Monthly Archives: February 2014

The Good Lord Bird by James McBride 2013/419 pages rating: 8 / historical fiction There are widely varying opinions about the sanity, mission and effects of John Brown who escalated the pre-war tensions of the Civil War to the point … Continue reading →

Chess Story (also – The Royal Game) by Stefan Zweig – tr. from German by Joel Rothenberg 1941 / 109 pages (NY Review of Books rating 9 / classic This is a very short work – a novella really, but … Continue reading →

Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser 1900 / 352 pages (Kindle) rating 8.75 / classic US fiction Sometimes I’m just ready for a good old-fashioned classic and fortunately for me one of my reading groups has a goodie isted.  I’m a … Continue reading →

We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo 2013/ 294 pages (Kindle) rating 9 / contemp fiction Africa This is another coming of age book about young adults and immigration.  This time the tragedies of African life and the difficulties of … Continue reading →

The Queen of the Tambourine by Jane Gardham 1991/227 pages rating: 8 / 20th cent. fiction I’ve had this on my TBR list for way too long and finally and for reals I needed a break from all the depressing fiction … Continue reading →

From the Mouth of the Whale by Sjon 2008 / 232 pages rating 8.5 /historical fiction (mythical?) Very unusual story of an Icelandic man, Jonas Palmeson (Jonas the Learned),  in the years 1635-1639 who along with his wife and children … Continue reading →