Nesbo steps away from his standard Norwegian detective fare with this slim new novel that starts and ends with the blood of a murdered man soaking into the snow. Blood on Snow is written from the viewpoint of a mob “fixer,” a contract killer named Olav who is kept on the payroll of Oslo’s biggest crime boss to take care of problems that his boss doesn’t want to think about. These problems range from snitches to competitors to an unfaithful wife. And until Olav catches […]
Five Ishiguro tales about the human experience…and music
These are five lovely stories which all deal with very vulnerable individuals and the critical role of music in their lives. Ishiguro’s tales embrace a wide range of life’s challenges, from loss and loneliness to romance and recovery, to friendship and fulfillment. The recurrence of certain characters from one story to another lends a hint of continuity, almost like a piece of music with five movements and an occasionally recurrent theme. In one story, an aging singing legend takes his beloved on a final trip […]
“Chatty, defensive, observant. My new favorite witness.”
Mr. Kiss and Tell is the second Veronica Mars book to come out of the super successful Kickstarter project from two years ago. Last spring we had the movie and the first book, The Thousand Dollar Tan Line, and this year we have book two. I was so excited to get it that I bought it for myself for my birthday. And you may say to yourself, why were you so excited, you’ve only rated these two books at three stars? I know, but I […]
Inseparable.
5 ‘HOPELESSLY IN LOVE’ STARS! Goodreads summary: “Beth Fremont and Jennifer Scribner-Snyder know that somebody is monitoring their work e-mail. (Everybody in the newsroom knows. It’s company policy.) But they can’t quite bring themselves to take it seriously. They go on sending each other endless and endlessly hilarious e-mails, discussing every aspect of their personal lives. Meanwhile, Lincoln O’Neill can’t believe this is his job now- reading other people’s e-mail. When he applied to be “internet security officer,” he pictured himself building firewalls and crushing […]
A guide to love from a chronic cheater
This Is How You Lose Her is a series of short stories that deal mostly with men’s infidelity in relationships, with the exception of one of the stories being from a women’s point of view. Readers of Diaz’s first book, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, will recognize Yunior, who appears repeatedly in the stories in relationships with different women. A running theme throughout these stories is how men don’t often see women as a real person. Like Yunior’s dog brother, Rafa, who sees […]
This is how a human being can change
The more we are, the richer everything we experience is. And those who want to have deep love in their lives must collect and save for it, and gather honey -Rainer Maria Rilke Please disregard the schmoopy title. This self help book is actually good and it will help you find love. Not because it teaches you a bunch of silly rules or how to change yourself into what men want. No, this book focuses on self improvement for the sake of self improvement. It helps […]