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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…
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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…
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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…
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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.…
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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…
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Past glories, past sorrows
Every time I read a book by Deborah Crombie or Elizabeth George, I have a flash of envy. These women are Americans, but they write excellent police mystery/suspense fiction set in England. Even the British critics say they do a good job, getting the details right. Not only are they successful authors; they also get…
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Around the world
What a great, immensely entertaining book – and it’s educational, too. This would be a good choice for a book club, for vacation reading or any time you want to get transported by a good story. By Linda C. Brinson EIGHTY DAYS: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland’s History-Making Race Around the World. By Matthew Goodman.…
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So you thought you knew the Lindbergh story
Redemption is sweet. For three years, I’ve had a novel by Melanie Benjamin on my office worktable and on my conscience. I loved her book Alice I Have Been, about the real Alice whom Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) wrote about in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. But I read it at an in-between time in…