Book Review: Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
Shantaram is the novelization of author Gregory David Roberts’ experiences in late 1980s Bombay, India. It was a city on the cusp of many things, including the official state-sponsored name change to Mumbai. Roberts’ character is Lin Ford, an Australian expatriate...Book Review: Carnegie’s Maid by Marie Benedict
As the great-granddaughter of Welsh immigrants to the Pittsburgh area, I enjoyed Carnegie’s Maid by Marie Benedict, about a young Irish immigrant working for a highly successful Pittsburgh family of Scottish immigrants. Benedict’s heroine, Clara Kelly, is a...Book Review: The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey
Just as my local weather became springlike, I dove back into winter with The Snow Child from Eowyn Ivey. Actually, the chilly images are so strong I felt transported. I’d highly recommend reading it during the hottest part of summer, just for the sense of cold and...Book Review: Affinity by Sarah Waters
Sarah Waters’ historical novel, Affinity, is about two women imprisoned in very different circumstances. Selina Dawes is in a literal prison, put there because of her own actions. (Of course, it’s never quite that simple.) On the other hand, Margaret Prior is...Book Review: Lady Cop Makes Trouble by Amy Stewart (Kopp Sisters, Book 2)
Amy Stewart does it again with Lady Cop Makes Trouble! Constance Kopp, a real-life NewJersey deputy sheriff in the 1910s is both fierce and curmudgeonly. Stewart takes many plot threads from real newspaper accounts and weaves them together with fiction to make a...Book Review: Girl Waits With Gun by Amy Stewart (Kopp Sisters, Book 1)
Amy Stewart’s Girl Waits With Gun seemed like the perfect choice for me after some intense epic fantasy and current events books. It’s historical fiction, and a whole lot lighter. But make no mistake, Stewart effortlessly blends an uplifting story about independent...Book Review: Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear
Maisie Dobbs is a joy to read, and author Jacqueline Winspear is an expert storyteller. Set in England just following World War I, it’s a captivating historical cozy mystery. However, some people would perhaps take issue with its inclusion on cozy mystery lists...Book Review: Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson by Lyndsay Faye
Lyndsay Faye braves the legendary waters of both Ripper and Holmes with her imaginative novel, Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson. Let me say right up front that I’m not an aficionado of either genre. However, I enjoy a good...Book Review: Girl in Disguise by Greer Macallister
With Girl in Disguise, Greer Macallister brings us a rip-roaring heroine caught up in a tense and fast-moving world. I read the book in just over 24 hours, which is not normal for me. Definitely a fun, unputdownable choice! Kate Warne is a widow in Chicago just before...Book Review: Love and Other Consolation Prizes by Jamie Ford
Jamie Ford’s new book Love and Other Consolation Prizes is a trip down the midway of two separate World’s Fair celebrations, in 1909 and 1962 Seattle, which both figure in the plot. Like Ford’s other books, it’s told from the viewpoint of a...Book Review: Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward
Jesymn Ward’s novel Salvage The Bones is built like a hurricane itself. The outer bands are stormy and sparse, like her prose. The center of the storm is complex, unyielding, and brutal like the lives of Esch and her family. And there are lyrical moments of...Book Review: The Heart’s Invisible Furies by John Boyne
John Boyne creates a multifaceted, intensely human main character in The Heart’s Invisible Furies. Cyril Avery is a man I’ll never forget, both for his flaws and his richness of heart. The moment I finished the book, I knew I was in for a whopper of a book...Book Review: Voyager by Diana Gabaldon
After watching the first two seasons of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander without rereading her books, I decided to reread Voyager before the start of season three. Even though it’s only been five years since my first read, I’d forgotten so many parts of...Book Review: Perish From the Earth by Jonathan F. Putnam
This is definitely a great historical fiction mystery—not too heavy and not too light. Perfect for summer!
Book Review: The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters
The Paying Guests is a deeply melodramatic novel from much-lauded author Sarah Waters. It’s a genre-buster as well, since part of it is LGTBQ romance, part historical fiction, and part mystery/thriller. I chose it to fulfill prompts on two of my 2017 reading...Currently reading
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