Fates and Furies
Fates and Furies by Lorna Groff At the conclusion of the first chapter of Lauren Groff’s Fates and Furies, I can already predict the storyline. A golden couple meet at […]
A Visit from the Goon Squad
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan A word of advice before you read Jennifer Egan’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, A Visit from the Goon Squad— it’s not a […]
Eighteen Acres
Eighteen Acres by Nicolle Wallace Crimes of a different nature are exposed in Nicolle Wallace’s novel, Eighteen Acres, White House staffers’ name for their place of employment. Wallace, a bona […]
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead by Olga Tokarczuk Recommended by my literary friend Laurel, this novel by Polish author Olga Tokarczuk, winner of the Noble Prize […]
Diary of a Provincial Lady
Diary of a Provincial Lady by E.M. Delafield Published in 1930, Diary of a Provincial Lady is the gently satiric fictional diary of an upper-middle-class lady living in a Devonshire […]
Dear American Airlines
Dear American Airlines by Jonathan Miles An irresponsible husband, a drunk, and an unemployable poet and translator, Benjamin R. Ford will never be nominated for a distinguished citizen award. However, […]
Cloud Atlas
Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell When the review in The New York Times stated, “it is not unheard of for a novelist of exceptional talent to write a deliberately difficult […]
City of Girls
City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert After that ridiculous Eat, Pray, Love, I removed author Elizabeth Gilbert from my reading lists, forever. But on the recommendation of a friend, I […]
City of Thieves
City of Thieves by David Benioff At first glance, a novel about two young men who meet in Leningrad during the Nazi siege sounds unpromising. Russian novels (about or by) […]
All Adults Here
All Adults Here by Emma Straub Astrid Strick is experiencing an unusual crisis of confidence. After a random traffic accident stirs up uncomfortable memories, the perennially poised and controlling sixty-eight-year-old […]
Circe
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 […]
Bringing Home The Birkin
Bringing Home the Birkin by Michael Tonello BHTB is a chick-lit novel, although at first glance it violates a few standards of the genre. It is not written by a […]
Bridge of Sighs
Bridge Of Sighs by Richard Russo Last month I had dinner at The Palm with a dozen or so women. Toward the end of the meal I asked (apropos of […]
Binocular Vision
Binocular Vision by Edith Pearlman I love a late life success story, so I was thrilled when my book club chose a collection of short stories, Binocular Vision, by Edith […]
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk by Ben Fountain When a reviewer declares that Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, “is as close to the Great American Novel as anyone is likely […]