Fallout, by Lesley MM Blume. Pub 2020 I read the "Hiroshima" issue of The New Yorker a few years ago, and like most people over the decades - from 1946 to now - I was spellbound by the issue and article. I was therefore intrigued to read Fallout to learn, as advertised, about the cover-up behind it... Continue Reading →
2021 Reading Challenge – summary
I didn't quite make it through the entire 2021 list, but was very close. The goal was 34 books, and I got to 33, including one that did not make the official list due to redundancy. Here's the final book list for 2021: 1 - Book with a murder in it Death in a Darkening... Continue Reading →
A Bookshop in Berlin, by Françoise Frenkel. Book report #29 (2021)
A Bookshop in Berlin (aka No Place to Rest Her Head), by Françoise Frenkel. Pub 1945, my edition pub 2015. This book was recommended by my book club partner, and while their praise of it was not effusive, it was sufficient to interest me as a book to check the "recommendation" box on this year's... Continue Reading →
The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Book report #26 (2021)
The Scarlet Letter: A Romance, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Pub 1850 When I read this book back in 1983, it was under duress - a high school requirement. This novel was part of what we referred to as the 'fallen women' section of Grade 12 english, a trilogy of reading that including this, Doctor Zhivago, and Tess... Continue Reading →
Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders. Book report #19 (2021)
Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders. Pub 2017 I started reading this last year sometime, and got distracted from it early on. At the end of teaching my course this summer, I included this commencement speech by George Saunders as part of the last module, and it reminded me that this book was overdue for... Continue Reading →
These Truths, by Jill Lepore. Book report #16 (2021)
These Truths, by Jill Lepore. Pub 2018 This book has been my Everest this year. I wish I had recorded when I started it, but am very glad to be recording that I finished it. It was very long (nearly 800 pages, plus nearly 100 pages of citations), but very good. I recall having read... Continue Reading →
The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kingsolver. Book report #13 (2021)
The Poisonwood Bible, by Barbara Kinsgsolver. Pub 1998 Another re-read of an old favourite, and another that I often claim as a favourite even though I've only read it the once. This book was both good and popular back in the day, and I read it along with many others in the last heady years... Continue Reading →
Fallen, by David Maine. Book report #11 (2021)
Fallen, by David Maine. Pub 2006 This is a book I've read before, but was inspired to read again after listening to a podcast comedy-dramatization of Adam and Eve and the Fall from Eden. I enjoy novels like this that take a small bit of a familiar story and minor characters from a historical text,... Continue Reading →
The Children of Jocasta, by Natalie Haynes. Book report #3 (2021)
The Children of Jocasta, by Natalie Haynes. Pub 2018 After that last book I read, I was hoping for a compelling page-turner, and was not disappointed with this book. A retelling of the Oedipus myth (spoiler alert: reading that information will be a spoiler for this book) from the perspectives of two minor characters from... Continue Reading →
Permanent Record, by Edward Snowden. Book report #28 (2020)
Permanent Record, by Edward Snowden. Pub 2019 This was the last of the vacation reads - a gift from my sister at Christmas last year, and long overdue to read. I've stayed up late a few nights this week with this one. Edward Snowden needs no introduction as the whistleblower of the US NSA mass... Continue Reading →
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