times, she pushed through it and made a name for herself.
I like how Daniella compares the military to a cult. She is not entirely incorrect, but I also feel that being in the military makes one part of a family and not a family like the one in a cult. There are reasons behind the military madness. It makes some stronger and gives many a bigger purpose in life. I do not agree with some of the tactics they use and I do not agree with how she was treated by some, but her story will hopefully help those women who are dealing with the same things now.
We all love a good story with a strong female hero. Daniella is that plus some. I felt very proud of her throughout the book. She is an amazing woman who fought and won. She is who she is now because of everything she went through. This is a very encouraging story.

[Melissa]

Don't Tell (Romantic Suspense #1) by Karen Rose
4 ★

**I do not recommend this book to anyone who has every experienced domestic abuse. Many of the scenes are graphic and disturbing.**

Karen Rose is a new author to me and I was not disappointed. The story flows well and steady. The point of view changes throughout the book, sometimes in the middle of scenes, but it is a smooth transition that did not through me off.
Rob Winters is so very violent throughout the book. He's a cop and many of the officers he works with standby him in the beginning. How they never saw his temper and anger is beyond me. He treated everyone like they were beneath him and his violent actions could be directed at anyone, not just Caroline. He commits multiple murders and not once does he feel any remorse. The only one he truly cares about, but still abuses, is his son Robbie (Tom Stewart).
The State Bureau of Investigation gets involved when Mary Grace's car is found and Special Agent Steven Thatcher is sent in. Steven is a great character. He's smart and thinks things through. He is also a single dad. When Winters involves Steven's family, he turns the dad mode on and starts to mess things up. I didn't hold it against him, though. It was expected. I look forward to reading the next book in the series because Steven is also in it.
Caroline's love interest, Dr. Max Hunter, is a man I could lose my heart to. He's caring and has a fabulous family. He does have scars of his own, physical and emotional, but Caroline helps him just as much as he helps her.

[Melissa]

Sweet Revenge (Sisterhood #5) by Fern Michaels
4 ★

I can't get enough of this series. The characters are great and the friendship they share is amazing. The tactics they use are brutal, but no one, usually, gets hurt physically. There have been a few rather violent revenge plans in the past.
Isabelle deserves payback for what Rosemary did to her and I did feel a bit bad for her, but Rosemary's attitude toward everyone made that feeling dissipate over the course of the story. She is just a mean person who wants it all her way.
Nikki and Jack are still together and Nikki has made him an official silent member of the Sisterhood. He ends up helping them, again, in his own special secret way at the end of the book. He may act like he's not comfortable with what the girls are doing, but I think he actually enjoys watching them do their thing.
Each girl has her own special talent and they are all very resourceful. Charles is the main source of outside help and Myra handles the money side of it all, but I have no doubt that these girls would be able to find a way to continue their activities without their help. It would be less fun though.

[Book Concierge]

The Cat Who Turned On and Off – Lilian Jackson Braun – 3***
Book three in Braun’s popular “The Cat Who…” cozy mystery series, starring Jim Qwilleran (known simply at Qwill), and his two Siamese: Koko and Yum Yum. I really like this cozy series. As a journalist for the local newspaper, Qwill has every reason to search out the story. There isn’t a lot of graphic violence, and Qwill is a gentleman when it comes to romantic interludes.
LINK to my full review

[Book Concierge]

The Pianist – Wladyslaw Szpilman – 4****
The subtitle is all the synopsis anyone needs: The Extraordinary True Story of One man’s Survival in Warsaw, 1939-1945. Szpilman was a Jewish pianist who managed – by luck, courage, tenacity, and the kindness of others – to stay hidden and survive in the bombed and war-torn city. I found it engaging and gripping. Even though I knew he survived, I simply could not stop reading.
LINK to my full review

[James]

Rubén Darío, Azul. . . [2nd ed., 1892] 334 pages [Kindle, Open Library] [in Spanish]

I'm going a bit farther back in my Latin American reading to read the turn-of-the-century Nicaraguan poet Rubén Darío. Azul . . . (the points are part of the title) was his first important work and one of the initiating works of the Latin American style known as modernismo (not to be confused with the English meaning of "modernism" as applied to writers like Joyce and Kafka), and was the runner-up for the Nicaraguan reading in the World Literature group I am in on Goodreads (the winner was Giaconda Belli, a contemporary poet who like nearly all Latin American poets was influenced by Darío).

