Review: Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
I always appreciate historical fiction that covers an event that I should be aware of. Salt to the Sea is about the sinking of the Wilhelm…
Why do we read books that scare us?
As Halloween approached, I’ve been thinking about scary books and why we read them. With all the horror in the news, my work colleagues have been…
Review of Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
I read Pachinko for a book club and also for my Reading All Around the World challenge. This book was also listed frequently as one of…
Birdcage Walk by Helen Dunmore
This is my first novel by Helen Dunmore, a well-known British author of historical fiction. This was, in fact, her final book, as she died this…
The Good People by Hannah Kent
This is Hannah Kent’s second book, after her superb Burial Rites, which was about an 1829 true crime in Iceland. Like Burial Rites, this one is…
Best Books of Summer Part Two: Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
This was a powerful book about the impacts of slavery, and for me it was another book of summer that completely lived up to the hype. …
Miss Kopp’s Midnight Confessions by Amy Stewart
I love this series, which is about a real-life woman in the 1910’s who was one of the first female deputy sheriffs. Amy Stewart builds the…
Reading Diversely: Around the World Reads
This year, I’m focusing on reading more diverse books, which includes reading books about other countries. And so far this year I’ve made a good effort. Of…
The Shadow Land by Elizabeth Kostova
Kostova’s new novel is reminiscent of The Historian, in that it’s a big, sweeping tale that will take the reader all over modern-day Eastern Europe. It’s…
News of the World by Paulette Jiles
I loved everything about this book, from its understated tone to its slowly developing relationship between a retired Civil War Captain and a young girl who…
The Bishop’s Girl by Rebecca Burns
I loved Burns’ two books of short stories, Catching the Barramundi and The Settling Earth so I was happy to receive a copy of her first…
Everyone Brave is Forgiven by Chris Cleave
There’s no shortage of great historical novels written about World War II. This is a good one – probably not one of the best, but I…
