I think a lot of the books I choose to read I choose because they look important and/or like they’re going to be good for me and/or because I ought to. Books by Doris Lessing and Gloria Steinem come to mind by way of example of this. And I usually end up enjoying these books and feeling glad that I read them. Still, they might not be the kind of books that I would recommend to everybody I know. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi is a […]
Passion, Obsession and Napoleon
Somewhere between the swamp and the mountains. Somewhere between fear and sex. Somewhere between God and the Devil passion is and the way there is sudden and the way back is worse. Set during the Napoleonic Wars, Jeanette Winterson’s The Passion is a novel about passions, obsessions, and madness. Using her characters, history, and geography, Winterson examines how passion develops among “lukewarm people” and how it can bleed over into debilitating obsession and the loss of self. Some can find their way back from it, […]
The Journey is the Destination
This book has one of the coolest covers I have seen in a long time, and I’m happy to say that the book lives up to its cover. I was drawn to this novel after reading a review that compared it to the Odyssey. This is the story of 17-year-old Blue Riley and her arduous, perilous quest to find her older sister, missing for two years. It is also the story of Blue discovering the truth about the past and finding her voice (literally). The […]
A Southern Gothic Treasure
Over the Plain Houses, Julia Franks’ debut novel, is a beautifully written tragedy about a dying love, the struggle between faith and doubt, and encroaching modernity. I believe it can be classified as “Southern Gothic.” Set in rural North Carolina 1939, the story includes many characteristics linked to that genre: decay, violence, the force and romance of nature, a thin line drawn between villains and victims, and even a hint of the supernatural. It is truly a haunting novel. This is the story of Irenie […]
Unfinished Symphony
This novel was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and praised by one of my favorite authors, Geraldine Brooks. It is a piece of dystopian fiction imagining an England where music is used to control a population that can no longer read and where memories have disappeared. All anyone needs to know is imparted through the carillon chimes each day. While the conceit is exceedingly clever, and the story often engaging, I found myself ultimately disappointed. This is a case where the reader can’t see […]
Apocalyptic!
Science fiction writer Connie Willis is the winner of numerous Hugo and Nebula awards, including one of each for The Doomsday Book. This novel is an ingenious combination of themes such as time travel, pandemics, and faith. Her characters, whether Oxford University researchers in 2054 or English villagers in the 14th century, are fully realized individuals, with responsibilities, fears, jealousies, and loves. They will all be put to the test when tragedy strikes, and we see that, despite a 700 year time divide, people are […]
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