Tag: novels

  • Of apes, men and a lot more

    Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson THE HIGH MOUNTAINS OF PORTUGAL. By Yann Martel. Read by Mark Bramhall. Random House Audio. 11 hours; 9CDs. $40. I have not read the other books that Yann Martel has written since his much loved and honored Life of Pi, first published in 2001 and made into a movie in…

  • One terrible mistake

    Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson THE GUEST ROOM. By Chris Bohjalian. Doubleday. 318 pages. $25.95. When I tried to tell a friend about the novel I was reading – a story about a man who offers his home for his younger brother’s bachelor party, only to find himself embroiled in a horror involving two murders,…

  • Love, marriage and so much more

    Bob Moyer takes a look at a novel that’s small in size but big in scope. Reviewed by Robert P. Moyer DEPT. OF SPECULATION. By Jenny Offill. Alfred A. Knopf. 177 pages. $22.95. This concise, evocative novel (readable in one sitting) takes the reader on a roller coaster ride through that treacherous theme park known…

  • Wacky and oh, so true

    Reviewed by Linda C. Brinson Understandably, when newspaper reporters try writing fiction, they’re likely to have a newspaper reporter as a major character. Stephen Roth, who spent 12 years in the trenches as a reporter for newspapers in Missouri and Florida, gives us a good one in Pete Schaefer, an aspiring novelist who’s stuck in…

  • Of Ireland, and the importance of stories

    Fittingly for the first day of summer – and a scorcher – here’s a warm welcome to Tom Dillon, whose first contribution to Briar Patch Books is posted here. Tom is a veteran journalist and all-around good guy. By Tom Dillon THE LAST STORYTELLER: A NOVEL OF IRELAND. By Frank Delaney. Random House. 385 pages.…

  • At home in America

    Got a long driving trip ahead of you? Just like to relax and let somebody tell you stories? Briar Patch Books looks at an audio book that’s a marvelous, poignant family saga that will tug at your emotions and enrich your life. By Linda C. Brinson A GOOD AMERICAN. By Alex George. Read by Gibson…

  • Batter up

    I don’t like to watch baseball on TV, and baseball was not a favorite youth sport of either of my sons, though each tried it at least briefly.  But oh, how I love to go to a Major League Baseball game in summer. My favorite team is the Baltimore Orioles, because my husband and I…