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 ...
Book Review
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 ...
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 “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 ...
