Bucino is a dwarf employed by one of the most favored courtesans of Rome, Fiammetta Bianchini. When Rome is sacked by Spaniards and Lutherans in 1527, Bucino and Fiammetta barely escape with their lives and a few jewels they managed to swallow. They are forced to start over again in Fiammetta’s native city of Venice. Continue Reading…
Alice Tanner is helping out on an archaeological dig in the south of France when she finds a cave that obviously has some significance. She finds an altar, a labyrinth, and two skeletons inside. Unbeknownst to her, she has stumbled on a secret that a lot of people have been searching for, most who would Continue Reading…
This is primarily the story of Anna Karenina’s troubled affair with Alexey Vronsky. It’s also the story of Konstantin Levin’s search for love and truth in society. While reading this book, I kept wishing that I could just read a “good parts version” as William Goldman called The Princess Bride. I kept getting bogged down Continue Reading…
Warning! This review will be incredibly long because I find it impossible to review a collection of short stories without reviewing each story. Feel free to move along. Overall, this was not a typical Stephen King short story collection. His short stories generally give me nightmares. There were a few horror stories in here, but Continue Reading…
4 Stars. I have to admit that this book spooked me a little. Not too bad, but I wasn’t expecting to be spooked at all. There are, I believe, four different kinds of werewolves running around Chicago, each scarier than the last. And holy cow. The worst is just–man. He’s a monster. So after finding myself out […]
The Poisonwood Bible is about a Southern Baptist family that decides to go be missionaries in the Congo in 1960, just before the country was supposedly granted its independence from Belgium. The Prices didn’t bother with language or culture training, they just took off to spread the word about Jesus. Of course they weren’t prepared Continue Reading…
The Professor is a brilliant mathematician who suffered some brain damage in an automobile accident years ago. He can remember his entire life up until the accident, but afterwards, he only has a memory of the past 80 minutes. Luckily, his sister-in-law steps in to help care for him. She hires housekeepers to come in Continue Reading…
Paul Copeland’s sister disappeared into the woods of their summer camp one night twenty years ago. The bodies of two of her friends were found. She wasn’t. Now, the past is surfacing and the mystery is begging to be solved. Eh. Had this been my first Coben book, I would’ve loved it. As it is, Continue Reading…
Major Ernest Pettigrew is literally reeling around his house in shock on the morning his younger brother dies. A knock comes at his door and it is the lady from the village shop–Mrs. Ali. Mrs. Ali is there to collect money for the paper boy, but she takes one look at the Major and decides Continue Reading…
Young Tristran Thorn (who’s birth is maybe not as…aboveboard…as Victorian society would like) is desperately in love with Victoria Forester. He screws up his courage one night to ask her to kiss him or marry him or just–something! He is met with laughter. In desperation, he offers to slay dragons and bring back treasures for Continue Reading…
In 1925, Percy Fawcett, a seasoned Amazonian explorer, his son and son’s friend set out to find a fabulous city in the Amazon that Fawcett calls only “Z.” The world had become fascinated with the expedition. Fawcett sent back a few reports, but then none of the men were ever heard from again. Over the Continue Reading…