Not long ago a book sneaked up on me. The paperback of Valerie Trueblood’s Terrarium hit the shelves of Madison Books, which served as a reminder that I’d had the hardcover sitting unread on my nightstand for far too long. I tried one story in the collection, then another, and kept going until the characters began …
This British cozy mystery series focuses on a talented but deeply flawed detective. Agatha Raisin smokes, drinks, and is incredibly vain–on the other hand, she sure loves her cats! She doesn’t do much investigating in this one, focusing mostly on her always messy love life, but as a fan I enjoyed spending time in Agatha’s …
Esi Edugyan’s Washington Black is calling to us from the table over there. The paperback edition has a much more evocative cover (even though we are fans of big block text), highlighting Edugyan’s larger-than-life story of George Washington Black, an eleven-year-old field slave from Barbados, who has some adventures. Some adventures. We make it sound …
I have been a book professional since 1974. In the course of my career, I have met many authors. Some have become friends. Bharti Kirchner is one. I try not to let friendship get in the way of honest reviews. Ms Kirchner has written several books in the fields of cooking and fiction. Season of Sacrifice is the first …
Biography at its finest. I couldn’t put it down. As a Jackson fan, I was delighted to learn more about the author of my favorites: The Haunting of Hill House, We Have Always Lived in the Castle, and “The Lottery.“ As a woman, I was heartbroken to learn how sexism and misogyny affected Jackson. As a …
I’m fussy about fantasy. I need more than a D&D transcript and those epic series of epicness (looking at you, Jordan, Martin, Eddings etc) are work. But sometimes the freshest thing you can do to a genre doesn’t involve razing everything to the ground, but tweaking one aspect and taking that change very seriously. Enter …
We can thank Mr. Cantero for a dark, but funny, campy trip down memory lane. Be warned, these characters are not the same ones we remember– they have grown up damaged, made mistakes and have become more dimensional– with all the baggage that implies. Great fun! Loved the book! –Melanie, The Well-Read Moose, Coeur d’Alene, …
