A Thousand Splendid SunsKhaled Hosseini Although I can’t truly say I loved The Kite Runner, I’m pretty sure I would have eventually read A Thousand Splendid Suns, but since this is the November pick for my book club, I read it sooner rather than later. This isn’t a sequel to The Kite Runner, despite the similarities in their covers, unless you consider Afghanistan a character in both novels – which it is, but I didn’t […]
Tag: fiction
Book talk: “His Lovely Wife”
His Lovely Wife, by Elizabeth Dewberry I was intrigued by my introduction to this novel as a DearReader.com Fiction Book Club selection earlier this year, which prompted me to buy a copy to finish it. I chose it as my pick for my offline Book Club to read for our September meeting, and we just met to discuss the book on Friday night. By consensus, this isn’t going to go on record as one of […]
MotherTalk Blog Tour Book Review: “Interred With Their Bones”
Interred With Their BonesJennifer Lee CarrellThe question of “Who wrote all those Shakespeare plays?” has circulated for at least a couple of centuries. I vaguely recall doing a research paper on the topic back in college, well over 20 years ago. It arises because of a belief that what’s known about the person of William Shakespeare – which isn’t very much, other than a fairly humble background and a career as an actor – doesn’t […]
Just read: “Happiness Sold Separately”
Happiness Sold SeparatelyLolly Winston Elinor and Ted Mackey have been unsuccessfully trying to have a baby for awhile, and the strain on their marriage leaves Ted open to an affair with Gina, the personal trainer at his gym. Elinor’s discovery of the affair sets a series of breakups, reconciliations, and realignments of relationships. Despite the overly dramatic plot summary, Winston conveys the story with humor and humanity, as she shifts viewpoints among the three main […]
Just finished: “The Good Life”
The Good LifeJay McInerney When I was young, I often re-read my favorite books. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve become far less likely to do so, probably due to a combination of less time to read in the first place and so many appealing new books I haven’t gotten to yet. Brightness Falls by Jay McInerney is one of the few novels I’ve read multiple times since I left my 20’s. Russell and Corrine Calloway […]
Just finished: “The Kite Runner”
The Kite RunnerKhaled Hosseini I bought this book over a year ago, in anticipation of its being a selection for my book club, but the member who was going to pick it ended up dropping out, and I just wasn’t motivated to pick it up until another member of the club chose it for our meeting this week. Despite the fact that everyone I know who has read this book loved it, I’ve been rather […]
Just finished: “The Memory Keeper’s Daughter”
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter Kim Edwards On a snowy late-winter night in Lexington, Kentucky in March 1964, a doctor’s wife unexpectedly goes into labor, and he has to perform the delivery himself in his own office. Twins are delivered – a healthy boy, and a girl who clearly exhibits Down’s syndrome. Believing that it’s in everyone’s best interests, the doctor asks his nurse to bring the baby girl to a home for the mentally impaired. […]
Just finished: “Nineteen Minutes”
Nineteen MinutesJodi Picoult Nineteen minutes is the amount of time it takes Peter Houghton to kill ten people and wound 19 more on one March morning at Sterling High School. Nineteen Minutes is also the title of Jodi Picoult’s latest novel, the story of a high-school shooting spree similar to Columbine and others, but with one major difference – the shooter is found just in time to be prevented from turning his gun on himself, […]
Just finished: “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”
Harry Potter and the Deathly HallowsJ. K. Rowling The major event of this weekend’s Harry Potter Extravaganza was reading the grand finale of this saga, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. As I’ve done since …Order of the Phoenix, I pre-ordered the book from Amazon.com as soon as they started taking orders, but this time I bought two copies – Tall Paul wanted his own. The package landed at our front door at around 1 […]
Just finished: “Lost and Found”
reviewed for the Mother-talk.com Blog Tour(due to be posted on Wednesday 7/18, but I’m done early!) Lost and FoundCarolyn Parkhurst (author’s website) Lost and Found revolves around a reality TV show of the same name that features a dozen teams competing in a worldwide scavenger hunt with a million-dollar prize. Like The Amazing Race (TAR), each of the teams is made up of two people with a pre-existing relationship. The book starts about halfway through […]
Just finished: “Water for Elephants”
Water for Elephants Sara Gruen This was picked for my book club’s meeting this past week, but the meeting didn’t happen – too many people couldn’t make it, and most of those that could be there were behind on their reading and didn’t think they could finish by Friday (myself included). We’ll be deferring our discussion till our August meeting, where this will be double-featured with The Kite Runner. From the book cover: As a […]
Just finished: “The Jane Austen Book Club”
The Jane Austen Book ClubKaren Joy Fowler from the book cover: In California’s central valley, five women and one man join to discuss Jane Austen’s novels. Over the six months they get together, marriages are tested, affairs begin, unsuitable arrangements become suitable, and love happens…The result is a delicious dissection of modern relationships. Dedicated Austenites will delight in unearthing the echoes of Austen that run through the novel, but most readers will simply enjoy the […]
