Author Archives: beckylindroos

I’d been eyeing this legal thriller and  so …  when it went on sale … even if I was in the middle of two very good books  …  How to Read the Bible by James L. Kugel and Shyness and … Continue reading →

Another sale book –  (I’ve got a few much better novels lined up but … ) This is interesting in some ways but the “thriller” aspect of it seems really tacked on.   It’s a straight legal fiction involving the … Continue reading →

On sale –  Mitzner has been okay in the past – not great crime or lit but it’s readable.   One thing is that on the surface,  this tale seems really similar to other recent crime novels I’ve read.   … Continue reading →

** Note:   This is number 7 in a series which is really best read in order! ** And it’s good stuff but not a who-done-it because we know who’s doing it – and we know who the victims are. … Continue reading →

After a week or so of heavy lit and an emotionally draining crime story,  I was so in the mood for a straightforward mystery. of the legal variety.    Lo and behold,  a friend sent a review today –  I … Continue reading →

Another 2017 Man Booker short-listed novel.  Yes,  I’m a fan – I read all the short-listers every year  and a few of the long-listers, too.   I probably ought to make a category here. In Do Not Say We Have … Continue reading →

The setting of an old commune in northern Minnesota intrigued me and then the book, a debut novel,  got on the Man Booker Prize Short List and chosen as one of the Booker Prize Reading Group selections.   Okay fine … Continue reading →

I first read this back in August of 2015 and although I enjoyed it to a certain extent,  it was basically disappointing because I thought it didn’t live up to Ishiguro’s prior works.  It seemed way more whimsical and fantastical … Continue reading →

I’ve got a fair background in art history – about 12 graduate units for teachers via the Getty Program and Fresno State University  –  those were wonderful day-long summer classes filling 2 or 3 weeks for 2 separate years.  Plus … Continue reading →

In post-WWII Switzerland two boys meet in kindergarten.  One, Gustav Perle,  is the the only child of a widow,  Emilie Perle,  whose husband was killed during the war “saving the Jews.”  The other,  Anton Zweibel,  is the the only child of … Continue reading →

As I’ve said many times – my choice in nonfiction does NOT run to any form of the life sciences.   That said (again),  I do read whatever folks in the All-nonfiction group decide to read and over the years … Continue reading →

Amazing book!  I wanted to read slowly to fully savor and digest the material,  but I just couldn’t.  Hour after hour I sat listening via my Mac and reading via the iPad/Kindle.   I broke only to stretch and do … Continue reading →

Sad,  sad, sad.  Slaughter writes well using some creative devices and she contrives some interesting plots.  The trouble is that some of the material is so graphic and gory it’s ugly –  and  somewhat gratuitous (because it wouldn’t have to … Continue reading →

I’d been so tempted by this book but for some reason I waited and waited until finally it got nominated for the National Book Award.   Then I waited some more.  Why? Because the narrator was NOT going to be … Continue reading →

I read this just because I felt like it –  a book about a private investigator and gypsies just sounded intriguing.  And I was familiar with the author having read  The Tenderness of Wolves years ago,   so I thought … Continue reading →

I’ve been avoiding Alistair Burke because I love the work of her father,  James Lee Burke, so much (most recently read The Jealous Kind / 2016) and I was afraid of comparison assuming she’d come up short.   I was … Continue reading →

Once again FitzGerald plums the depths of a fascinating but highly complex subject,  this time  the  Christian Evangelicals of the US.    In using that term, the the author means the “Christian Right” in politics,  but the progressives are also … Continue reading →