I like big books and I cannot lie This short story hater can’t deny That when a book comes in At 500+ pages My heartbeat starts to fly This week marked the release of Fool’s Quest, the second book in Robin Hobb’s Fitz and the Fool trilogy. In preparation I re-read Fool’s Assassin, the first book, and I wasn’t just info gathering knowing that Hobb will jump right in without making the reader slog through clunky backstory. I was deliciously swept away by the story,…
I’ve been swimming in the cultural zeitgeist lately, thanks to my wonderful local library which just received much-needed funding to reopen on Saturdays. I was crazy excited to get my hands on Judy Blume’s newest book for adults, In the Unlikely Event, which is set in Elizabeth, NJ in the 1950s, against the backdrop of the actual triad of plane crashes that traumatized the community. Elizabeth is Blume’s hometown, and the book is based on her own emotional memories of living in the shadow of…
I originally bought Abby Hanlon’s Dory Fantasmagory for my older daughter, who liked it at first then lost interest. My younger daughter (turned 5 today) picked it up and had me read the whole thing to her over 2 reading sessions. It’s an absolutely adorable tale of a little girl with a big imagination, and the illustrations are a lot of fun. She has all these imaginary friends and enemies who tend to take over her life and make her do things that her family…
More like I am indulging in a pet genre while researching books to use in homeschool coop next year. I’ll start with YA, and two by Karen Hesse. Letters from Rifka is about a teenage girl emigrating from Russia to NYC in 1919. Great character, wonderful historical detail, and lots of emotion made it a great read. I’d love to read it with the 4th/5th graders but it’ll have to wait because last year we read When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit, and there’s too much…
We finished listening to the audio version of The Silver Chair by CS Lewis this week. I have always loved the humor of this book (particularly Puddleglum), and Jill Pole was the Lewisian girl I most connected with. I got teary-eyed at the end listening to the tender depiction of good King Caspian’s death and resurrection into Aslan’s country. It means more to me now that I’m an adult then it ever could have when I was a child. The title Anne Perry and the…
I greatly enjoyed Brian Lehrer’s interview segment with Jon Ronson called “When Social Media Gets Mad,” and was even more delighted with his thoughtful, creative, and meticulously researched book So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed. He does so much more than just remind us of dumb tweets and stupid truth-stretching. Ronson is after understanding the nature of shame and how it operates. I especially loved the section on disgraced Jersey governor Jim McGreevey’s second life as a pioneer in prison reform. I am also very interested…
Synopsis: An analysis of four notable cases by famed forensic pathologist Cyril Wecht. Review: While the cases in Final Exams aren’t as twisty and turny or psychologically intricate as the cases that Ann Rule chooses for her books, but that doesn’t mean they’re not interesting on their own terms. As a forensic pathologist, Cyril Wecht sees things in the human body that others don’t think to look for. In the first case in the book, he uses the particulars of some knife wounds to put…
Synopsis: When a man is found murdered in a secluded neighborhood on an island, the investigation lasts decades and uncovers a treasure trove of family secrets and craziness. Review: I am a bit of an Ann Rule junkie, but Practice to Deceive just didn’t do it for me–so much so that when I was interrupted with only 15 pages to go, not only did I set the book aside but I forgot to come back to it. That’s how little suspense was created in the…
Synopsis: When an escort goes missing after a call with a john out on Long Island, the bodies of four other escorts are found on the beach, and the odd nature of the community seems to prevent a successful investigation. Review: Although Lost Girls doesn’t offer closure for the mystery at hand, the book is still a gripping, worthwhile read. Kolker delves into the personal history of the four confirmed victims, prostitutes whose bodies were found wrapped in burlap on a deserted stretch of beach…
Synopsis: Pat Taylor Allanson was a southern belle whose dream of owning an elite horse stable was on the verge of coming true, until her husband was arrested for murdering his own parents, and Pat’s penchant for drama had people wondering if there was more to the story than what it appeared–and what about that arsenic? Review: I admit it, I have a thing for true crime, particularly Ann Rule, and this is not the first time I’ve read Everything She Ever Wanted. It’s not…