Briar Patch Books

Category: Contemporary literary fiction

  • Away from it all

    In my travels this summer, I’ve seen a lot of people reading on Kindles and other e-readers. I haven’t tried that approach yet. But I do find that I’ve been “reading” about as many books by listening to them on CD when I drive as I do by sitting down and paging through the printed…

  • 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…

  • Coffee and friendship in Kabul

    This book was a delight to listen to on CD, except for one thing – the primary setting is a coffeehouse in Kabul, Afghanistan, and I kept craving a really good cup of coffee whenever driving and “reading.” So far, I listen to audio books only when driving by myself. I know some people listen…

  • Mrs. Hemingway (No. 1) has her say

    This novel has already hit The New York Times best-seller list, and no wonder. By Linda Brinson THE PARIS WIFE. By Paula McLain.  Ballantine Books. 320 pages. $25. You might wonder why Paula McLain would write a novel about a subject that has been so thoroughly covered by other writers, but I am delighted that…

  • Death by incompetence

    Fellow displaced journalist Paul O’Connor (OK, OK, I fired him, but THEY made me do it) reviews a novel about the death of a newspaper. Just reading the review made me sad, but I think I’ll give the book a try anyway. By Paul T. O’Connor THE IMPERFECTIONISTS: A NOVEL.  By Tom Rachman. Dial Press.…