As I believe I’ve mentioned before, my best friend in the whole wide world and I bonded initially over books in 6th grade. One of the things that she introduced me to was the concept of a medical thriller. She was a huge fan of Robin Cook, and Michael Palmer, and Michael Cordy. In the years since I initially devoured those books en masse, I have revisited them occasionally — and found myself to be disappointed pretty much every time. Not only at the writing […]
“It’s so much easier to accept your feminine role in this world if you don’t struggle.”
“Have you ever wished you could live in an earlier, more romantic era?” — No. I promise you don’t want to do that. I picked up this book after a recommendation from The Bloggess, and we all know that The Bloggess can do no wrong. Unmentionable is a behind-the-scenes look at just about everything a woman could experience in Victorian times. It’s very funny, and full of all sorts of disgusting details that you probably (definitely) don’t need to know. For those of us (Mrs. […]
“I’m working on my own life story. I don’t mean I’m putting it together; no, I’m taking it apart.”
I borrow the The Tent from Caitlin_D after she complained that she didn’t like it, and possibly just does not like short stories. Caitlin, I am determined to prove you wrong! I love Margaret Atwood, and in fact beside Stephen King, she’s probably the one author whose short stories I actually seek out. “I suffer from my own multiplicity. Two or three images would have been enough, or four, or five. That would be allowed for a firm idea: This is she. As it is, I’m watery, I […]
Every memoir offers something new
I’ve read a lot of these memoirs written by people who had messed up childhoods, in one way or the other. Many share characteristics, usually an unhinged mother, but there’s always a new focus that keeps me coming back for more. In Swallow the Ocean, Laura Flynn recounts her childhood growing up with two sisters and a schizophrenic mother. Laura was in the position of her mother’s “golden child” for most of her life, while her mentally unbalanced mother took out most of her anger and […]