Having not read The Widow of the South, I was concerned that I may have difficulty following along with The Orphan Mother. Thankfully, it is easily read as a stand-alone novel and I'm now inspired to read The Widow of the South. Mariah Reddick is the former slave to Carrie McGavock. Since becoming a free woman, she has established herself as a competent and respected midwife to the women of ...
Review of “The Last Days of Night” by Graham Moore
I do not care so much for a great fortune as I do for getting ahead of the other fellows. - Thomas Edison Until I read this book, I had an impression of what it would have been like to see the night lit for the first time. It was terribly romantic. It was surreal, ethereal, and peaceful. (Sort of like this book's beautiful cover.) There were scientists and engineers of all sorts slapping each ...
Review of “Stranger, Father, Beloved” by Taylor Larsen
The book begins with Michael seeing his wife, Nancy, talking to another man at a party. He decides that this is the man who should be married to Nancy. He promptly begins working on his plan to make this man Nancy's new husband. This is a strange book in the sense that a decent writer (clean, articulate language, etc.) has written a bad story about mostly bad, unlikable characters. My ...
Review of Sober Stick Figure: A Memoir by Amber Tozer
Amber Tozer is super-funny, brutally honest comedian who has bravely chosen to share her story of alcoholism and recovery with the world. If you're thinking this is another super-heavy memoir that will leave you feeling nothing but depression and pity, just take a look at the cover. That sick figure version of Amber makes frequent appearances throughout the book... In a very real ...
Review of Framed: Why Michael Skakel Spent Over a Decade in Prison For a Murder He Didn’t Commit by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
That it is better 100 guilty Persons should escape than that one innocent Person should suffer, is a Maxim that has been long and generally approved. - Benjamin Franklin, letter to Benjamin Vaughn dated March 14, 1785 On the evening of October 30, 1975, Martha Moxley, a beautiful fifteen-year-old girl residing in the prestigious Belle Haven enclave of the very affluent town of Greenwich ...
Review of “Esther the Wonder Pig” by Steve Jenkins and Derek Walter with Caprice Crane
"Every amazing and wonderful thing that happened to us was because of an animal that most people don't think of as more than a barcode in a grocery store." It's hard to not to go all fangirl when I think about Esther the Wonder Pig. I've been a Facebook fan of Esther's for a long time now. Her substantial physiognomy and wry sense sense of humor (not to mention her wardrobe!) have never failed to ...
Review of “We Could Be Beautiful” by Swan Huntley
Catherine West is a wealthy trust fund (43 year old) kid living the good life in Manhattan. Like many wealthy people, she seems to have it all from the outside. Her days are spent bag shopping and lunching (though she doesn't actually eat anything). Her nights are filled with gallery openings other society events. Somehow she manages to squeeze in massages on Sundays. She barely has time for ...
Review of The Girls by Emma Cline
The Girls , Emma Cline's highly-anticipated debut novel, is the story of 14 year old Evie, growing up in 1960's California, and how she becomes entangled with a violent cult. Evie is now an adult who has, for the most part, moved on with her life. The story toggles back and forth between the two timelines in a well-paced and seamless manner. The parallels with the Manson killings of that time ...
May Book Club “Madamoiselle Chanel” and Circo
A couple of weeks ago, (I am waaay behind on posting), the NYC Ladies Fine Dining and Fiction Book Club got together at Circo to discuss Mademoiselle Chanel, which was selected for the group by one of our regular members. It was a book I'd been excited about reading for a long time so I was quite happy with the choice. I really enjoyed the book and it's quite evident that the author did an ...
A New Reason to Love Goodreads
I'm always amazed at the number of avid readers who haven't yet created a Goodreads account. If you need one more reason to join, here it is. Goodreads has announced a new program called Goodreads Deals which will offer members discounts on e-books based on the members's preferred genre and/or books on your "want to read" shelf. When you sign up to receive deals, you'll be asked to edit your ...
