Category Archives: books

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens (England) 1837 – 600 pages (varies) rating:  8.5 /classic Why read Dickens?  It’s kind of like comfort food with the same basic ingredients,  but in a lot of different flavors – like flavored yogurt. Reading … Continue reading →

Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich 1984/4o0 pages  (rev. 1993, 2009) Rating:  9  / contemp Native American fiction I know I read and reviewed Love Medicine less than a month ago but looking into a bit (googling online) I see I missed … Continue reading →

How To Read Literature by Terry Eagleton 2013/ 232 pages rating  9 /nonfict –  lit criticism It’s been a long time since I read a book on literary criticism but it was fun when I did and I read quite … Continue reading →

MaddAddam by Margaret Atwood  (Canada) 2013/ 418 pages read by Bernadette Dunne and 2 males 13h 23m rating:  7.5 / literary sci-fi (dystopian) I’ve been waiting for this one!  I read the first, Oryx and Crake(2003) as well as the second, … Continue reading →

Evil and the Mask by Fuminori Nakamura (Japan) 2013/356 pages rating:  9 / literary thriller I really didn’t know if I wanted to read this.  It sounded so horrific.  But I rather enjoyed Nakamura’s first novel in English,  The Thief,  so … Continue reading →

Retirement Homes Are Murder by Mike Befeler 2007/291 pages read by Jerry Sciarrio 7h 37m rating  B+ /  light crime Paul Jacobson who is in his 80s has no idea where he is because his short term memory erases itself when he … Continue reading →

No, this is not about foodie books.   It’s about my calling that last book,  Sandrine’s Case,  “literary crime.”   To me,  “literary” is a very broad and ambiguous adjective to be added to a genre, and the term  “fiction” is … Continue reading →

Wolfy and the Strudelbakers by Zvi Jagendorf (German/British/Israeli) 2001 / 187 pages rating 9 /historical fiction An extended  Jewish family of “refijees”  from Austria arrives in London during WWII.  They are not totally welcome and don’t understand British ways but … Continue reading →

Sandrine’s Case by Thomas Cook 2013/352 pages read by Brian Holsopple / 10h. Rating: A  /literary legal crime This is my first Thomas Cook book but I have a feeling it may not be my last.  Also,  I’m a sucker … Continue reading →

Frozen Solid by James Tabor 2013/336 pages read by Paul Mitchell 9h 20m rating B+ / crime-thriller Having been sent to a South Pole research station in the winter,  Hallie Leland realizes this may not be a safe place for women. … Continue reading →

Telex From Cuba by Rachel Kushner 2008/322 pages rating 8.5 / historical fiction This is Kushner’s first book which I decided to read after falling in love with her second,  The Flamethrowers (2013).    To an extent we have the same … Continue reading →

The Richest Woman in America: Hetty Green in the Gilded Age by Janet Wallach 2012/ 304 pages Rating 7 /biography Hetty Green is a fascinating character – at least I’m fascinated.  She was born very well off and was the … Continue reading →

Hetty: The Genius and Madness of America’s First Female Tycoon by Charles Slack 2004/288 pages Rating:  8 / biography What a fun book!  I really didn’t expect it to be so entertaining.  And Hetty is a rather surprising woman in some … Continue reading →

The Burgess Boys by Elizabeth Strout 2013/ 320 pages Rating 8.5 / contemp fiction Every once in awhile a book comes along which just amazes me –  how do authors do this –  grab some thread of an idea and … Continue reading →

The Flamethrowers by Rachel Kushner 2013/400 pages Rating  10 /contemp fiction (notes /spoilers —–>) Oh my what an excellent book!  I was not prepared at all for this from a woman author – (shame on me).   What I mean … Continue reading →

Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich 1984/4o0 pages  (rev. 1993, 2009) Rating:  8.5  / contemp Native American fiction Heck of a good book!   I’ve  read several of Erdrich’s novel’s and I think this is the best of the lot so … Continue reading →

The Cuckoo’s Calling by Robert  Galbraith (England) (J.K. Rowling) 2013/464 pages Read by Robert Glenister 15 h.  54m. Rating:  A- /  Crime After losing a leg in Afghanistan,  Cormoran Strike is currently semi-employed as a private investigator.   It looks … Continue reading →