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Kerry Greenwood and Phryne Fisher: Cocaine Blues is Historical Mystery Par Excellence (Book Review)

by Barbara the Bibliophage | Jan 10, 2021 | RELAX: Mystery-Thriller

Author Kerry Greenwood introduces a new mystery heroine in her 2012 book, Cocaine Blues. Phryne Fisher is different from a typical late 1920’s female sleuth in many ways. First, she’s based in Melbourne, Australia instead of the more typical New York, London, or...

C.J. Sansom: Dissolution—A Chilly Tudor Era Mystery (Book Review)

by Barbara the Bibliophage | Dec 26, 2020 | RELAX: Historical Fiction, RELAX: Mystery-Thriller

C.J. Sansom creates an unlikely hero in his character Matthew Shardlake. In Dissolution, the time is Tudor England, and Shardlake is a lawyer working in the service of Thomas Cromwell. He’s just two degrees from King Henry VIII. But he’s still just a lowly guy charged...

Boys in Two Unique Coming-of-Age Books

by Barbara the Bibliophage | Dec 21, 2020 | RELAX: Other Relaxation

Reading two books about two boys in very different eras and situations warmed my heart at the start of this cold, dark winter. I began Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis with my 10-year-old granddaughter. And then I started The Absolutely True Diary of a...

The Arctic Fury–Part Courtroom, Part Adventure—by Greer Macallister (Book Review)

by Barbara the Bibliophage | Dec 6, 2020 | RELAX: Historical Fiction

The Arctic Fury, the latest from Greer Macallister, is a hybrid of adventure and courtroom drama. The story centers around Virginia Reeve, who leads a group of women north into Canada and towards the Northwest Territories in 1853. If you look on a map today, you see...

The Sandcastle Girls: Heartbreaking Historical Fiction from Chris Bohjalian (Book Review)

by Barbara the Bibliophage | Sep 16, 2020 | RELAX: Historical Fiction

In The Sandcastle Girls, Chris Bohjalian crafts a skilled and sad historical fiction novel. It centers on the little-known Armenian genocide around the time of World War I. Tragically, the Ottoman government expelled and mass murdered 1.5 million Armenians in Turkey...

Three Brief Audiobooks with #OwnVoices

by Barbara the Bibliophage | Aug 30, 2020 | RESIST: Social Justice

In between longer reads, I often pick brief Audible Originals or other short audiobooks. This group of three #ownvoices reads are about women whose lives illustrate the realities of being black and brown in a difficult world. Proof of Love by Chisa Hutchinson...

The Nickel Boys: Reality-based Historical Fiction in the Jim Crow South from Colson Whitehead (Book Review)

by Barbara the Bibliophage | Jul 11, 2020 | RELAX: Historical Fiction, RESIST: Social Justice

The Nickel Boys is the third Colson Whitehead book I’ve read. It’s a joy to watch his skill as a writer improve each time. Of course, two of the three won Pulitzer Prizes, so I’m not the only one noticing. And this book evoked a range of emotions from cheers to jeers...

Margaret Walker, Classic Southern Historical Fiction and Jubilee (Book Review)

by Barbara the Bibliophage | Jul 4, 2020 | RELAX: Historical Fiction

Reviewing Jubilee by Margaret Walker, a classic piece of historical fiction, is a daunting thing. Walker crafts a story, “inspired by the memories of her maternal grandmother, Elvira Ware Dozier.” (see source below) The main character is Vyry, a woman born on a...

Book Review: Tell the Wolves I’m Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

by Barbara the Bibliophage | May 13, 2020 | RELAX: Other Relaxation

Carol Rifka Brunt created a debut novel with a huge emotional wallop. Tell the Wolves I’m Home hits the pain of teen years, family tensions, grief, and a looming virus. It’s set in the 1980s, when AIDS was just coming into the national consciousness. June, our 14-year...

Book Review: Murder as a Fine Art by David Morrell

by Barbara the Bibliophage | May 2, 2020 | RELAX: Historical Fiction, RELAX: Mystery-Thriller

Author David Morrell skillfully blends history and mystery in his 2013 novel, Murder as a Fine Art. Morrell uses real-life historical figures and inserts them into likely situations. Plus, he bases events on the history surrounding their lives. In addition, he...

Book Review: The Edge of Nowhere by C.H. Armstrong

by Barbara the Bibliophage | Feb 7, 2020 | RELAX: Historical Fiction

Author C.H. Armstrong writes a compelling deep dive into Oklahoma’s Dust Bowl years in the early twentieth century. In The Edge of Nowhere, her main character is Victoria Hastings. And, my goodness, she does not lead an easy life. The book is a letter from Victoria to...

Book Review: The Art of Sherlock Holmes – USA Edition

by Barbara the Bibliophage | Oct 28, 2019 | RELAX: Historical Fiction

Phil Growick conceived and curated The Art of Sherlock Holmes – USA Edition. The premise is simple. Collect a group of Sherlockian tales by accomplished writers familiar with the genre. Then ask world-class artists to each create a work of art that reflects one...

Book Review: The Merchant of Menace by Richard T. Ryan
(A Sherlock Holmes Adventure)

by Barbara the Bibliophage | Sep 23, 2019 | RELAX: Mystery-Thriller

It’s a joy to revisit the world of Sherlock Holmes with author Richard T. Ryan and his latest novella, The Merchant of Menace. Holmes and Watson need to catch a thief who’s angling for priceless, one-of-a-kind items. And threatening the owners’ loved ones as he does...

Book Review: A Piece of the World by Christina Baker Kline

by Barbara the Bibliophage | Aug 10, 2019 | RELAX: Other Relaxation

Christina Baker Kline opens the doors and invites us into the farmhouse in Andrew Wyeth’s iconic painting, Christina’s World. This fictional work offers readers a chance to understand the world of the Maine residents he painted. It’s not about Wyeth very much,...

Book Review: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini

by Barbara the Bibliophage | Jul 23, 2019 | RELAX: Historical Fiction

I remember just enough of The Kite Runner to know that Khaled Hosseini would break my heart in A Thousand Splendid Suns. And so he did, over and over and over. It’s the story of two women in Afghanistan who each forge a path for themselves, despite and because of the...

Book Review: The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

by Barbara the Bibliophage | Jul 16, 2019 | RELAX: Historical Fiction

Eleanor Catton creates an epic story of the New Zealand Gold Rush in her prize winning 2013 book, The Luminaries. It captivated and confused me, as Catton takes many disparate characters and creates a constellation of mystery. She builds it piece by piece, jumping...
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