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From Hogwarts to Pagford
Harry Potter, it’s not. But that’s OK, says Steve Wishnevsky, who has just read J.K. Rowling’s first novel for adults. By Stephen Wishnevsky THE CASUAL VACANCY. By J.K. Rowling. Little, Brown 512 pages. $35. This is an odd, very understated slice-of-life novel, touted as Rowling’s first adult novel. About half of the main characters are…
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Mortality in the bayous
In case anyone wonders about the high-tech and high-brow credentials of this blog, I am posting a picture of how books for review are exchanged. In this picture, you can see Bob Moyer and his Harley, which he recently rode to Walnut Cove, N.C., for an editorial meeting with me. After a delicious lunch of…
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Recipe for entertainment
Want a book about travel, French food and wine, romance – and, oh yes, a good police mystery? Our world-traveling reviewer, Bob Moyer, has just the story for you. By Robert Moyer THE CROWDED GRAVE. By Martin Walker. Knopf. 324 pages. $24.95. Bruno, chief of police in the small French village of St. Denis, has…
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A wonderful deception
Sometimes I choose to listen to an audiobook because I figure I’d never read the print version. That’s especially true in the case of serious nonfiction books. Perhaps because I worked in the newspaper business for so long, I have a difficult time making myself read nonfiction for pleasure. I started listening to the book…
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Does Spenser really live on?
Here’s another review Bob Moyer sent along during his sabbatical in Europe. He’s a longtime fan of Spenser as created by the late Robert B. Parker, so you know he read with a discerning eye the first Spenser novel to appear since Parker died in 2010. By Robert Moyer Robert B. Parker’s LULLABY: A Spenser…
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They make a case, but it’s hard to listen to it
Paul O’Connor is back in North Carolina, back in the UNC classroom, and back in the midst of the noisy political season. By Paul T. O’Connor IT’S THE MIDDLE CLASS, STUPID. By James Carville and Stan Greenberg. Penguin Audio. 6 CDs. $29.95. Read by the authors but adapted. Also available in hardcover from Blue Rider…