Mad Mabel by Sally Hepworth
A book about a female serial killer? Um, not really. This is the story of a lonely little girl who bad things happen to and she turns into a lonely old woman. But heartwarming? I’m giving this a grudging 3.75 stars, bumped up 0.25 from 3.5 because it wrung salty tears out of me. They were dripping down my face, but I was upset about it. This book was so great until the ending, when it did three things I didn’t like (and almost never […]
Praiseworthy by Alexis Wright
Have you ever gotten the feeling that here, in the time we find ourselves in, that perhaps everything is just a bit to much? Life is an omnishambles and you can’t bare to open the news because you can’t stand to see the news; is anyone going to care about the threats of climate change or emerging pandemics; does anyone really care about the future we are leaving our children? Forget the future, does the government care about children right here, right now? Or is […]
Henry Hamlet's Heart by Rhiannon Wilde
Mostly, I write this review of the novel Henry Hamlet’s Heart by Rhiannon Wilde because I want to put it out there so a discussion can occur. First, a bit of history. I started this book ages ago as an online reader. I had trouble reading it, lost my place, just thought it was drawn out and too much about the “right this second every detail that really didn’t seem to do anything to move the story forward.” I lost my online copy and figured […]
She's A Doll by Barbara Truelove
CBR18 Bingo: Friends – The emotional center of this story is the friendship between Lucy and Nicola. After Lucy is murdered by her best friend’s brother, she does not go gently into that good night but instead possess a porcelain doll and decides that she must kill Kyle. But a doll body is weak, so she turns to Nicola, a former classmate, for help in her mission. I’ve long believed that horror and humor are two sides of the same coin, so I really enjoy when […]
An Academic Affair by Jodi McAlister
Someone on the Buffering discord mentioned this novel because one of the characters has a “Smash the Demon Lizard Patriarchy” sticker and then also clarified that it was also a good romance/book. I’m sure I am not the only bookish person in these parts that loved college – the courses, the reading, learning, the discussions and the professors’ approval – and may have even glamorized or wished for a job in academia before realizing that being a good student probably isn’t the same thing as […]
Voss by Patrick White
I have an embarrassing confession to make: I have never read anything written by Patrick White. It’s odd, and somewhat disappointing really, that our only Australian-born Nobel Laureate for literature is so frequently passed over. For example, I never heard his name brought up once when I was studying English. He doesn’t seem to have much of a profile outside of Australia either. (Unlike say, Gerald Murnane, who seems to be slightly more recognized here in the US than at home.) So, I made the […]
