Monthly Archives: September 2013

The Door by Magda Szabo (Hungarian) 1995 / 260 pages rating 9.5  /20th cent. lit What an amazing book!   This is the first I’ve heard of this Magda Szabo and this work seems to have got some attention in the … Continue reading →

The Orphan Master’s Son by Adam Johnson (Pulitzer) 2012/443 pages (Kindle) rating  9 / contemp fiction Started one time and got really frustrated.  Started over again on 9/20 and it’s working this time.   Pak Jun Do is the young … Continue reading →

The Metaphysical Club: A History of Ideas in America by Louis Menand 2002 / 546 pages rating 10 – US history I read this when it first came out in paperback and totally loved it.  I was prime reader for … Continue reading →

 The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth by Reza Aslan 2013 / 213 pages (Kindle) rating:  8  /non-fict- biography -religion One of many reasons I am a believer is because of the Jews who survived and have often  flourished in … Continue reading →

The Dark Winter (Det. Aector McAvoy #1) by David Mark 2012 / 304 pages rating  A- / crime- procedural Aector McAvoy is a big man and he apparently knows how to throw his weight around,   but he’s really not a … Continue reading →

Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchon 2013/477  pages (Kindle) rating 9.5 / literary cyber-crime Wow!  Oh my.  Yes!   Okay, so up to about page 45 my general feeling was that this does just not sound like the old Pynchon of … Continue reading →

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (England) 1837 – 600 pages (varies) rating:  8.5 /classic Why read Dickens?  It’s kind of like comfort food with the same basic ingredients,  but in a lot of different flavors – like flavored yogurt. Reading … Continue reading →

Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich 1984/4o0 pages  (rev. 1993, 2009) Rating:  9  / contemp Native American fiction I know I read and reviewed Love Medicine less than a month ago but looking into a bit (googling online) I see I missed … Continue reading →

How To Read Literature by Terry Eagleton 2013/ 232 pages rating  9 /nonfict –  lit criticism It’s been a long time since I read a book on literary criticism but it was fun when I did and I read quite … Continue reading →

MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood  (Canada) 2013/ 418 pages read by Bernadette Dunne and 2 males 13h 23m rating:  7.5 / literary sci-fi (dystopian) I’ve been waiting for this one!  I read the first, Oryx and Crake(2003) as well as the second, … Continue reading →

Evil and the Mask by Fuminori Nakamura (Japan) 2013/356 pages rating:  9 / literary thriller I really didn’t know if I wanted to read this.  It sounded so horrific.  But I rather enjoyed Nakamura’s first novel in English,  The Thief,  so … Continue reading →

Retirement Homes Are Murder by Mike Befeler 2007/291 pages read by Jerry Sciarrio 7h 37m rating  B+ /  light crime Paul Jacobson who is in his 80s has no idea where he is because his short term memory erases itself when he … Continue reading →

No, this is not about foodie books.   It’s about my calling that last book,  Sandrine’s Case,  “literary crime.”   To me,  “literary” is a very broad and ambiguous adjective to be added to a genre, and the term  “fiction” is … Continue reading →

Wolfy and the Strudelbakers by Zvi Jagendorf (German/British/Israeli) 2001 / 187 pages rating 9 /historical fiction An extended  Jewish family of “refijees”  from Austria arrives in London during WWII.  They are not totally welcome and don’t understand British ways but … Continue reading →

Sandrine’s Case by Thomas Cook 2013/352 pages read by Brian Holsopple / 10h. Rating: A  /literary legal crime This is my first Thomas Cook book but I have a feeling it may not be my last.  Also,  I’m a sucker … Continue reading →

Frozen Solid by James Tabor 2013/336 pages read by Paul Mitchell 9h 20m rating B+ / crime-thriller Having been sent to a South Pole research station in the winter,  Hallie Leland realizes this may not be a safe place for women. … Continue reading →