Vaddey Ratner — In the Shadow of the Banyan (Book Review)
In the Shadow of the Banyan by Vaddey Ratner is about a gentle girl in a brutal country. While the book is fictional, its roots exist in the author’s own life. This enhances the intimacy of the tale. Young Raami is only seven when civil war overwhelms Cambodia. As a...Emily St. John Mandel — Station Eleven (Book Review)
Emily St. John Mandel wrote Station Eleven in the early 2010s and published it in 2014. So this is technically a backlist choice. However, with the pandemic-related storyline and the recent HBO adaptation, Station Eleven is more relevant than ever. I’ll review both...Circe by Madeline Miller (Book Review)
The 2018 book Circe by Madeline Miller retells the mythological story of the daughter of Helios and a nymph named Perse. Helios is the sun god and a Titan, the group of original gods. (That brings an entirely different meaning to the current term OG.) Myths credit her...The Hungry Tide — Amitav Ghosh (Book Review)
Author Amitav Ghosh introduced me to both the Sundarban Islands and Irrawaddy dolphins. The islands are at the easternmost part of India and continue into Bangladesh. I first discovered Ghosh’s unique style of environmentally conscious fiction in Gun Island. That book...Azedah Moaveni — Lipstick Jihad (Book Review)
Azedah Moaveni writes part memoir and part political discussion in her 2005 book, Lipstick Jihad: Growing Up Iranian in America and American in Iran. Although the events in this book are over 20 years old, as I read it in 2021 the topics and issues felt relevant....Tan Twan Eng — The Garden of Evening Mists (Book Review)
Early in The Garden of Evening Mists, Tan Twan Eng writes, “I felt I was about to enter a place that existed only in the overlapping of air and water, light and time.” This is an accurate description of a book that layers topics of Japanese garden design, Buddhist...Richelle Mead: Succubus Blues (Georgina Kincaid #1)—Book Review
Succubus Blues by Richelle Mead was a straight-up palate cleanser choice for me. You know, those books that don’t require much thought. I sped through the audiobook, partly because it’s shorter and partly because I enjoyed the story. Fantasy books often work like this...Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk by Kathleen Rooney (Book Review)
Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk is a stroll down memory lane, created by Kathleen Rooney. If you’re curious about the life of women in various decades of the twentieth century, this is for you. Especially if you love melodic language and poetry. Lillian is 84, or...Ayşe Kulin — Last Train to Istanbul: Dramatic WWII Story (Book Review)
Well-loved Turkish author Ayşe Kulin illustrates another angle on the early years of World War II in her 2002 book Last Train to Istanbul. (Translated to English in 2013.) The story is set partly in Turkey and partly in the Nazi-occupied French cities of Paris and...The Language of Threads from Gail Tsukiyama—Women of the Silk Book #2 (Book Review)
The Language of Threads is a continuation of Gail Tsukiyama’s excellent book Women of the Silk. I’m glad to have read both in sequence, which immersed me in the main character’s entire life. In the first book, Pei is taken from her small China village, sold to work...M.L. Stedman — The Light Between Oceans: An Unthinkable Dilemma (Book Review)
M.L. Stedman creates historical fiction based around a unthinkable choice in The Light Between Oceans. Set in the years between the World Wars and along the coast of South West Australia, it’s a unique period piece. And the choice its main characters make reverberates...Gail Tsukiyama — Women of the Silk delivers Historical Fiction set in China (Book Review)
In Women of the Silk, a 1991 book from Gail Tsukiyama, times are hard. It’s China in the late 1920s and especially in the small villages nature and politics affect everyone. Our main character is a young girl named Pei. As the story opens, she’s about six, and her...Danielle Girard — Exhume: Dr. Schwartzman #1 (Book Review)
Danielle Girard introduces readers to Dr. Annabelle Schwartzman, Medical Examiner in a new series. This first book is called Exhume and it includes a variety of themes. First, of course is the world of morgues and autopsies. Second, is the way her role of gathering...Doris Kearns Goodwin — The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism (Book Review)
Doris Kearns Goodwin creates a behemoth of early twentieth century history in The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism. I confess to knowing very little beyond the basics about Roosevelt. Before reading this book, I...Kerry Greenwood and Phryne Fisher: Cocaine Blues is Historical Mystery Par Excellence (Book Review)
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...Bookshop.Org Affiliate
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