Monthly Archives: January 2017

The relationship between girlfriends and their parents, especially their mothers, has been written about before most recently by Elena Ferrante in her Neapolitan Quartet.  Smith’s volume pales by comparison,  but perhaps that’s not fair.  Sad to say,  it also pales against her … Continue reading →

Another 1st person historical fiction – this time taking place in rural Scotland circa 1869 and involving crime. Young Roderick Macrae is in jail for murder.  The book opens with some statements and then gets to his own statement for about … Continue reading →

Here’s another historical fiction which takes place on board a ship in the 19th century and involves murders.  (Ho-hum)  The North Water took place in the Arctic circa 1859 and includes several murders,   Rites of Passage takes place in the South Seas … Continue reading →

Finding another rather dark Scandinavian thriller is pretty fun and the 1st of a series,   too.  It’s good – a lot of the same elements as other Scandinavian thrillers including child endangerment, the horrors of fundamentalist churches and detectives with troubled lives. … Continue reading →

The idea of time travel is so cool.  I’ve read sci-fi since I was a kid,  age 9 or so.  I know I read  “The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet” (1954) and the sequels by Eleanor Cameron when we lived in Winona, … Continue reading →

I don’t really keep TBR piles for the last few years but I’ve had this on my shelf (in Kindle library) for months since I got it on sale.  I’ve never had time until now.  Erdrich is one of my favorite … Continue reading →

Really having a hard time finding something to read right now – A Naked Singularity was so good and the political news right now is so bad – getting a focus on any book is really hard.   But finally … Continue reading →

First off,  and as many have said,  this brilliant debut and originally self-published novel desperately needs an editor.   It’s a smart, funny, big, baggy,  fascinating look at … well … probably everything – genre-wise I’ll call it a very … Continue reading →

I haven’t read a book by Anuradha Roy since God of Small Things back in 1999 or so.   I enjoyed that well enough and I don’t know why I haven’t read her more recent works.  Then Sleeping on Jupiter made the Long List … Continue reading →

What is with the Booker Prize judges these days?   Do they think gentle books are for wimps and that they have to choose the grittiest and most violent of the nominees to get attention?    Thank goodness this only … Continue reading →

What a great book to start the new year!   Truly,  it’s a brilliant satire which smacks everyone within range of any kind of racial issue in the US – an equal opportunity blitz of stings from the absurdist set-up to some very … Continue reading →

I’m pretty happy with my reading except that I’d like to read a few more translated works than I did this year as well as a bit more non-fiction and works by women.  That’s how I feel now – I usually … Continue reading →