The book began originally (1888) with a prologue by Darío's friend Eduardo de la Barra; the second augmented edition of 1892 was prefaced by two letters by the Spanish writer Juan Valera. The version I read has both, which make up almost a third of the book. I was surprised that the book is just over half prose; it begins with ten short stories, followed by a dozen sketches of life in Chile (where he was living at the time) and two more stories. The poetry is divided into three sections, "El año lirico", "Sonetos aureos", and "Echos" (seven poems about the seasons, nine in sonnet form, and three poems written in French, respectively.) Some of the more radical poems in terms of style were added in the second edition. Apparently, according to a secondary essay I read (see the next review), Azul. . . represents a transition from the Romantic style of Victor Hugo to the style of later French poetry, in particular Verlaine. I can't really judge because it's been half a century since I read any of Hugo's poetry and I haven't made it to the later poets at all (my current French literature project is just finishing up with Balzac.) In any case, he was trying to replace the Spanish influence by a more "modern" French avant-garde influence. The book includes the original notes by the author.


Rubén Darío, Antología [1992] 236 pages [in Spanish]

This anthology consists of a long critical article by Octavio Paz, "El caracol y la sirena", which was more illuminating than most literary criticism, and a selection of poems from each of Darío's major collections (chosen on the basis of being discussed in the essay by Paz.) There are seven poems from Azul. . ., fifteen from Prosas profanas ("prosa" here doesn't mean "prose", but a form of poetry from the Catholic liturgy), twenty two from Cantos de Vida y Esperanza, Los Cisnes y Otros Poemas, five from El Canto Errante, two from Poema del Otoño y Otros poemas, including the title poem, excerpts from his longest poem Canto a la Argentina and three poems not included in any of his books. I felt that I got a good idea of what he was about.

[Melissa]

Creep (Creep #1) by Jennifer Hillier
4 ★

When Dr. Sheila Tao, Professor of Psychology, gets engaged she ends her affair with one of her students. Ethan Wolfe does not like that very much and plans to make her pay for rejecting him.

This is an interesting psychological thriller that borders the line between obsession and love. Ethan would seem like the typical psychopath, but he doesn’t strictly follow the definition. Ethan is an intense character with many flaws and extremely intelligent. This combination makes him very scary.
Sheila is a bit naïve for a smart psychology professor. She is able to get to Ethan’s level and get him thinking she is on his side, but she ends up making some pretty stupid mistakes.
I really liked Sheila’s fiancé. He loved and was devoted to her entirely, even after she told him about her addiction. Sheila did not treat him good and he had every reason to just walk away.
I was not completely enthralled with this story, but the ending has so many twists and revelations that I’m looking forward to reading the next book, Freak.

[Book Concierge]

Ask Again, Yes – Mary Beth Keane – 5*****
This is the kind of character-driven literary fiction that I absolutely love. Keane focuses this decades-long story on two families living in a suburb of New York City. There is so much going on here. Family expectations. Alcoholism. Denial. Mental Illness. Betrayal. Forgiveness. Love. By the end of the novel I felt that I really knew these people. I cheered for them. Was dismayed by them. Worried about them. Forgave them.
LINK to my full review

[Terris]

Book Concierge wrote: "

Ask Again, Yes
– Mary Beth Keane – 5*****
This is the kind of character-driven literary fiction that I absolutely love. Keane focuses this decades-long stor..."

I am glad to see your 5 star rating on this book. I have seen it around so much for three years, but couldn't tell if I really wanted to read it or not. I read Fever by Keane and liked it. Now, I will definitely try to get to this one soon. I like a lot of the things that you read :)
(BTW, have you read The Two-Family House? I liked it a lot, and it sounds like something you might like.)

