BEAUTIFUL BAD Beautiful Bad, the oxymoronic title of Annie Ward’s savagely violent novel, sums up the action precisely. Beautiful people doing bad things, beautiful prose
PAX What? Another kids’ book? Well, yes, and no. Two things compel me to pick Sara Pennypacker’s Pax for my next review. First of all,
A BABY’S BONES The plot of Rebecca Alexander’s novel, A Baby’s Bones, may sound familiar. An archaeological excavation on the Isle of Wight has uncovered
THE WEDNESDAY SISTERS Okay, gentlemen, step back; The Wednesday Sisters, by its title alone, would suggest that it is written solely for the female reader.
BEL CANTO Ann Patchett’s highly-regarded 2001 novel, Bel Canto, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, won the Orange Prize, and won
DEMAGOGUE, THE LIFE AND LONG SHADOW OF SENATOR JOE MCCARTHY One of my first memories of TV occurred during the summer of 1954 when I
MISS GARNET’S ANGEL and THE CITY OF FALLEN ANGELS Since the coronavirus has curtailed travel this year, books must take us to new and different
WILL YOU BE MY FRIEND Back in 1994, Irish writer Sam McBratney, and British illustrator Anita Jeram, published the picture book, Guess How Much I
WHAT SHE LEFT BEHIND Ellen Marie Wiseman cites the Willard Suitcase Exhibit and a nonfiction book by Darby Penney and Peter Stastny, The Lives They
AMERICAN ZION, CLIVE BUNDY, GOD & PUBLIC LANDS IN THE WEST American Zion: Cliven Bundy, God & Public Lands in the West unearths historic myths
BAD TOURIST, MISADVENTURES IN LOVE AND TRAVEL I received an Advance Uncorrected Proof of Suzanne Robert’s Bad Tourist back in mid-July. I picked it up briefly toward
THE BOOK OF LOST FRIENDS Lisa Wingate’s The Book of Lost Friends is a historical novel firmly grounded in historic poignancy and pain. For many
REDHEAD BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD Reading Anne Tyler’s novel, Redhead by the Side of the Road, is rather like paging through an album
TAHOE HIT, AN OWEN MCKENNA MYSTERY Ever since the Covid-19 pandemic, time seems to move at a pace determined to mess with our internal calendars.
ALL THE OLD KNIVES Not long ago I posted a “Bookin’ with Sunny” review of Olen Steinhauer’s newest spy thriller and remarked on the extraordinary
SAINT X Alexis Schaitkin’s debut novel, Saint X, opens with the languid ennui of a mid-winter Caribbean vacation. An omniscient narrator sets scenes filled with
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