I loved this unique, unexpected novel. It starts out almost like a fairy tale, and its heroine, Veblen (don’t ask – read the book) feels just like a fairy-tale character: unconventional, gentlehearted … and she talks to squirrels. Sweet Veblen is moving through her life, working as a temp at Stanford’s School of Medicine, taking…
Calvin was born on the day that the last Calvin and Hobbes comic was released. In many ways, his entire life has been linked with Calvin and Hobbes—his grandfather gave him a stuffed tiger name Hobbes when he was born, the girl who lives two houses down is Suzy, the coincidences continue to stack up.…
This is a delightful gem of a book, perfect for a cold winter's day. It’s a hopeful, sweet read that keeps faith in the power of love and the power of books. Sara Lindqvist comes from Sweden to the small town of Broken Wheel, Iowa, to spend two months with her pen pal, Amy Harris.…
“I was lonely. Lonely was the first flavor I had tasted in my life, and it was always there, hidden inside the crevices of my mouth, reminding me.” Lucy Barton grew up dirt poor, was abused by her father and ostracized by most in her small farming community of Amgash, Illinois. With help from some…
Not much is known about Lizzie Burns, an illiterate Irishwoman who was the long-time partner of the German philosopher and social scientist Friedrich Engels. But thanks to the debut novel by Gavin McCrea, Burns comes to life in an entertaining and spirited story. McCrea said in an interview that he first ran across Burns…
Bill Hodges has recently retired from a long career as a highly decorated police detective and to say that retirement doesn’t agree with him would be quite an understatement. So when someone claiming to be the Mercedes Killer, the one big case he never cracked, contacts him, he feels he must follow the trail. The…
I think I have a new favorite mystery heroine: Tannie Maria, from Recipes for Love and Murder. (“Tannie” is the polite way to address a woman older than you in South Africa, kind of like calling someone “auntie”). She is naïve but intelligent, vulnerable yet strong, and one of the best fictional cooks around! And…
Boulevard Monmartre, Paris by Camille Pissarro Alice Hoffman digs up a little piece of history and imagines an amazing love story about the parents of Jacobo Camille Pissarro, one of the greatest painters of all time. Pissarro, who is regarded as one of the fathers of the impressionism and Camille Pissarro post-impressionism movement, was born…
Type-A Ana can’t wait to lead her quiz bowl team to victory. Ana’s a rule follower, everything must be precise and by the book. Zak enjoys goofing off and role-playing games. When Zak’s shenanigans land him on the quiz bowl team as penance, Ana is livid. The quiz bowl semifinals force Zak to miss his…
Some books resonate with us long after we’ve finished reading them. M. T. Anderson’s Symphony for the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad is one such book for me. In 1989 I visited Leningrad and that trip still haunts me. It haunts me because the first thing I remember seeing…
