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Wicked River
Here’s our debut review by Paul O’Connor, a veteran news reporter, editorial writer and journalism professor who lives in Raleigh. Paul has traveled the country extensively in recent years, crossing the Mississippi many times. He’s also quite the Mark Twain buff. By Paul T. O’Connor WICKED RIVER: THE MISSISSIPPI WHEN IT LAST RAN WILD. By…
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A Christmas Odyssey
Anne Perry’s Christmas novels have become as much a part of the holiday tradition for me as cutting down and decorating the tree or hanging the stockings by the wood stove. Here’s a look at this year’s. By Linda Brinson A CHRISTMAS ODYSSEY. By Anne Perry. Ballantine Books. 193 pages. $18. In Victorian England, it…
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Worth Dying For
Here’s a new review by Robert Moyer of Winston-Salem, who’s been traveling and reading. Keep watching: In the next few days we’ll have a post by a reviewer who is new to Briar Patch Books. By Robert Moyer WORTH DYING FOR. By Lee Childs. Delacorte Press. 384 pages. $28. Page 128. That’s when fans of Lee…
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I Still Dream About You
Here’s a review of a new audio book. I love listening to books when I’m driving by myself. As much as I love to read the old-fashioned way, I think some books are even better when heard. By Linda Brinson I STILL DREAM ABOUT YOU. By Fannie Flagg. Random House Audio. (Also available from Random…
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The Fuller Memorandum
Here’s our latest post, a sci-fi/urban fantasy book reviewed by Steve Wishnevsky of Winston-Salem. Steve says he’s also reading some more serious fare to review later. By Steve Wishnevsky THE FULLER MEMORANDUM. By Charles Stross. Ace: Berkley Publishing. 320 pages. $24.95. Bob Howard is sort of the anti James Bond, working for “The Laundry,” an…
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The Hare With Amber Eyes
Here’s our latest review, by Robert Moyer of Winston-Salem, whose interests are as wide-ranging as his talents. By Robert Moyer THE HARE WITH AMBER EYES: A Family’s Century of Art and Loss. By Edmund De Waal, Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 351 pages. $26. In the London hallway of potter and author Edmund De Waal, a brass…
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In praise of editors
By Linda Brinson What an interesting feature on National Public Radio this week: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130838304 It seems that even though Jane Austen’s brother Henry said that “Everything came finished from her pen,” the great writer really did need an editor. Recent research shows that Austen’s writing needed quite a bit of work before it became the elegant,…
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Elizabeth’s Women
A North Carolina writer, Anne Clinard Barnhill, offers her first review for Briar Patch Books. Anne lives in Garner. Her first novel, At the Mercy of the Queen, is forthcoming from St. Martin’s Press. Her previous books include At Home in the Land of Oz: Autism, My Sister and Me (memoir, Jessica Kingsley Publisher) and…
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Take a look — Margaret Maron review
By Linda Brinson In my debut book review for the Greensboro News & Record today, I look at Margaret Maron’s latest Deborah Knott mystery, Christmas Mourning. Maron’s series, as her many fans know, is a lot of fun. Her main character, Deborah Knott, is a district court judge in a county near Raleigh, N.C. She has 11…
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Anno Dracula
Just in time for Halloween, Steve Wishnevsky offers a review of a spooky classic. By Steve Wishnevsky ANNO DRACULA. By Kim Newman. Simon and Shuster. 1992. There is a minor branch of Fantasy known as the Pastiche, where the author will jam together fictional and historical characters in a familiar setting, usually for the purposes…