As my Aunt Betty would have said, "HOLY MARY, MOTHER O' GOD!" Just when I thought I understood what was going on, along came Part 2 and I'm begging for confirmation that my head is spinning in the right direction. The Wife Between Us was exactly what I needed to get me out of my two-book DNF reading slump. It started out a bit slowly which concerned me for the first few chapters but I now ...
Book Review
Review of Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
"Knowing that tree of ghosts is there makes the skin on my back burn, like hundreds of ants are crawling up my spine, seeking tenderness between the bones to bite." It is not very often that I read a book that leaves me feeling completely gutted. Sing, Unburied, Sing drew me in very slowly, but ultimately, very completely. This is a book that will stay with me for a long, long time. At its ...
Blog Tour: The Sworn Virgin by Kristopher Dukes
As a avid reader of historical fiction, I was first attracted to The Sworn Virgin because it introduced me to a subject I knew nothing about - the sworn virgins of Albania. While I've read many novels with strong female characters that dared to reject their traditional societal roles, I had never read one set in Albania so that was also a big draw. When I began the book and learned that ...
August Book Club – The Vegetarian and Blossom Restaurant
For our August book club, the NYC Ladies of Fine Dining and Fiction read The Vegetarian by Han Kang. We held our discussion at Blossom on Columbus, a popular vegan destination on the Upper West Side. As for the book, I will say that I was in the minority, but not alone, in simply not liking it. Truth be told, I hadn't even finished it in time. Though it was a very short book, I found myself ...
Review of The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas
Though I managed to get through The Darkest Corners fairly quickly, I must say it didn't quite live up to my expectations. I've questioned whether or not that might be because I don't read a lot of YA fiction. I did my best to think about how my teen or YA self would have perceived the book. In the end, I really believe I would have struggled with the issues I had regardless. First, the ...
Review of We Were the Lucky Ones by Georgia Hunter
We Were the Lucky Ones is the fictionalized account of the true story of the Kurc family and their experiences during WWII beginning in their home town of Radom, Poland in 1939. The book spans eight years as we follow the Kurc family members to several countries and continents including Austria, Italy, Argentina, South America, and Siberia, Russia as the war continues and finally ends. As many ...
Throwback Thursday: The Zookeeper’s Wife by Diane Ackerman
Throwback Thursday is a weekly meme hosted by Renee at It's Book Talk. Throwback Thursday is an awesome opportunity to share old favorites as well as older books in our TBR. I love this idea as I only started blogging about a year and a half ago. Therefore, I have lots of old favorites to talk about. While I may not remember all of the details needed to write a complete review, I'm happy to share ...
Giveaway and Review Of Christodora by Tim Murphy
My Review Christodora contains all of the elements you'd expect to find in an epic novel. There's 40 years worth of history, tragedy, triumph, and human drama. Surprisingly, it's well laid out in only 428 pages. I mention this because I can only imagine the difficulty in finding the balance between providing enough context and detail without adding unnecessary length. This novel essentially ...
Review of “I’m Thinking of Ending Things” by Iain Reid
I read I'm thinking of Ending Things a few weeks ago while my blog was being redesigned. As you will read below, I had a strong negative reaction to it. I wrote this review for Goodreads and was hoping I might have warmed a little to this book with some time and a few good reads in between. This has not happened and so the review stands as originally written: This was a very quick read and it ...
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 ...
