One for sorrow, Two for joy, Three for a girl, Four for a boy, Five for silver, Six for gold, Seven for a secret, Never to be told. This may be one of my favorite books of the year so far, which makes sense as it is the sequel to one of my three favorite books from last year, The Gods of Gotham. Seven for a Secret finds Timothy Wilde six months removed from the events of the first book set up as an […]
A rake and a matchmaker fight, then fall in love
Lady Belinda Featherstone was a young American heiress whose marriage didn’t exactly work out splendidly, with her husband both blatantly cheating on her and squandering as much of her money as possible before having the good grace to die and leave her a widow. Now supporting herself as a matchmaker for other young American heiresses wanting to make a successful match into English nobility, Belinda is determined that none of her charges ever end up making as disastrous a match as she. So when she […]
Growing up motherless is hard to do
3. 5 stars Lily Owens grows up isolated, neglected by her father and lonely on a peach farm in Georgia in the 1960s. Her only friend is the woman who acts as her nanny, Rosaleen, a former field hand who’s taken care of her since Lily’s mother died in a tragic accident when Lily was little more than a toddler. When Rosaleen is forced to flee town after accidentally insulting some white men while on her way to registering to vote, Lily insists on coming […]
War is Not Worth It
In the final chapter of her World War I saga, Pat Barker really turns the screws. You’ve become emotionally invested in several characters, while knowing that, since this story is about the war, it’s not going to end well. The Ghost Road, told in the waning, but most urgent, year of the War, really questions the notion of war, choosing to return to an almost-certain death, and the psychological traumas beyond war that can plague us. William Rivers and Billy Prior are again major characters, […]
the Reader
I read several “popcorn” books this month and wanted to read something with a bit more substance; the Reader had been on my ‘to-read’ list since I purchased it at a book fair in August. Michael falls ill on his way home from school and is rescued by Frau Schmitz, after his recovery he goes to thank her and they begin a sexual relationship. During their affair 15-year-old Michael reads his school books to thirty-something Hanna, it’s part of their ritual: bath, sex, reading. They […]
On Despotism, Famine, and Glimmers of Hope
Imagine this. You’re a college student from a fairly prosperous family. You know things are starting to go wrong in your country, but your position in life shelters you from the profoundly bad shit that’s going down. You have a girlfriend, but social mores and the difference in your stations mean that the most you’ve ever done is hold her hand during late-night walks down unlit streets. But then, your family begins to run out of money, long after less fortunate people have already begun […]
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