-
A chorus of voices from our past
The saga of the Japanese “picture brides” who came from Japan to California after World War I is a sad chapter of American history that is unfamiliar to many of us. More of us know a little about the later internment of these women and their families, along with other Japanese Americans, during World War…
-
A wonderful book, with flowers
Here’s another one of those books I might have missed had I not listened to its audio version during my commute (and, truth be told, sometimes while driving a little extra to see what happens next). And what a loss that would have been. This book is a true work of art. By Linda Brinson…
-
Life, love and danger in old Puerto Rico
Warning: Here’s another audio book that might make you waste precious gasoline if you listen, as I do, while you are driving. There are many passages in this book where I was unwilling to stop listening, even if I was about to reach my destination. By Linda Brinson CONQUISTADORA. By Esmeralda Santiago. Random House Audio.…
-
Another place, another time
Steve Wishnevsky takes a look at a first novel that intrigues him as much for the history it offers as for the story it tells. By Stephen Wishnevsky LOISAIDA. By Dan Chodorkoff. Fomite. 348 pages. $14.95. This is an interesting first novel, a bit stiff perhaps, but a valuable look at an erased piece of…
-
From the days when a story was a story
Bob Moyer enjoys new stories from an old favorite author, who died in 2007. By Robert Moyer WHILE MORTALS SLEEP. By Kurt Vonnegut. Delacorte Press. 253 pages. $27. Maybe it’s because we miss him. Maybe it’s because the editor put the best of these stories at the back of the book. For whatever reason, these…
-
Red clay, bad blood
Valerie Nieman is a seasoned journalist, a novelist and a poet. She uses all those experiences and talents to good effect in this, her third novel. Originally from western New York State, Valerie Nieman teaches writing at N.C. A&T State University in Greensboro, N.C. She arrived in North Carolina via West Virginia, where she graduated…
-
Back on the mean streets
Bob Moyer has been reading Walter Mosley’s new series again – with pleasure. By Robert Moyer WHEN THE THRILL IS GONE. By Walter Mosley. Riverhead Books. 368 pages. $26.95 Leonid McGill makes only his third appearance in Walter Mosley’s new series, but we’ve seen his kind before — the hard-boiled kind. Short, stocky and deadly,…
-
A little magic to spice things up
Sarah Addison Allen, whose novels of magical realism are deservedly popular, makes good use of her North Carolina heritage in her writing. She’s a proud Asheville native: She was born there, spent almost all her childhood there, graduated from UNC Asheville and lives there still in a house she inherited from a great-aunt. Her four…