Author Archives: beckylindroos

Oh dear –  I don’t know how this happened but I’m currently “reading”  6 (six) books!   (Check the menu item above.)  I’ve had to put several of them on some kind of hold but there they are in my … Continue reading →

The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do To Get More of It by Kelly McDonagal, PhD 2012 / 272 pages read by Walter Dixon  8h. 20m. Rating:   7 I decided on this … Continue reading →

The Lighthouse by Alison Moore 2012/192 pages Genre:  fiction Rating:  8 Moore’s debut novel is so fascinating it made the year’s prestigious Man Booker Prize Short List – not bad – and there were some who argued it should be the winner … Continue reading →

The St. Zita Society by Ruth Rendell 2012/ 272 pages /  8:17 read by Carol Boyd 8h 17m rating:  B+ Strange little neighborhood goings on – it all looks like the usual,  an affair or two,  an overly involved nanny, … Continue reading →

In Sunlight and in Shadow by Mark Helprin 2012/704 pages Genre:  fiction Rating: 8 I loved Helprin’s prior novel,  Winter’s Tale (1983),  but have read nothing else until now.   His latest,   In Sunlight and in Shadow,  is similar … Continue reading →

Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver 2012 / 448 pages read by Barbara Kingsolver 14h 56m rating:  8 I had some serious doubts going into this book –  The only book of  Kingsolver’s I’ve enjoyed has been The Poisonwood Bible,  although … Continue reading →

Skios by Michael Frayn 2012 / 272 pages rating:  8.5  (a 1/2 point for laughing) Like the prior novels I’ve read by Frayn, a British playwright and novelist,  Skios is a wonder of complex plotting, human foibles,  con-artistry and hilarity. … Continue reading →

Plutocrats:  The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else by Chrystia Freeland 2012 – 336 pages read by Allyson Ryan – 5h 50m rating:  9 This non-fiction economics type book is definitely not an apology … Continue reading →

The Snake Stone by Jason Goodwin 2008/320 pages read by Stephen Hoye 10h 49m rating:   B- I so looked forward to this at the time I started and it started very, very well.  But somehow,  for some reason,  I … Continue reading →

The Glass Palace by Amitov Ghosh 2000,  512 pages read by Simon Vance 17h 59m Rating – 8 It’s about time I got around to reading this book!   I totally loved Sea of Poppies and River of Smoke was … Continue reading →

All Our Worldly Goods by Irène Némirovsky  (France) 1947 / France / 264 pages rating: 8.5  / classic First a word about Némirovsky.  The 20th century French writer (novelist, journalist, refugee, Jewish-Catholic) was arrested by the occupying German forces in 1942 and died … Continue reading →

Mrs. Palfrey at the Claremont by Elizabeth Taylor 1971 / 224 pages rating:  8.5 The widowed Mrs. Palfrey is getting on into her 60s and since her daughter lives in Scotland which is too cold and she’s not invited anyway, … Continue reading →

The One Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson 2012/ 402 pages rating – 8 This is a very funny novel.  It’s fast paced and easy to read yet the story twists … Continue reading →

Joseph Anton: A Memoir by Salman Rushdie 2012 / 656 pages Rating:  9 I’ve read a number of Rushdie’s novels,  Midnight’s Children,  The Satanic Verses,  and  The Enchantress of Florence twice each –  Fury,  Shame,  The Ground Beneath Her Feet and Shalimar … Continue reading →

Ready,  Player One by Ernest Cline sci-fi / 2012/364 pages read by Wil Wheaton 15h 46m rating:  8.5 (for enjoyment) In the year 2040 the world has become inundated with poverty and a computer mentality/reality apparently dominated by the freely available … Continue reading →

So it looks like it’s that time again – sum up the year in various ways –  First I suppose are the basic stats: I read 158  books this year  –   54 (34%) were audio books, 22 (14%) were … Continue reading →

Istanbul Passage by Joseph Kanon 2012/ 401 pages Rating:  7.5 I don’t *usually* read spy-novels but I’ve read enough to know a good one when I see it.  Kanon’s latest is one of these. Set in Istanbul circa 1945 WWII … Continue reading →