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 →