I spent months reading this book, which is unusual for me. I tend to read a book straight through once I’ve started, but with this book (and maybe given the time I was reading it) I felt I needed to go slow and take breaks. There are parts of this book I flew through, and … Continue reading
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 novel, The Bishop’s Girl. It’s a story about a team of archivists who are trying to solve a 100-year old mystery about an unknown woman found in the grave … Continue reading
Ghost Talkers is an ideal summer vacation read if you like historical and paranormal fiction. Set in Le Havre during World War I, it’s about a team of women who are helping the British troops by serving as mediums. Their role is to channel the dead, collecting the last messages and more importantly, the last observations of … Continue reading
I wanted to love this book by the author of Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand. I didn’t love it, a problem I’m having with a lot of books this year. I expected the book to be different from Major Pettigrew, so that wasn’t the problem. I was disappointed with the lack of character development and the … Continue reading
When I’m reading a novel about a historical figure, I want the book to be factual enough that I get a good sense of who the person was. I also want it to have an interesting story. And finally, if I admire the person, I don’t want it to be a story that makes me … Continue reading
I don’t usually review a Book 2 in a series, but I wanted to write about this one because I just didn’t enjoy it as much as the first. I love a good historical mystery, and Bess Crawford is a strong character as a British World War I nurse serving in France. The first book … Continue reading
I really enjoyed this historical novel about World War I. It focuses on a very specific group: the lives of Harvard and Radcliffe students at the outbreak of World War I. Helen Brooks is an upper-class student attending Radcliffe in the fall of 1914. She’s embarrassed by her mother, an activist most recently arrested for … Continue reading
The Beekeeper’s Apprentice is Laurie R. King’s take on Sherlock Holmes towards the end of his career. In this first book of a series, Holmes meet fifteen-year-old Mary Russell, an independent girl who is as clever and observant as he is. As the title suggests, he begins tutoring her in the ways of detective work, … Continue reading
I was excited about this book, because I’ve been looking for a good historical mystery to sink my teeth into for a while. I love the Monk series by Anne Perry, and I used to like C.S. Harris’ Sebastian series, but it’s gotten a little repetitive and less historical. The other books that get recommended … Continue reading
In my last post, I recommended a book called Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld. Westerfeld is one of my favorite YA writers. He’s written the Uglies and Midnighters series, and this latest series is set in 1914 in a steampunk version of World War I. Behemoth is book 2 of this series. In Leviathan, the first … Continue reading
