The problem with finding an excellent series is that you eventually run out of material to consume. Such is the case now with Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad; I finished The Trespasser last week and now I want to know how long I have to wait before the seventh installment is published. Will there BE as seventh installment? I hope so. Trespasser is unique thus far in the series in that it focuses on the same two detectives as the previous entry, Antoinette Conway and […]
Sad Babies Ruined It for Me
Emma Donaghue’s Frog Music should have been a slam dunk for me. It’s a period piece murder mystery with a European element. I regret to say that it fell a little short of the mark for me. I think most people would enjoy the novel, however, so this won’t be an entirely negative review. Frog Music tells the story of the murder of Jenny Bonnet, a cross-dressing, walking, talking Mark Twain character in 19th century San Francisco, and the efforts of her friend Blanche Beunon, […]
Hillbillies Among Us
Every year my book club members submit 2-3 suggestions for us to tackle for the upcoming year; we all vote and then the top choices make the cut. I remember seeing J.D. Vance’s memoir Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis described as something we should read to understand how Trump was elected. I was still raw and reeling from the election so I voted against this book. I was sick to death of trying to empathize with people who voted […]
Teen Angst
I love to take young adult lit to the beach. It’s great for breezing through in a few days usually, and often doesn’t require that strict attention be paid to every single line. I brought Sarah Dessen’s Just Listen to the beach with me a few weeks ago but it turns out that was a silly first time mom mistake. Ha! Reading more than one book at the beach with a toddler? I was a fool. In any case I still read it when I […]