Arias for Hope.

Book Review for “The Opera Sisters” by Marianne Monson. Summary: "British sisters Ida and Louise Cook enjoy their quiet, unassuming lives in south London. Ida writes romance novels, and Louise works as a secretary. In the evenings, the sisters indulge in their shared love for opera, saving their money to buy records and attend performances … Continue reading Arias for Hope. →

Night Witches and Chasing Evil

Book Review of “The Huntress” by Kate Quinn. By the beginning of 1950, the efforts to find Nazi war criminals and bring them to justice for their horrendous and unthinkable crimes was already on the wane, except for the biggest of fish. Still, some Nazi hunters couldn’t let go of finding any of these criminals, … Continue reading Night Witches and Chasing Evil →

The Scale of a Family

Book Review of "Moonglow by Michael Chabon. Readers of Michael Chabon's novels know that he has a wonderful way of mixing reality and fiction, to the extent that the lines can feel very blurred. I noticed this in his "The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay," which won him the Pulitzer. Although that novel, (which … Continue reading The Scale of a Family →

Nine Times November 11, 1918

Book Review of "Fall of Poppies: Stories of Love and the Great War" by various authors. It isn't often that a group of authors come together to make a collection of short stories. From what I can see, most collections with various authors are ones that a publisher collected, often from a slew of single-author … Continue reading Nine Times November 11, 1918 →

A Fantastical Fable

Book Review of "Little Nothing" by Marisa Silver. In one of the more beautifully written books I've ever read, Silver brings us a story that blends fantasy with reality into a hybrid fable of the weird and the wonderful, of loss and of love and so much more. I don't usually read fantasy books, but … Continue reading A Fantastical Fable →

The Monsters Within

Book Review for "The Determined Heart" by Antoinette May. The bulk of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley's fame came from her novel "Frankenstein." However, she was also married to Percy Bysshe Shelley, and the daughter of two well-known writers, Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin. This novel examines the life of this woman who, in the early 1800s, … Continue reading The Monsters Within →

Overtures with a Nightingale

Book Review for "Foreign Bodies" by Cynthia Ozick. Bea's overbearing brother Marvin wants her to go to Paris and get his son Julian to come home, or he'll stop sending him money. He can't do it himself, he's far too busy with his important work and California is so far away from Europe. Bea is … Continue reading Overtures with a Nightingale →