Best served cold…

Book Review of "Gentlemen and Players" by Joanne Harris Joanne Harris' website has the following quote describing this book: "The place is St Oswald's, an old and long-established boys' grammar school in the north of England. A new year has just begun, and for the staff and boys of the School, a wind of unwelcome … Continue reading Best served cold… →

The Last Squeeze is the Sweetest

Book Review of "Five Quarters of the Orange" by Joanne Harris. This is the story of Framboise - no, not a bottle of raspberry liqueur (thank heavens), but rather a woman by that name from a farm on the river Loire in the French village of Les Laveuses. This is partially the story of Framboise's … Continue reading The Last Squeeze is the Sweetest →

The Wine Tells All

Book Review of "Blackberry Wine" by Joanne Harris. Jay Mackintosh is a writer whose first hit novel "Jackapple Joe" revolved around a man he met as a boy in the late 70s in Pog Hill an ex-mining town in England. It's now 1999, however, and he hasn't written anything serious since - only junk novels … Continue reading The Wine Tells All →

A Plot on a Plot of Land

Book Review of "Visitation" by Jenny Erpenbeck. When it comes to historical fiction, the years before, during and after World War II have become some of the most popular to write about, mostly because of the opportunity they give the writer to evoke strong emotions in their readers. Yet, with all the drama that this … Continue reading A Plot on a Plot of Land →

The Other Side of a Journey

Book Review for "The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy" by Rachel Joyce. Readers of Joyce's debut novel The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry will know Queenie Hennessy, or at least know of her. She is the woman Harold Fry worked with, who is dying of cancer. When Harold Fry gets the letter telling him … Continue reading The Other Side of a Journey →

The Distinguished Thing

Book Review for "Curtain Call" by Anthony Quinn. London, the summer of 1936, and things seemed to be changing at an alarming rate - not always for the better. One of the less pleasant things happening was the discovery of two women, strangled by the murderer they called the "Tie-Pin Killer" due to his gruesome … Continue reading The Distinguished Thing →

Fictional blogging for her life

Book Review for "Undiscovered Gyrl" by Allison Burnett. Authors have always been told, "Write what you know," but as far as I can tell, this is a rule that Mr. Burnett has shunned totally. Had it resulted in an unsuccessful novel, would have been understandable, but amazingly, it doesn't. How a 50-something male author can … Continue reading Fictional blogging for her life →

A Home for Ties that Bind

Book Review for "A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler. Anne Tyler's 20th novel is all about the Whitshank family, starting with Abby and Red. They live in the home that Red's father built on Bouton Road in Baltimore. Here, they raised their four children. Well, actually, only three of them are theirs. They … Continue reading A Home for Ties that Bind →

A Great Book for Your House

Book Review of Great House by Nicole Krauss. This novel is all about a desk, or rather about all the various people who have possessed this particular, very special and imposing piece of furniture. In fact, it practically had a life of its own. From the library of a Jew in Hungary during the Nazi … Continue reading A Great Book for Your House →