Essex Dogs: A Novel by Dan Jones
Whenever I’m at a bookstore, I seem to be drawn toward historical fiction more than any other genre. A month or so ago, I was browsing a table full of books when this one caught my eye. I’d never seen historical fiction set in The Hundred Years War, and the blurb made this sound like a “band of brothers” type of story — a company of men called the Essex Dogs who fight like hell, not for fame or riches or country, but for each […]
The Bandit Queens: A Novel by Parini Shroff
This book might end up one of my favorites for CBR16. It was a shockingly funny delight about women who murder their husbands. Parini Shroff was inspired to write this story after a visit to India many years ago, where she learned about the micro loan program there. Women receive loans to start their own businesses, forming small support groups that ensure participants repay their loans regularly. Shroff wondered about two things: why women receive the loans and not men (because women were seen as […]
Erasure: A Novel by Percival Everett
I heard good things about the movie version of this book (American Fiction), but since I haven’t been able to see it, I decided to just go to the source. This 2001 novel, a Pulitzer Prize nominee, is short but punchy and full of literary references that I could probably spend years investigating. It’s a riveting story but one of those novels that I know I am only partly understanding. Everett includes an incendiary novel within his novel, and exposes the many forms erasure takes. […]
Guards! Guards!: A Novel of Discworld by Terry Pratchett
I find that if I am in need of a book to make me laugh a bit and maybe think a bit, Terry Pratchett is an excellent choice. I received Guards! Guards! as part of last year’s holiday book exchange and couldn’t have been happier. I’ve only read a handful of books from Pratchett’s enormous Discworld series, but I have enjoyed every one that I’ve read and this is no exception. Guards! Guards! involves political power plays, bumbling police, a love story and dragons. The […]
The Alewives: A Plague-Era Tale of Murder, Friendship and Fine Ale by Elizabeth R. Andersen
Another shout out to Narfna for putting this on my radar. I am your literary stalker! This was a very entertaining murder mystery set in an era that has always fascinated me and featuring a set of unusual sleuths. I’d never read any of Elizabeth Andersen’s books before, but I gather that historical fiction is her thing and setting a murder in the immediate aftermath of the Black Death had me from the get go. Even better, the sleuths in this novel, which I hope […]
Killers of a Certain Age: A Novel by Deanna Raybourn
Back in 2010 a Bruce Willis movie called Red (Retired, Extremely Dangerous) came out. I don’t especially love action movies but this one was great — a comedy action movie with a load of outstanding actors in it, including John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, and Helen Mirren. They all play retired secret agents whom Willis convinces to come out of retirement when he finds himself targeted by mysterious forces. Helen Mirren was my favorite as a bad ass weapons expert who has been running a genteel […]