[James]

Ann Druyon, Cosmos: Possible Worlds [2020] 383 pages

Two months ago, I read Carl Sagan's now classic popular science book Cosmos, written in 1980 on the basis of the television series of the same name. Since Sagan's death in 1996, there have been two more series called Cosmos dedicated to the same task of popularizing science to a lay audience; this book, by Sagan's widow Ann Druyon, is based on the third series. Like Sagan's book, and its nineteenth century namesake by Alexander Humboldt, this book covers a lot of ground; unfortunately it has somewhat of a miscellaneous feel with the episodes not really being integrated well into a whole, and I felt as though nothing was dealt with in enough detail to really understand. It does have the advantage of being up-to-date for the present, and some of the anecdotes about individual scientists were fresh (not the usual suspects) and interesting.

The book is organized around the conceit of the Cosmic Calendar, running from the Big Bang at midnight January 1 to the present at midnight December 31. After a first chapter which is an overview of the Calendar, and touches on Ҫatalhöyük, pollination, gravitational waves and the projected Starshot mission, there is a chapter which is a mini-biography of the Indian king Asoka (perhaps the most miscellaneous thing in the book), a chapter focusing on Victor Moritz Goldschmidt and his research on the mineral olivine, a chapter on Nikolay Ivanovich Vavilov and the first seed depositary, a chapter on the evolution of the brain and the invention of the EEG (and on her son's brain surgery), a chapter divided into mini-biographies of Gerard Peter Kuiper and Carl Sagan, a chapter on the new findings about the mycellium and the communication between plants, and the evolution and behavior of bees (which anthropomorphizes both plants and bees), a chapter on the Huygens-Cassini mission to Saturn and its moons (which anthropomorphizes the probe), a chapter on the building of the atom bomb and the eruption of Mt. Pelée in 1902, and a gosh-wow chapter on how humanity might flee the end of the solar system which reminded me of my least favorite science popularizer, Michel Kaku. Just as the first Cosmos ended with a plea for nuclear disarmament, this ends with a plea for doing something about global climate change. Not as good as Sagan's book and rather "lite" but a lot of interesting material.

Darrel Alejandro Holnes, Stepmotherland [2022] 119 pages

This seems to be my year for reading contemporary poetry. Stepmotherland is this month's book for the World Literature group I am in on Goodreads (the reading for Panama.) The book begins with poems about the author's childhood and adolescence in Panama and the American invasion to oust General Noriega, then deals with his experiences as an immigrant and Hispanic-Black man in the United States. There are many love/erotic poems, some straight and some gay; many pop-culture references (rap stars, Beyoncé, Rihanna and so on) and poems based on works of art. Nearly all the poems were good, although there were a few -- one with sado-masochistic imagery -- that I couldn't relate to.

[Book Concierge]

The Night Watchman – Louise Erdrich – 4****
Erdrich was inspired by the true story of her grandfather, who successfully fought against a US Senator intent on “eliminating” various Indian tribes to craft this novel, set in 1953, on the Turtle Mountain reservation in North Dakota. There are two main characters, Thomas Wazhashk and his niece Patrice Paranteau. Their parallel and interconnecting story lines highlight the life, struggles and triumphs of the Native Americans during this era. I loved these characters, Patrice, in particular, as well as the many supporting characters.
LINK to my full review

[Book Concierge]

Terris wrote: "(BTW, have you read The Two-Family House? I liked it a lot, and it sounds like something you might like.) ..."

I have not .... but checking it out now. Thanks for the recommendation!

[Book Concierge]

Magic Bites – Ilona Andrews – 3***
Paranormal fantasy is just not my thing, but this was really quite fun to read. I loved that the main character is a kick-ass woman who does not suffer fools (or vampires or shapeshifters or demons, etc) lightly. There were parts of the story line that reminded me of Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files stories. The action is nonstop and there’s some interesting sexual / romantic tension. If I need another paranormal fantasy for a challenge prompt I just might turn to Andrews in the future.
LINK to my full review

[James]

