Author Jung Yun Ten years ago, during the height of North Dakota's oil boom, my husband’s job at Motorola took him to Williston, ND to oversee a project building out the area’s cellular network. The weeks he spent on that project were some of the most difficult of his life, and his descriptions of the…
"To cherish what remains of the Earth and to foster its renewal is our only legitimate hope of survival.''Wendall Berry James Rebanks on his farm in the Lakes District of Great Britain. I've read several books this year with strong environmental themes. The latest is Pastoral Song by James Rebanks, an eloquent recount of a British…
Generally speaking, I like three things in my crime fiction: a twisty puzzle, an engaging protagonist, and a distinctive style. It's the trifecta of crime writing, and I was delighted to discover that Rachel Howzell Hall’s latest thriller, THESE TOXIC THINGS succeeds on all counts. Known for her lauded Detective Lou Norton mysteries, Hall's book…
Cloud Cuckoo Land. It is literary fiction. It is historical fiction. It is contemporary fiction. It is science fiction. It is a masterpiece. Anthony Doerr, who won the Pulitzer Prize in 2014 for his great World War II novel All the Light We Cannot See, has returned with an even better, more inventive creation. This genre-bending…
I now have read all three of Amor Towles’ novels, each published five years apart. The stories are as different as they can be, but all are gems in their own right. Towles’ newest, The Lincoln Highway, confirms to me that he is of one of the great novelists of our time. This road-trip tale,…
I am a firm believer that pets enrich our lives by providing comfort, companionship, purpose, and a whole host of other intangible, but still very real, benefits. If you are lucky enough to be on the receiving end of an animal’s love, then you don’t need me to tell you what’s what because you already…
Dorothea Lange's photograph of Manzanmar Detention Camp. Courtesy of University of California Berkeley, Bancroft Library via California Digital Library. Naomi Hirahara’s new historical thriller tells a riveting story about the Japanese community that settled in Chicago from the World War II internment camps. Hirahara is an award-winning mystery author and a former editor for the…
I admit I am a bit of a chicken. I marvel at people who do scary things I never dream of doing. Bungie jumping. Going into space. Flying an airplane. It's amazing I'm the daughter of a man who trained pilots how to fly in World War II. The beauty of books is that you…
Every time I read a new book, I ask myself whether it will make the annual Staff Favorites booklets I put together at the end of the year. The newest gem I just finished will definitely make the cut. Early Morning Riser’s charming story is driven by its multiple quirky characters. The cheerful protagonist, Jane,…
“How is it possible to become free when you do not even know who you are?”--Libertie Sampson Freedom is a theme woven throughout Kaitlyn Greenidge’s excellent new novel set during and after the Civil War. What does it mean to be free, when you must face other people’s expectations, racism and sexism? Libertie’s father was…
