Category: Award winners
Review: Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk
I read this for my book club and really enjoyed it. This is the kind of book you put down and then you find yourself thinking about long afterwards. This author won the Nobel Prize in 2018, and I can see why. It’s kind of a strange… Continue Reading “Review: Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk”
Review: Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko
I love reading about Australia, ever since I traveled there in 2013. I was struck by the similarities in the history of Australia and the United States, though I felt Australia was much more open about its troubling treatment of Aboriginal populations. Too Much… Continue Reading “Review: Too Much Lip by Melissa Lucashenko”
Review: Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
I couldn’t be happier that Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet won this year’s Women’s Prize. I love O’Farrell but I worried that this book couldn’t live up to my expectations, after all the rave reviews. It absolutely did. Hamnet is about William Shakespeare, though he’s never… Continue Reading “Review: Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell”
Reading the Women’s Prize 2020 Nominees
Every year I put a lot of Women’s Prize nominees on my TBR list. Early in the calendar year, the Women’s Prize announces its longlist of 16 books. These are books written by women and published in the previous year. They must be written… Continue Reading “Reading the Women’s Prize 2020 Nominees”
Looking Forward to the 2020 Women’s Prize Longlist
My favorite book list of the year is The Women’s Prize longlist, which will be announced March 3. These are sixteen novels that are in the running to win the Prize, and I get a lot of great reads from this list (though I’m… Continue Reading “Looking Forward to the 2020 Women’s Prize Longlist”
Review: Autonomous by Annalee Newitz
I wasn’t sure I’d like this book at first. I don’t love science fiction that focuses too much on technology at the expense of character development, and this book features a high-tech robot as a main character. I read it because I needed a… Continue Reading “Review: Autonomous by Annalee Newitz”
Review: Lucky Broken Girl by Ruth Behar
I absolutely loved this children’s book about a girl from a Cuban-Jewish family living in New York who is seriously injured in a car accident and ends up in a full body cast. It’s a perfect book for children in about 3rd-4th grade who… Continue Reading “Review: Lucky Broken Girl by Ruth Behar”
Review: The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish
I recommend this historical novel about two researchers who discover a cache of letters from the 1660s about a rabbi in London and the young Jewish woman he’s taken in, Ester Velasquez. The rabbi and Ester have emigrated from Amsterdam, but before that they… Continue Reading “Review: The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadish”
Reading the Hugo Nominees: Time to Vote!
This year I read nearly all of the Hugo nominees for best novel and best novella, because my husband and I get to vote for the winners. Voting closes at the end of this month and the results will be announced at WorldCon at… Continue Reading “Reading the Hugo Nominees: Time to Vote!”
Reading the 2019 Women’s Prize Longlist
Every year I read as much of the Women’s Prize longlist as I can. Not for any challenge, but just because it’s a great source of reading material and one that continues to get more diverse. It doesn’t matter much to me who makes… Continue Reading “Reading the 2019 Women’s Prize Longlist”
Review: Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
It’s hard to say this book was fun, since it involved more violently ill characters than any other book I can think of… but it’s a page turner and yes, a lot of fun too. Time travel, the Middle Ages, plague, and Christmas –… Continue Reading “Review: Doomsday Book by Connie Willis”
Reading the Hugo Nominees
This year my husband signed up to vote in the Hugo Awards, and together we’re reading as many of the nominees as possible. Voting runs from May 11 to July 31, and the awards are announced in August at WorldCon in Dublin. As described… Continue Reading “Reading the Hugo Nominees”