H.W.F. Saggs, Babylonians [2000] 192 pages

The most recent book I have found by Saggs, and probably one of his last (he died in 2005), Babylonians is a volume in the "Peoples of the Past" series, originally published by the British Museum. Probably this is also for now one of the most up-to-date popular books on early Mesopotamia in general, since archaeological investigations in Iraq have only recently been renewed after a more than twenty year hiatus following the barbarian invasions of the late twentieth century. While much of the information here is similar to his earlier and more comprehensive books, there are also some differences, both major (the theory of the changing sea levels in the Persian Gulf which were considered a wrong hypothesis after about 1950 have now been largely confirmed, there is far more attention given in general to changes in climate and their influence on Mesopotamian history, and there is also much more about the Aramean migration and the Chaldean period) and minor (e.g. the "Laws of Ur-Nammu" are now known to be from his son and successor Shulgi). I have one more book left in my ancient history reading project from 2018 focusing on Babylon specifically (this book covered the entire period from the Sumerians on, although it does not cover the Assyrians in any depth, because they have their own book in the series) and a few on special topics before I move on to the periphery (counterclockwise, Nubia and northeast Africa, Arabia and Bahrein, Iran, Anatolia, the Phoenicians and so forth, skipping Palestine for the time being) and eventually get to my goal of Greece and Rome.

[Melissa]

Forever Odd (Odd Thomas #2) Dean Koontz
4 ★

A childhood friend of Odd Thomas has been kidnapped and Odd’s sixth sense tells him that he must follow and rescue his friend alone. The person who has kidnapped his friend knows all about Odd Thomas and she wants Odd to show her dead people, which we all know he can’t do. His decent into her strange mind and a deserted burned out hotel will push Odd to his limit, but it may also help him overcome other issues.

I was a bit nervous about starting this book due to the unfortunate and sad ending to book one. I knew that Odd would be depressed and lonely. I was relieved to find out that he is still the smart mouth funny guy from book one.
Odd gets himself into quite the situation in this book. The abandoned burned out hotel is a building from a nightmare. The destroyed casino where many ghosts hang out to the dark hallways kept him on his toes. Also, there is a fierce thunderstorm moving it. Nothing is ever simple for Odd Thomas.
The woman who has kidnapped Odd’s friend is a strange one that I would not want to meet in a dark alley. I’m also not real sure what was up with her two little henchmen. There is a short explanation toward the end of the book, but I’m not sure it that was to be taken at face value or just some more random information from Odd.
Odd does seem to finally accept the events from the last book, but he takes it a bit further at the end of this one and I am looking forward to seeing where that idea leads him.

[James]

Jean Piaget, The Child's Conception of Physical Causality [1927, tr. 1930] 309 pages

Just as Piaget's first two books were essentially one book in two volumes, so his third book (The Child's Conception of the World) and this fourth book are essentially one book; he ends this, as he did the second book, with a "Summary and Conclusions" of both volumes. In The Child's Conception of the World he described the child's ideas of the world and nature in general; in this one, he goes into detail on a few specific areas. Section I on Movement describes experiments/observations of children concerning air and wind, the clouds and sun and moon, and water currents, and ends with a theoretical account of children's ideas of "force" (élan) which introduces the ideas of "assimilation" and "imitation" which will become central in his later work (according to the introduction.) Section II is on floating boats, the level of water when things are put into it, and shadows. Section III is on children's explanations of machinery, especially bicycles and toy steam engines. Section IV is the summary and conclusions to both volumes, and also deals with "imitation" and "assimilation" and discusses the relationship of his work to various philosophers' and psychologists' ideas from Maine de Biran to M.E. Meyerson (a philosopher of science who is -- unfortunately in my opinion -- rarely read today.) I wish I had read this book, particularly the conclusions, back when I was studying epistemology and philosophy of science in college.

[Melissa]

The Journals of Eleanor Druse by Richard Druse/Richard Dooling
3 ★

Eleanor Druse does not remember her stay at Kingdom Hospital as a child, but a friend of hers, who was there at the same time, does. When Eleanor’s friend attempts to take her own life, she leaves a note to Eleanor that piques Eleanor’s interest in the events of the past. The only problem is that the past may not want her looking back.

