This book. I can’t even. I’m amazed I stuck it out. I can’t imagine how the author managed to spend so much time with these appalling people in her head. She definitely shows that monstrosity is made, not born, but there is no one I could possibly like. There is no one for whom I retain sympathy. Merry and Sam, two American ex-patriates, live what appears to be an idyllic life in a remote Swedish cabin. But no one is happy, and no one can […]
Surprised Me — In a Good Way
Manon Bradshaw is smart, competent, and lonely. She’s a Detective Sargeant in Cambridgeshire, and while she is having exactly the level of career success she looked for, she spends her off hours trying to build relationships from Internet dates she doesn’t really want to be on. Some of her actions made me think, “Urgh! Don’t do it!” But her actions are what a lot of people do, so it rang true in a way that can be hard to capture on a page. When a […]
Close the Book
So I’m back to my “British women in peril” theme, apparently, and this entry is . . . not good. It’s gripping; I definitely wanted to know what was going to happen. And (a) there’s a denouement, and (b) some really key information was missing that would make me feel the level of dread I was supposed to. The heroine of B.A. Paris’s Behind Closed Doors is given a backstory that is emotionally traumatic, but she doesn’t seem to recognize it as trauma, and seems […]
Threepeat
Some books, you read more than once. In this case, I’m going to tell you about three of those. You’ve probably read Helene Hanff’s 84, Charing Cross Road. (If you haven’t, do.) But you might not have read her other books. I have, and they’re all worth multiple reads. I’m highlighting two here (and a third book by another author). Q’s Legacy is Hanff’s account of how she became and stayed a writer. While 84 and its sequel, The Duchess of Bloomsbury Street, are delightful […]