HALF CANNONBALL! Neil deGrasse Tyson is national treasure. Hopefully you all are aware of this, either because you’ve known for years, or because you caught the fantastic Cosmos this year. About three years ago I was lucky enough to see him speak at the local university, where he told vivid stories that helped me understand the scale of things in the universe and on earth, including one story that aided me in fully grasping how much money Bill Gates really has. Mr. Tyson is coming […]
Take a trip to 1970’s Tehran
Ugh. So far behind, and it’s only June. I’ve started working from home again, and finding myself wishing for more hours in the day to get everything done. I’m keeping up with the reading, but the reviewing is killing me. Gonna do my best. I feel like it was ages ago that I read Persepolis. And when I was reading it, I had a lot of important things I wanted to say. That I needed to say. And now I can’t remember any of them. […]
Eye of the Needle by Ken Follett
Looking for intelligent historical fiction with a dash of dirty bits? Ken Follett is your man. He’ll educate you up good while throwing in some Nazi/lonely Englishwoman sex for good measure. “Our whole strategy must be to prevent the Allies from securing a beachhead, because once they achieve that, the battle is lost…perhaps even the war.” The Eye of the Needle takes place during World War II. Our Nazi is a spy, occasionally called Faber, who has discovered the truth behind Calais. Basically, the Allies […]
I could read this book again and again
3 families in the early 1900’s cross paths. They differ in temper and ideals and life circumstances and thus the book becomes a study in difference in class in the English society, the social and economical differences from the lower to the upper middle class. The Schlegels are cultural and live their lives based on lofty ideals. The Wilcoxes are practical and rich and the Basts are in denial of their poverty and what it will take to get them out of it. I love […]
An Interesting Family Archive from an Interesting Time
I was granted an ARC of this book via NetGalley in return for a fair and honest review. This book’s expected publication date is June 29, 2014. There are lots of books out there about Nazi Germany and World War II. Literally thousands and thousands. But there are few that bring the realities of day to day life which Germans were experiencing to light for the modern reader. By choosing to share the cache of letters she found in her family home, Hedda Kalshoven brings […]
So Much to Recommend It, But It Didn’t Live Up: Guests on Earth
Lee Smith’s Guests on Earth had so much to recommend it. I love books about my home state, North Carolina; it promised Zelda Fitzgerald as a main character, and was centered at the Highland Hospital, a mental institution which burned to the ground in 1948, claiming the lives of nine women; one of them the world-famous Zelda herself. That sounded interesting to me, so I dove in with high hopes. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as great as I’d hoped, but it wasn’t as awful as it could […]
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