I enjoyed this book, but I expected more. I remember watching Kingdom Hospital when it was on TV and I remember it really freaking me out. This book fell short on the “scary” factor. It had some good flashback scenes that made me cringe, but nothing that made me look over my shoulder. I was also disappointed by the ending. It ended abruptly and with no answers to many questions. It did make me want to rewatch the mini-series again, though.

[James]

John Wyndham, The Infinite Moment [1961] 159 pages

The Infinite Moment is a collection of six science-fiction stories by Wyndham about time travel. The first and longest story (sometimes considered a novella), "Consider Her Ways", written in 1951, seemed very familiar, but I am not sure whether I read it previously or more likely just saw the 1964 television adaptation on the Alfred Hitchcock Hour. The plot is that a woman is transported into the body of another woman in the future, where there are no men. It is an attack on extreme feminism, and contrasts strongly with the best writing on the subject of all-women future societies, Joanna Russ' story "When It Changed" and novel The Female Man, which are perhaps a feminist reply to this as well as to other similar stories and novels. (I now want to re-read Russ' novel after some forty or fifty years.)

Four of the remaining five stories were good fast reads, but all five use a formula which has been very much overused and so seems a bit trite; perhaps, as in so many other areas, Wyndham came first and so was more imaginitive than I am giving him credit for in these stories. Unlike his earlier novels with strong female characters, these seem a bit traditional or even misogynistic, particular the last and weakest story, "Time Out".

[James]

Naguib Mahfouz, Before the Throne: Dialogues with Egypt's Great from Menes to Anwar Sadat [1983, tr. 2009] 164 pages

In his slightly earlier short story "The Seventh Heaven", Mahfouz described the judgement in an afterlife of his own imagination of a number of figures from modern Egyptian history (and a few world figures including Gandhi, Lenin, Stalin and Hitler.) This book is based on the same idea, with major figures of Egyptian history being judged by the Osiris court.

He returns to ancient Egypt (for the first time since his early "Egyptian trilogy" of the nineteen-thirties and early nineteen-forties) beginning with Menes, the legendary founder of the first dynasty, and continuing with the most famous Pharaohs (and a few sages like Imhotep and Ptahhotep) of the Old Kingdom, Middle Kingdom, New Kingdom and Late Period. He introduces one probably fictional figure, the revolutionary Abnum who allegedly lead a peasant revolutionary in the largely undocumented time of the First Intermediate Period, in order to provide a spokesperson for criticism of the later rulers from a populist standpoint.

Each figure in turn is commented on by some of the earlier personages, who are symbols of various tendencies in history: Menes of unity, Ahmose I of independence, Tuthmose III of military domination, Ramses II of megalomania, and Akhenaten of spiritualism (Mahfouz presents him as a sort of proto-Moslem, ignoring the nature of his "monotheistic" God as the sun-disk.)

The style is reminiscent of a Platonic dialogue (or perhaps better, as the translator maintains in his "afterword", of a dialogue by Lucian.)

Mahfouz continues the history of Egypt through the Middle Ages; I don't know whether all the figures he introduces are historical, since my knowledge of mediaeval history is almost entirely confined to Western Europe.

The novel (if that is the appropriate description) then goes through the modern leaders of resistance to the Ottoman, French and British colonialists, ending with Nassar and Sadat. Apart from the last two, I know of most of these people only through his own earlier novels. The Pharaonic figures are defended by Isis and judged by Osiris, while the later figures are only evaluated before being referred to the judgement of their own Christian or Moslem religions.

The judgements seem quite objective (although, as in the earlier trilogy mentioned above, historical accuracy is less important than the implied applications to current politics) and most of the figures, after being reprimanded for their faults, are judged leniently and allowed into Paradise (or recommended positively to their own religious judgements in the case of the later figures.)

The largely positive, though critical, evaluation of Anwar Sadat and the Camp David accords, which represents Mahfouz' own opinions, is of course very questionable and largely why many writers, such as Nawal el-Saadawi, who were victims of the Sadat regime, were (perhaps not unjustifiably) rather hostile to Mahfouz, although we should remember that he was a novelist and not a political leader (and he is much harder on Sadat in his later novel, The Day the Leader Died).

The book ends with general comments by several of the personalities giving recommendations to modern Egyptians. Considered as a literary rather than a political work, the book is very good.

