Briar Patch Books

Category: Contemporary literary fiction

  • The Other World, in Ireland

    We will forgive Paul O’Connor if he’s bit of a Hibernophile and that proclivity have influenced his reaction to this historical novel. I am certain that if the book hadn’t been well written, he would have let us know in no uncertain terms. Reviewed by Paul T. O’Connor LAND. By Maggie O’Farrell. Alfred A. Knopf.…

  • Unhappy families can be entertaining

    Paul O’Connor says he bought this book to show support for a friend, but he read it because the story and the writing drew him in. Reviewed by Paul T. O’Connor. THE RESETTLEMENT OF VESTA BLONIK. By Denise Smith Cline. Regal House Publishing. 251 pages. $19.95, softcover. Leo Tolstoy taught us that all families are…

  • What it’s all about …

    Paul O’Connor takes a look at a recent literary thriller by Charlotte McConaghy, a noted Australian author with a strong interest in the environment and the effects of climate change, He warns: Don’t start this book if you don’t have time to finish promptly. Reviewed by Paul T. O’Connor WILD DARK SHORE. By Charlotte McConaghy.…

  • Mosley changes pace, but not his message

    Bob Moyer, long a fan of Walter Mosley and his outstanding mystery novels, takes a look at the author’s new book that’s a coming-of-age story rather than anything needing detective skills. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer GHALEN: A Romance in Black. By Walter Mosley. Amistad. 368 pages. $30. Walter Mosley writes great mystery novels. That’s…

  • Jane Austen, with a mysterious twist

    Did you ever have the pleasure of reading Jane Austen’s novels? Although I was an English major in college, journalism courses accounted for many of my English hours. Otherwise, I took the usual Chaucer, Shakespeare, Milton, etc., and then studied as much American literature as I could. It was a few years later, when I…

  • Being human in a tempestuous world

    Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson THE MARRIAGE BED. By Tommy Hays. Blair/Carolina Wren Press. 300 pages. $27.95. On what starts out seeming like a typical Tuesday evening, Asa Flowers drives home from his job teaching poetry at a small college in Asheville, N.C. The car radio tells him storm clouds will be heading that way…

  • A road trip into an insightful novel

    Bob Moyer reviews a new novel that he believes is an “instant classic.” Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer THE REST OF OUR LIVES. By Ben Markovits. Simon & Schuster. 240 pages. $28. John Steinbeck, Robert Pirsig, Jack Kerouac—and Ben Markovits, all authors of classic road trip books. The first three authors are well-known, of course,…

  • A cat, books, a story … need we say more?

    Need a change of pace? Bob Moyer reviews a novel that is probably unlike anything you’ve read in a long time. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer THE CAT WHO SAVED BOOKS. By Sosuke Natsukawa. Translated by Louise Heal Kawai. Harpervia. 208 pages.  $15.19, paperback. A cat. Books. What more do you want you want? Well,…

  • The personal, and the political

    Bob Moyer says this accomplished new novel by Bernhard Schlink tells us a lot about modern-day Germany and the new-Nazi movement. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer THE GRANDDAUGHTER. By Bernhard Schlink. HarperVia. 336 pages. $28.99 Bernhard Schlink gave us one of the most accomplished novels of the 20th century, capturing the zeitgeist of post-war Germany.…

  • The dancing woman speaks to us all

    Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson DANCING WOMAN. By Elaine Neill Orr. Blair/Carolina Wren Press. 291 pages. $28.95, hardcover. Elaine Neill Orr is a gifted writer whose works are inspired and enriched by her creative temperament and her unusual perspective on the world. In her third novel, Dancing Woman, she is perhaps at the height of…