CBR10Bingo: So Shiny! I don’t read eBooks and very rarely buy hardcovers, so I’m always a bit behind when it comes to new releases. I’ve been traveling quite a bit the last few years, though, which means I’ve had better opportunities to find new books since paperbacks tend to be released much sooner overseas. I snagged a few in Brussels last month, including one from this year’s Man Booker Prize longlist: Snap by Belinda Bauer. Jack was 11 years old when his mother left him […]
Like a late-night Cinemax sexy thriller starring Shannon Tweed and Eric La Salle
The only pull-quote on the front cover of this book: “Zakes Mda may have a more central place in South Africa’s literary and political spheres than any other novelist today.” — The New York Times High praise but not surprising, considering his latest novel, Little Suns, had just won the Barry Ronge Prize for Fiction and was featured in every bookstore when I visited Cape Town. A quick Google search confirmed for me that it’s as impressive as it sounds — the country’s biggest prize […]
What would you do if you knew who was responsible for the death of your child?
Translated from the Japanese by Stephen Snyder A little girl is dead. Her mom knows who killed her. She wants revenge. It sounds like a simple enough plot, what could be more straightforward and relatable than a broken-hearted mother wanting to punish those responsible for the death of her child? But this is not a simple story. As the story starts, Moriguchi, a middle school teacher, is telling her students that she is retiring from teaching. Moriguchi has recently lost her 4-year-old daughter, Manami. She […]
The story of the Coughlin family begun in The Given Day continues …
Live by Night is a crime saga focused on the characters, portraying them as more than one dimensional thugs. Most of them do what they do for a reason. Taking place in 1927, 8 years after the Boston Police strike, Live By Night shifts focus from Danny Coughlin to his youngest brother, Joe. Now 20 and an accomplished small time criminal, Joe falls for the wrong woman and it changes the trajectory of his life. Along the way he rubs elbows with real and fictional […]