-
Gorillas, evolution and adventure
My husband says he can’t drive while listening to an audio book – it’s too distracting. But I can (and usually do), except when traffic gets bad or directions confusing. On a recent trip, I took the wheel so that we could listen to a book I thought we’d both enjoy. I was right. He’s…
-
The prim, the proper, the depraved
Most of us know, through Charles Dickens or other sources, something of the seamy side of Victorian England and how difficult life was for the poor people of the day. Anne Perry’s two outstanding series of historical novels set in that period also shed light into some of the darker corners of life among the…
-
Life in a van, and a lot more
By Linda C. Brinson If you have access to the Greensboro News & Record today (May 26), please read my interview with Ken Ilgunas and my review of his book Walden on Wheels. The N&R doesn’t provide its copy free online, so I can’t offer a link. Ken is a thoughtful, engaging young man who’s…
-
A modest civics lesson on a lofty subject
Paul O’Connor (no known relation to Sandra Day O’Connor) is embarking on his annual driving trip, which means lots of good listening/reading time for him, and lots of good reviews for us. By Paul T. O’Connor OUT OF ORDER. By Sandra Day O’Connor. Random House Audio. CDs, 7 Hours. $35. It’s an oddity of America’s…
-
Who’s smart now?
I grew up in a family in which good grades and high test scores were highly prized, and where sibling rivalries could be heated. So the title of Jennifer Close’s second novel caught my eye. The book proved to be what I expected in some ways, and quite different in others. By Linda C. Brinson…
-
All you can read: delicious and satisfying
Want to laugh, cry, shake your head and smile? Need a reminder about the good things in life, the things that help us rise above the setbacks? Then Edward Kelsey Moore’s debut novel is a book for you. By Linda C. Brinson THE SUPREMES AT EARL’S ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT. By Edward Kelsey Moore. Read by Adenrele Ojo…
-
A lesson in loyalty
Bob Moyer’s reviewing has gone to the dogs – in a good way. By Robert Moyer SUSPECT. By Robert Crais. Putnam. 312 pages. $27.95. “Bark bark arf. Bark.”—Spike “Yap yap yap. Yipyip.”—Princess “Woof, woof, wooof.” –Atticus I’m Nesta, and I’ve taken on Bob as my alpha. He asked me to collect a few critical comments…
-
Dashiell Hammett, revisited
What could be better for a fan of hard-boiled detective stories than a novel about the daddy of them all: Dashiell Hammett? Bob Moyer writes that the book itself is a bit of a mystery. By Robert Moyer HAMMETT UNWRITTEN. By Owen Fitzstephen. Notes and Afterword by Gordon McAlpine. Seventh Street Books. 176 pages. $13.95.…
-
Things heat up in Maine
My first experience of Elizabeth Strout’s fiction was with Olive Kitteridge, a collection of linked stories set in Maine, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2009. I applauded that decision, impressed as I was with Strout’s penetrating insights into human emotions, into the ways we sometimes act harshly when we don’t mean it, the ways…