Geraldine Books, the author of March and Year of Wonders, has written another inspired work of historical fiction. People of the Book is the story of an ancient Hebrew manuscript known as the Sarajevo Haggadah, and the book’s conservator, Hanna Heath. The novel alternates between the dramatic ... [Continue Reading]
March by Geraldine Brooks
I was not especially eager to read my book club’s recent selection, March by Geraldine Brooks for two reasons. First, it is a Civil War novel. Despite being dragged by my Dad to every Civil War monument in Middle Tennessee, I am not a Civil War enthusiast. The second reason is that the title ... [Continue Reading]
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
An ECW review from 2008 (pre-blog!) That I would recommend a novel about the end of the world by Cormac McCarthy surprises me too. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t consider a book by McCarthy, who received the 1992 National Book Award for All the Pretty Horses. But several incidents ... [Continue Reading]
The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
The NCN Book Club’s January read was a stunning short story collection, The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, author of the best seller Americanah. As in Americanah, Adichie writes about Nigeria and the Nigerian immigrant experience, but her characters’ jingling anxiety and ... [Continue Reading]
Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret by Craig Brown
If you are a fan of The Crown and enjoy Royal gossip, I recommend Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret, which for lack of a better description, is an unconventional biography. Brown has assembled in no particular order ninety-nine vignettes of the controversial princess taken from ... [Continue Reading]
The Crown in Crisis, Countdown to the Abdication by Alexander Larman
I was disappointed in The Crown in Crisis, Countdown to the Abdication, a day-by-day account of the last month of King Edward VIII’s reign. The author claims to have unearthed unseen archival material and interviews about the crisis in which the king renounces the throne for the woman he loves, the ... [Continue Reading]
The Man Who Ate Too Much by John Birdsall
In 1938, thirty-five-year-old James Beard, college dropout and struggling actor, returned to New York City from his home in Oregon to give acting one last try. Residing with a wealthy roommate at 14 Washington Place, Beard’s theater career never got off the ground, but his side hustle catering ... [Continue Reading]
Manhunt by James L. Swanson
On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth entered the State Box at the Ford Theater in Washington D.C, and shot Abraham Lincoln, who was enjoying a performance of Our American Cousin with his wife and their two guests. Booth then dramatically jumped from the State Box to the stage and escaped by the ... [Continue Reading]
Circe by Madeline Miller
A Feminist Spin on a Greek Myth Circe by Madeline Miller The witch Circe, a resident of the island of Aiaia and a rather minor persona in the pantheon of Greek gods and goddesses, is best known for her encounter with Odysseus in The Odyssey. In Homer’s story, Odysseus and his crew arrive at ... [Continue Reading]
Snow by John Banville a/k/a Benjamin Black
About a decade ago, acclaimed Irish novelist John Banville wrote the first in a series of literary crime novels under the pseudonym Benjamin Black. Set in 1950s Dublin, the novels, featuring pathologist Dr. Quirke and his sidekick Detective Hackett, were surprising best sellers. Emboldened by his ... [Continue Reading]