Author Archives: beckylindroos

From what I’ve read, Colin Whitehead’s new book The Underground Railroad was popped onto the shelves more than a month earlier than the expected September 13 date.  It was already highly anticipated as a really “hot” book for fall reading,  but when Oprah … Continue reading →

A debut novel winning the Pulitzer which won many other prestigious awards (see * below) just calls my name –  because yes,  it’s true,  I’m a sucker for the reading awards.  Besides,  two (2!) of my reading groups selected it so …   I had … Continue reading →

I’m not a huge science book fan – except sometimes physics or astronomy – but  biology?  Not!   So had the All-nonfiction reading group not selected this title for it’s September discussion I would likely never have even glanced at … Continue reading →

I guess I’ve just had my fill of books about India and immigration and so on and this seemed to be a rehash of 3 or 4 different stories.  I know it was short-listed for the Man Booker Award but … Continue reading →

I very much enjoy translated works from all over the world in part because it feels like I’m getting a bird’s eye view into various aspects of another culture.   Also,  I enjoy a good work of science fiction from time to … Continue reading →

Lisa,  over at ANZ LitLovers LitBlog continued a thread contributing to Six Degrees of Separation as inspired by Jenny (The Secret Son) Ackland and Kate at Books are My Favourite and Best.  That prompted me for some reason to continue – I’ll start with … 1. … Continue reading →

This book was on my  wish list since its US publication in 2010,  but then I waited until it was available in Kindle format –  very, very much worth the wait,  although it would have been excellent at any time!   There are ways … Continue reading →

In 1788, in what is known today as Alabama, a French anthropologist is following a group of three men,  a Creek Native, a fugitive slave and a white man.  The small group or one of them may have killed someone,  many people, or none … Continue reading →

It’s summertime in Houston, 1952,  and the 17-year old first-person Aaron Holland Broussard and his best friend Saber Bledsoe doing what kids do in the summer.   Aaron is actually a rather nice young man, smart and generally well- behaved although from … Continue reading →

First off,  although I rather enjoyed it,  I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone I know (maybe one person if the time an place were right) but … oh well.    The thing is I enjoy time-travel books to see how … Continue reading →

I really enjoyed the works of Julian Barnes until A Sense of an Ending  when  I wondered if the man had anything else to say.  It seemed I’d read this theme before only with a different plot.   With that in mind- A History of … Continue reading →

Kyung Cho,  an immigrant Korean and professor at the local university and his Irish social worker wife Gillian are trying to sell their home because they have become over-extended  by  payments and bills.  This has been their own doing by living … Continue reading →

Oh I do so love my reading groups! Sometimes they offer convivial chatter, sometimes they give fresh insight into books I read awhile back, but other times they push me into reading something I would never read on my own. … Continue reading →

It glows – it radiates and shimmers and shines.  Amor Towles’ new historical novel,  A Gentleman in Moscow,  is so many things but basically a hotel-window view of Russia  from the time of their civil war following the Bolshevik Revolution,  through unification … Continue reading →

Rodeo Grace Garnett is an ex-rodeo star turned private eye living in an abandoned housing development  just outside of Tucson,  on the Sonora Desert,  in southern Arizona.  One day he comes home from vacation to find a dead man at … Continue reading →

I’m fascinated by North Korea and have no idea why.   I’ve read 3 books about it now and this is probably the one most fact-based.  The others were  “The Orphan Master’s Son” by Adam Johnson,  and “Nothing to Envy: … Continue reading →

Second reading – the 1st review is here and … well … this time round I think McCarthy’s book may be theme driven without pretense,  although there is a plot of sorts – and the theme may be there is no theme. … Continue reading →