Author Archives: beckylindroos

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie 2012/ 625 pages Rating: 7.5 I wanted to read this book since I saw the ads for it – since before it came out.  Well… as usual, there’s a … Continue reading →

Doctor Zhivago – x3 by Boris Pasternak 1958 / 592 pages translated by John Hayward rating – 9.5 Well,  this is the third time I’ve read Doctor Zhivago –  this time was a very slow and thorough read, careful (I … Continue reading →

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway 1964 / 211 pages Rating 8 There are two versions of A Moveable Feast, which was a series of unorganized memoir-essays intended for a book at the author’s death.  The first version (1964) was … Continue reading →

The Gods of Gotham by Lindsay Faye 2012 – 432 pages Narrated by Steven Boyer – 12 h. 19 m. Rating:  A- This is a rather literary historical mystery set in New York City in 1845 – the days of … Continue reading →

Father Goriot by Honore Balzac 1835 – Rating 10 Jean-Joachim Goriot, a widowed and retired wheat dealer who sold his business,  lives alone in a pension in Paris.  Since the death of his wife Father Goriot has doted on his … Continue reading →

Gardens of Water by Alan Drew 2008 / 352 pages Rating – 6 In 1999 in a small town near Istanbul there is a devastating earthquake which disrupts an already disrupted community.   Sinan, fundamentalist Muslim and Kurdish shop owner … Continue reading →

From Eternity to Here by Sean Carroll 2010 / 448 pages Rating – 8 Whew!  This could have been a very difficult book –   the concepts are difficult but Connelly writes well,  it’s organized fairly well and so he … Continue reading →

Creole Belle by James Lee Burke 2012 – 544 pages read by Will Patton – 18h 11m rating – 8 /  Patton rating – 10 This is Burke’s 19th novel about detective Dave Robicheaux,  New Orleans area detective in a … Continue reading →

The Cat’s Table by Michael Ondaatje 2011 / 269 pgs Rating – 8.5 An 11-year old boy is sent from family in Ceylon to his mother who is in London.  He travels alone aboard the cruise ship Oronsay,  but there are people he knows … Continue reading →

The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather 1915 / classic 8.5 This is a very fictionalized version of the life of Olive Fremstad (Anna Olivia Rundquist), an opera star of the times – Cather was a good friend. >>>MORE>>>

The Brothers K. by David James Duncan 1992 / 636 pages Rating – 8 This book feels dated but it’s still good in it’s own way – I would have loved it in my 20s,  it came out in my … Continue reading →

How It All Began by Penelope Lively 2011 / 220 pages Rating 8.5 I truly enjoyed this book. I think it’s about the interrelatedness of things and other issues, especially language. “It’s about accidents.” (page 121) Or “circumstance” as Henry … Continue reading →

Dr. Zhivago – the movie Produced 1965 – David Lean Video 2005 / Turner Yes,  I’m very familiar with the book – overly familiar,  perhaps.  It’s a good book. BUT!  I’d never, ever,  seen the movie.  (There’s no good reason … Continue reading →

Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth 1992 / 640 pages Rating 9 In the mid-17th century there was,  as now,  an almost all-consuming passion to make money.  This greed was acceptable to the Church as well as the state. A man’s … Continue reading →

The Sisters Brothers by Patrick de Witt 2011 / 336 pages narrated by John Pruden 7h 42m rating – 8 This book is totally hilarious – Eli Sisters, the first person narrator is a dirty, merciless killer of the wild … Continue reading →

Candide by Voltaire 1759/  95 pages – rating 9 Written in 1759 (the same year as Tristram Shandy) this Enlightenment inspired satire is basically a statement in opposition to “”Therefore this is the best of all possible worlds,” a statement … Continue reading →

The Age of Miracles by Karen Thompson Walker 2012/  268 pages narrated by Emily Janice Card 9h. 3m. rating – 7.5 I don’t believe I’ve ever read a dystopian novel in which the emotional content is quite so interwoven with … Continue reading →