It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. Posted: Review: A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah Review: Summer Rental by Mary Kay Andrews, read by Isabel Keating Review: Bliss by Kathryn Littlewood Review: Mermaids in the Basement by Michael Lee West Read: Nothing. I Continue Reading…
Renata DeChavannes is reeling from personal loss. She runs home to her grandmother in Alabama, seeking answers to questions about her mother. I don’t have a lot to say except that I can’t help but feel like this has been done before. Younger generation, digging in the past, looking for parents’ secrets. Sound familiar? I’m Continue Reading…
The Bliss family has a secret. A lot of bakeries say that their pastries are like magic but their pastries really are magic. Oldest daughter Rose loves helping out in the kitchen but she hasn’t been allowed to do much more than fetch ingredients and she’s never been entrusted with any magical recipes. But when Continue Reading…
Old friends Ellis, Julia, and Dorie have rented a beach house on the Outer Banks of North Carolina for a month. They’ve realized that their lives are moving along quickly and they want to spend some time together again. Ellis makes the arrangements and they all show up for a lazy vacation for the month Continue Reading…
Ishmael Beah was about 12 years old when Sierra Leone’s civil war found him. He and his brother were visiting friends in a neighboring town and got cut off from their family. Their world descends into chaos and they are left trying to survive on their own. Oh my gosh. This was just heartbreaking. I Continue Reading…
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. Posted: Review: The House at the End of Hope Street by Menna von Praag Review: This is How You Lose Her by Junot DÃaz Read: A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmael Beah Summer Rental by Mary Kay Continue Reading…
Yunior has cheated one too many times. The smartass Dominican narrator of The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is just not in a good place. In a series of short stories set around different events in his life, he reflects on how he has arrived at this point. This is so hard for me Continue Reading…
Alba Ashby is mortified. On the cusp of a brilliant career as a historian, she’s lost everything, including her hope. Then she finds herself at the house at the end of Hope Street. Peggy, the eccentric caretaker of the home, invites Alba in and starts to regale her with stories of the house’s more famous Continue Reading…
It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? is hosted by Sheila at Book Journey. Posted: From Notting Hill With Love…Actually by Ali McNamara: Review Oral History by Lee Smith: Review I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith: Review Read: Oral History by Lee Smith This Is How You Lose Her by Junot DÃaz Bliss by Kathryn Continue Reading…
Cassandra Mortmain lives in a castle. Don’t let that fool you–the castle is crumbling around her family’s ears. Her father had the (mis)fortune to publish an incredible book early in his career and he hasn’t been able to write another word since. In other words, the family is practically destitute. But then the owner of Continue Reading…
The Cantrell family has lived in Hoot Owl Holler in the mountains of Virginia for as long as anyone can remember. They love hard, play hard, and suffer deeply. There doesn’t seem to be any in-between for them. Oral History follows…let’s call it three…generations of Cantrells, starting with handsome Almarine and his run-in with a Continue Reading…