Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts
Kate Racculia’s Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts has morphed the genre of classic gothic to “Gothic Romp.” Ever since I finished reading Kate Racculia’s novel, Tuesday Mooney Talks to Ghosts, I’ve been trying to imagine a literary genre it might fit. Nothing worked, so I made up my own. “Gothic romp”—an extraordinarily witty caper that blends Edgar […]
The Phantom Tollbooth
The Phantom Tollbooth – You are never too old to read and love Norton Juster’s 1961 novel marketed for children. How is it possible to have nearly reached the age of eighty without having read Norton Juster’s The Phantom Tollbooth? No fair jumping to conclusions. All right, I was too old when it first came […]
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Georghia Ellinas proves we are never too young or too old for Shakespeare. Okay, dear readers, here’s a one-of-a-kind, wild recommendation: Georghia Ellinas’ picture book retelling of Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” The first thing to remember is that Shakespeare was a very funny guy, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream is […]
The Grande Dame and Hitler’s Twin
The Grande Dame and Hitler’s Twin A Comedy of Errors and more. Sally Patterson Tubach subtitled her novel “A Comedy of Errors.” In truth, The Grande Dame and Hitler’s Twin is a hilarity of errors, a madcap romp conducted by countless eccentric and egocentric characters. All the while, they’re capering through a sea of allusions—to […]
Hollow Kingdom
Hollow Kingdom Are you a nature lover? A hiker? A botanist? A stargazer? A bird watcher? If so, please consider Kira Jane Buxton’s debut book, Hollow Kingdom. It is called a novel, but I still adhere to Mary McCarthy’s caveat from The Fact in Fiction, “In fables and fairy tales, as everyone knows, birds and […]
Rants from the Hill
RANTS FROM THE HILL In 2010, the High Country News editors asked Mike Branch to write a monthly column for its online edition. They asked for a fresh outlook, “in a voice and with an angle of vision that would add a new perspective to the magazine’s long-standing engagement of natural environments in the West.” […]
Sgt. Reckless
Sgt. Reckless, America’s War Horse I came across “Sgt. Reckless, America’s War Horse” at a trade show last October. I hadn’t read a horse story since “Seabiscuit” and I am a sucker for any story about almost any horse, but “America’s War Horse?” Which war? Oh, Korean. I grew up in the fifties; why had […]
Amy Falls Down
Jincy Willet is a very funny lady. That may be presumptuous, but after reading Amy Falls Down, I don’t think I’m far off the mark. Amy is a sequel to The Writing Class, but I recommend ignoring the whole business of “don’t read the second until you’ve read the first.” I don’t mind going backward, […]
Pirate King
Pirate King is Laurie R. King’s eleventh Sherlock Holmes novel, starring Mary Russell. My Bantam trade paperback copy of the book contains a special treat—the reprinting of a short story that was King’s original introduction of the duo. In that story, Beekeeping for Beginners, a crotchety, depressed, newly-retired Holmes narrates his first meeting with young […]
The Heming Way
There are books read and reviewed by this writer that ought to come under a heading like, “Not for Everyone.” Who does the reviewer address when along comes a book so filled with parody, satire, sarcasm, insight, raunchiness, and just plain silliness that it’s bound to offend and disgust as many readers as it enchants? […]