New York Stories – 4/5 Stars I read Elizabeth Hardwick’s collected essays earlier this year. I also read her novel Sleepless Nights last year. This is a collection of stories that encompasses about 45-50 years worth of short stories edited and selected by Darryl Pinckney, another novelist and critic who also famously worked with and was friends with Hardwick. I read these stories in a variety of orders, and since they are not part of an intentional collection this blending and mixing up of the […]
“His life was two lives now: the life he would have and the life he would forever wonder about.”
I’ll start this review by giving particular props to the narration on the audiobook. As a newcomer to the world of audiobooks, Beautiful Ruins earned the distinction of being the first where I can honestly say the audio narration elevated the reading/listening experience and did more than just get the job done. I was not surprised when I learned that it won an award for the format in its year of eligibility. So good on you, Edoardo Ballerini. The story is one of those where […]
An Adequate View
I…kind of liked this book. It was…okay. Overall, the annoying/dull parts ended up getting balanced with the interesting parts, so it kind of ended up being average. Appropriate for a novel where one of the main characters owns a hotel called “The Adequate View”. “Then she smiled, and in that instant, if such a thing were possible, Pasquale fell in love, and he would remain in love for the rest of his life–not so much with the woman, whom he didn’t even know, but with the moment.” A lot happens […]