[Melissa]

Victorian Murderesses by Debbie Blake
4 ★

This collection of 7 female murderers during the Victorian age is well researched and quite interesting. I have previously read about 3 of the featured women and they matched the other accounts I’ve read. The stories are short, but very detailed and fascinating. We all know about Lizzie Borden, so her story wasn’t anything new to me, but the others had back stories that, somewhat, understand what they were thinking. I recommend this book to those of you that enjoy a good murder thriller.

[Book Concierge]

I've been "on the road" the last couple of weeks, traveling with a friend. But I'm back now and WAY behind in posting reviews. Please bear with me as there will be a larger number than usual posted in the next week or two.

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Have a Little Faith – Mitch Albom – 3.5***
Albom explores what it means to live a life of faith by looking at two very different congregations and their preachers: Rabbi Albert Lewis and Pastor Henry Covington. These two men could not be more different and yet each exemplified what it means to life a life of faith. There were a couple of times when I bristled at the feeling of being emotionally manipulated, but in the end I found it moving and thought-provoking, comforting and challenging.
LINK to my full review

[Book Concierge]

The Spook In the Stacks – Eva Gates – 3***
Book number four in the Lighthouse Library Mystery series. This series features Lucy Richardson, the librarian (and resident) at the Bodie Island Lighthouse Library of the coast of North Carolina. It’s a fast, fun cozy mystery. As the title and cover imply, this one is set around Halloween.
LINK to my full review

[Book Concierge]

Five Days in London, May 1940 – John Lukacs – 3.5***
Historian John Lukacs has written over twenty books, several dealing with World War II. In this book he focuses specifically on Winston Churchill and the five days from May 24 to May 28, 1940. We obviously know the outcome already, but Lukacs manages to convey the sense of urgency and tension and uncertainty of this moment in history. This is a slim volume, but very dense.
LINK to my full review

[Book Concierge]

A Tale For the Time Being – Ruth Ozeki – 4****
This is Ozeki’s most widely-read work (if the Goodreads ratings are any indication). It was nominated for both the Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award, and it won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything quite like this. Yes, I’ve read other books with multiple narrators and with multiple time lines. But there is an ethereal quality to Ozeki’s novel that I can’t remember ever encountering. I felt transported and immersed in these characters’ lives, even though I didn’t always want to be there. Nao’s story is particularly distressing with the bullying she endures, her family’s disastrous financial situation and her father’s deep depression.
LINK to my full review

[Book Concierge]

Evans Above – Rhys Bowen – 3***
Book # 1 in the Constable Evans mystery series. I can’t really call it a cozy because our lead character is a policeman, after all, and NOT an amateur sleuth, but it has many of the hallmarks of cozies. I enjoyed the book, though it was a bit slow-moving.
LINK to my full review

[Book Concierge]

The Wedding Girl – Madeleine Wickham – 3***
Milly is engaged to Simon, the son of the immensely wealthy Harry Pinnacle. But Milly has a huge secret that is likely to derail all her mother’s plans for the “wedding of the century.” I didn’t like either Milly or Simon, but I still found the book entertaining. It was a quick, fast, chick-lit romantic escape.
LINK to my full review

[Book Concierge]

Legacy – Nora Roberts – 2**
A mother-daughter team that produces fitness and yoga videos, with sidelines of clothing, shoes, etc, are threatened by a sicko who writes death threats in the form of “love poems.” There’s a slow-burning romance with a good guy to distract everyone from the psycho out there. The thriller part happens fast and furious in the last fifty pages, but the 350 pages before that are a slog.
LINK to my full review

[Book Concierge]

The Book Of Magic – Alice Hoffman – 3.5***
I came late to the Hoffman fan club. I’m not terribly interested in reading about witches and magic, and I had seen the movie of Practical Magic, which I thought was terrible. But I finally read that first in the series last year and I was pleasantly surprised by how much I like it. So here I am again. What I really like about the books is the relationships between the generations of women. Hoffman moves back and forth between various characters. She does this quite well, keeping the story flowing and the reader turning pages.
LINK to my full review