Category Archives: books

In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez 1994 / 352 pages Rating: 6 I’ve been wanting to read this for some time –  probably ever since I read The Feast of the Goat by Mario Vargas Llosa,  a Peruvian writer.   … Continue reading →

Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan 2012/ 304 pages read by Ari Fliakos / 7h 41m Rating 4 This book started out on such a great premise – a premise worthy of Umberto Eco or Neal Stephenson or even … Continue reading →

Galore by Michael Crummey 2009 / Kindle /  338 pages Raing – 9 Wow –  I just finished and I’m flabbergasted –  at a loss for words.  No,  it’s not a 10,  not even a  9.5 like Bring Up the … Continue reading →

A Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling 2012 / 512 pages read by Tom Hollander 17h. 55m. rating – 8 Don’t let the review by Michiko Kakutani fool you – there are plenty of great reviews of this book out there. … Continue reading →

Travels With Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck 1962 / 283 pages – re-read Rating 8.5 I am sooo glad I reread this book.  I wasn’t all in love with it the first time round (a 7!)  but … Continue reading →

Half-Blood Blues by Esi Edugyan 2012 / 343 pages Rating – 8.5 This should be interesting –  it’s kind of an historical novel – set in Paris – 1940,  Berlin – 1992,  Berlin – 1939, Paris – 1939,  and Poland – … Continue reading →

The Cossacks by Leo Tolstoy 1863 / 104 pages rating 9 I’ve wanted to read this book for ever so long and finally I get the chance!  I loved War and Peace and very much enjoyed Anna Karenina –  I’ve … Continue reading →

Scumbler by William Wharton 1985/288 pages rating – 5 Stupid, stupid, stupid.  I was either bored or annoyed by so much of this book.  Imo,  the 1st person is a selfish and unreliable person (by his own accord) and his … Continue reading →

The Ruby In Her Navel by Barry Unsworth 2006 / 399 pages rating 9.5 In the 12th century Sicily was Christianized by the Norman King Roger II.  He tried to get the Normans, Byzantines, Greeks, Muslims, and Jews to live together in relative harmony but … Continue reading →

Unraveled Sleeve by Monica Ferris 2001 / 256 pgs read by Susan Boyce:  8 hrs rating – B I’m a sucker for a good cozy mystery and once in awhile I need a good one,  when I’ve been reading “hard” … Continue reading →

Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel 2012/ 410 pages Rating 9.5 – 10 ? Whew – insomnia (my friend) woke me up at about 3:30 this AM and I was able to finish the book.   Finally!   I’d had such … Continue reading →

A Cool Breeze On the Underground by Don Winslow 1991- 250 pages narrated by Joe Barrett – 9h. 55m rating B+ Interesting series – new to me – I may follow this.   Years ago Joe Graham, a PI for … Continue reading →

The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner – 1929 / paper & audio 199 pages (of story + 246 in Norton Critical Edition) 8:51 audio rating 9.5 I’ve read this twice before and  I’m sure there’s always something more to … Continue reading →

Arctic Chill by Arnaldur Indridason 2011/ Audio George Guidall 9h 24 Rating B+ Iceland is a popular place for Thai immigrants and a woman named Sunee lives there with her Thai son and her Icelandic son.  But they’re still outsiders … Continue reading →

Eden’s Outcasts: Louisa May Alcott and Her Father by John Matteson 2008 / p’back 497 pages Biography Rating – 9 Well it looks like I’m rereading this for the All-nonfiction group.  I read it back in 2009 and can’t find my … Continue reading →

The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky 1868 / Kindle (about 600 pages) Rating:  10 I read this once before – I think I listened to it several years ago – so I’m kind of primed for a good read.  The first … Continue reading →

Behind a Mask: or, A Woman’s Power by Louisa May Alcott  (A.M. Barnard) 1866 / (not long – a novella really) rating – ?  7.5 (but it is a classic) While rereading and discussing the Pulitzer winner (2008) Louisa May Alcott … Continue reading →