When reading a mystery, being right is my second-favorite thing. Being wrong is my favorite. Let me explain: I love to ID the killer in the early pages and spend the rest of the book ferreting out all the clues the author has planted. It’s gratifying! But the more mysteries I read, the more…
As a seasonal reader, I find spring challenging. I’m not ready for the effervescent reads of summer, but I’m also not looking for the big literary titles of the colder months. Instead, I want something that balances substance and charm, something both engaging and offbeat.. Something fresh and fun and a little bit bracing –…
Behind You is the Sea, by Susan Muaddi Darraj, is billed as a novel, but it reads more like a collection of linked short stories. Whatever it’s called, it combines the best of short and long-form fiction: sensitively drawn portraits of singular characters, set in a world that gives continuity and context to their lives.…
Available February 13, 2024 While Yangsze Choo’s The Fox Wife is definitely historical fiction – set largely in Manchuria in the early 1900s – it also weaves elements of mystery and folklore into an evocative, compelling, and wholly original story. In the last days of the Qing Dynasty, Snow is on the hunt for the…
In July 2020, author Ariel Lawhon appeared on the library’s podcast to discuss Code Name Hélène, her novel about WWII socialite-spy Nancy Wake. She mentioned that her next project was based on the diary of a New England midwife from the late 18th century. More than three years later, The Frozen River has finally arrived. The…
If you were to construct a list of story elements that do not entice me, it would include: Pandemic stories (I am ready for some precedented times.) Bird stories (I like my pets with fur.) Autofiction (novels where the author is also a character) So at first glance, The Vulnerables, Sigrid Nunez’s pandemic novel about…
You would be forgiven for thinking Starling House is just another haunted house story. There’s a falling-down mansion with a tragic backstory, an orphaned heroine, and a tormented heir, all set in a town rife with corruption and secrets. But in Alix E. Harrow’s capable hands, those familiar elements are transformed into a richly textured…
I am not a gambler. Slot machines make me tense. I refuse to fill out basketball brackets. I have bought a lottery ticket precisely once in my life. The one thing I am willing to gamble on is a book, especially if I can even the odds. Case in point: I like old houses and…
It is just so lovely when things live up to your expectations, isn’t it? Back in June, I shared my excitement for Alexis Hall’s Mortal Follies, a Regency romance with a touch of magic, during our Summer Book Buzz. But it wasn’t until last week that I finally had the chance to read this swoony,…
As superpowers go, time travel seems like the best one for a bookish person -- it would let you loop back around as needed, until every last page was read. Then again, time loops, as anyone who has ever watched Groundhog Day can tell you, are tricky things. Holly Smale's adult debut, Cassandra in Reverse…
