Monthly Archives: May 2012

The Yacoubian Building by Al Awaa  Aswny 2003 / 246 pages The basic setting for Aswany’s 2003 book is Cairo circa 1985 and the troubles which were being evidenced there at that time.   The Yacoubian Building fictionalizes a real … Continue reading →

Clara and Mr. Tiffany by Susan Vreeland 2011 / 448 pages narrated by Kimberly Farr / 15h.15m rating – 4 (and that’s generous) As far as I was concerned this book was really,  really 100% STUPID until the second half … Continue reading →

The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich by William L. Shirer 1960 / 1280 pages narrated by Grover Garner – 57h 13m This is a comprehensive but perhaps not “definitive” study of the Nazi regime under Hitler.   It’s … Continue reading →

The Blue Mountain by Meir Shalev 1988 / 377 pages Rating  10 This is a totally mesmerizing book.  It’s  beautifully written and historically evocative, if not literally “true.”  The subject is a small group of very early 20th century Russian … Continue reading →

Enemies: A History of the FBI By Tim Wiener 2012/ 560 pages Narrator Stefan Rudniki – 18:37 Rating:  8 This book is s pretty solid indictment of the FBI – especially J.Edgar Hoover and the presidents who somehow thought they … Continue reading →

The Best of Science and Nature Writing ed by Mary Roach and Tim Folger 2011 / 350 pages rating – 8 Science writing is not my forte – it’s okay but I can be squeamish about body fluids and such … Continue reading →

The Trees by Conrad Richter 1940 / 167 pages rating – 8 I’ve rarely read historical fiction about the time period just following the American Revolution.  This book,  the first in a trilogy called The Awakening Land,  starts out in or … Continue reading →

The House of Blue Mangoes by David Davidar 2002 / 421 pages rating – 7.5 I was disappointed in what could have been such a great novel.  This is the saga of three generations of the Dorais, a non-Brahmin, land-owning … Continue reading →

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle 1973/  Kindle/ 211 pages Rating – 6 (for adults – 9 for kids) This is an older children’s book – ages 10 and up,  I suppose – and although I’d heard plenty about … Continue reading →

A Drop of the Hard Stuff by Lawrence Block 2011 / 352 pages narrated by Tom Stechschulte  8h/30m rating – 6.5 Matthew Scudder has almost a year sober and his friend, Jack Ellery, also sober in AA is found dead. … Continue reading →

Crewel World by Monica Ferris 1999/256 pages read by Susan Boyce – 7h 51m (1st in Needlecraft Mysteries series – cozy) rating – 6 (this is a guilty pleasure book) Betsy Davenport moves to Excelsior, Minnesota after her latest divorce. … Continue reading →

Doctor Zhivago 1958 – translated by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky in 2010 673 pages Rating 9.5 I’m doing a second review on this book because I read both versions.  There’s not much difference – where Hayward would sometimes simplify things … Continue reading →

Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak 1958 – translated by Max Hayward Introduction by John Bailey 559 pgs Rating 9.5 This book could be War and Peace circa 1917 except that there’s not much peace in it – maybe the first … Continue reading →

God on the Rocks by Jane Gardham 1978/  195 pages rating 8 Margaret is an 8-year old girl living in a coastal resort community with her mother,  a very nice but apparently conflicted woman, and her father, a very stern … Continue reading →

Fun and Games by Duane Swierczynski 2011 / 304 pages read by Pete Larkin 7h 37m rating 5 This book isn’t totally serious although it started out that way. Charile Hardy is an ex-cop who now house sits but when … Continue reading →