Snow White by Donald Barthelme
“She is a tall dark beauty containing a great many beauty spots” I wasn’t sure what a reread of this book was going to bring me. But I did it. The reread did go better than the initial one, but I am not sure I liked it any better when it comes down to it. This book is a retelling of Snow White, but with a lot of artifice and structure stripped out of it. So this postmodern rendering of it is often told in […]
Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn
Billie and her three colleagues – Mary Alice, Helen, and Natalie – are gearing up for retirement. After forty years of being international assassins, it’s time to hang up their weapons. Their organisation, The Museum, sends them on a fabulous cruise as part of the send off, but in the midst of the festivities they discover they’re being targeted by one of their own. Only the top level of the Museum can order a hit, and once they get our of their sticky situation, they’re […]
Fairy Tale by Stephen King
I’m a big King fan: I have seen a few movie adaptations, would put “The Stand” on my list of top 20 books, and this is the 15th book of his I have read. This new edition to his pantheon caught my eye at the library and was hesitantly recommended by a friend who was already shin-deep into this book, but on the fence about it. Having finished it, I give it a resounding fist shake for an excellent premise but meandering execution. It’s a […]
The Elephanta Suite by Paul Theroux
CBR15Passport India The Elephanta Suite is a collection of three tales, each describing the encounter of an Anglo with India. The first story is that of a retired British couple who stay longer than they intended, the second is of a Bostonian businessman who become a Jain monk, and the third is of an American college student who falls in love with an elephant. Unfortunately, I was not a fan of the first two. The retired couple were self-centered, and treated the Indians with whom […]
Loathe to Love You by Ali Hazelwood
I haven’t been able to ‘get’ into any big books lately. My mind has been constantly bombarded by family drama, work drama, and society drama. Every time I’ve tried to sink into a nice big book and get lost I’ve had to set it down and it feels like weeks later before I can pick it up again. But I was flying and at the airport early and wanted something to read that wasn’t attached to a screen. Enter this enchanting little anthology. Three novellas […]
When We Were Sisters: A Novel by Fatimah Asghar
CBR15passport new to you authors Fatimah Asghar (they/them) is a writer and co-producer of the Ms. Marvel series on Disney+ as well as creator of the Emmy-nominated web series Brown Girls. They have published poetry and a previous novel, If They Come For Us. Asghar’s parents experienced the chaos and violence of the partition of India and Pakistan and emigrated to the US, where Asghar was born. Asghar’s parents died when Asghar was a child. While similar events occur in When We Were Sisters, this […]
