This book is part of my reading list for my masters, and as such, not something I would have ever picked off the shelf, especially based on its title (it sounds like a beach read to me, which I tend to stay away from). However, I’m happy to report that I loved this book. Spanning the early 1940s to 1999, “The End of the Point” follows a WASP family’s history through their summer vacations in Ashaunt, Massachusetts. Told through the eyes of the family nurse […]
All Hail Russo!
Richard Russo is one of my favorite authors. His ability to take you on a meandering tale, and keep you engaged, is unparalleled. He is a true master storyteller and one of a kind. I read his later novels first but this, his second book, holds up against all the rest. Though I was never a real fan of the series Russo’s writing always reminds me of Seinfeld, the show about nothing. There are never any grand plot twists: his novels are about the simplicity […]
Mother Daughter Relationships Can Be Complicated
Ten years after being convicted for the murder of her mother, Jane Jenkins is released from prison due to the mishandling of the evidence. Instead of going back to Hollywood and living in the spotlight of her notoriety, she instead assumes a new identity and disappears from the public eye in the hopes of finding out the truth behind her mother’s death. As a teen, Jane wanted nothing more than to be the next Paris Hilton and she set about Hollywood ensnaring men and being […]
Books Set in Australia are Best on Audiobook
I recently listened to the audiobook of Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies, and it was wonderful. First, I love Australian accents, and I could happily listen to the narrator all day. Second, the book is just so dang well written . The relationships between all the characters is just wonderfully depicted, and I love how distinct the narrators’ three voices are. After finishing this, I had to immediately go out and get more of Moriarty’s books.
After the girl is gone
One the first page of the first chapter a girl goes missing, barely fifteen and somebody’s daughter. And pretty. Asian with round, blue eyes. We meet the family at the breakfast table where she is, uncharacteristically, missing. The father is already halfway to work. And something about the chapter made me think; why is it that we are so obsessed with the gone girl. Why do we trace her life in those left behind?
A very satisfying sequel to a book I really love
Disclaimer! St. Martin’s Press gave me an ARC of this through NetGalley in return for a fair and honest review. Ten years have passed since the events of Garden Spells. Claire Waverly has put her catering business on hold and branched out with boiled candy. The lemon verbena can soothe any throat or heartache, the rose candies can make you recall lost love and the lavender makes you calm and happy. After a feature article in a high-profile magazine made demand for her candy explode, […]