This week’s Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl, is a “genre freebie”. I decided to write about something that I’ve been reading lately, historical fantasy novels. By this I don’t mean fantasy novels set in the past, I mean books that are primarily historical fiction, focusing on actual history and real places,…
This is a humorous and emotional saga of a Vietnamese family in America. Though not a perfect book for me, I expect this book will resonate quite a bit with those who are mothers and who are Vietnamese-American. Generations ago, the family is cursed because a woman runs off with a man who isn’t her…
I appreciate books that are hard to categorize because they cross genres. Not surprisingly, this debut novel by Blitz Bazawule, a musician, artist, and filmmaker, does exactly that. The Scent of Burnt Flowers tells the story of a young Black couple, Melvin and Bernadette, who flee the United States in 1966, after a violent altercation with…
I loved this book, set in 18th century England, about a lonely merchant who comes upon a mermaid that changes his life. Gowar’s debut novel is one of those rare books you can’t possibly categorize – is it historical fiction, fantasy, romance, or just literature? I heard of this book when it was nominated and…
Blackbird House is a difficult book to describe, but if you’ve read anything by Alice Hoffman you know her books can be a little unusual. She has a poetic, mystical way of writing. Instead of complexity and nuance, you get emotion and spirit and beauty. I’ve read a lot of her books but I think…
The Book Stop 