When I posted about The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides, I wondered how many people actually engage with the text of mysteries or thrillers instead of just skimming to find out how the story ends. Michaelides leads the reader along so scintillatingly that a large part of the pleasure of reading this novel lies in […]
Close Reading: A Pivotal Scene in “The Silent Patient” Read More »
What? I read only three books this month? I can’t even begin to figure out how I read so little. The Three-Body Problem is quite long, but still . . . What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty Pan Macmillan, 2009, rpt.2018 Recommended When we had to come home early from our world cruise, we flew
Books I Read in April Read More »
Grafton, Sue. Y is for Yesterday Random House Audio, © 2017 (print edition also © 2017) Recommended I’m always eager to read the newest installment of Grafton’s Kinsey Millhone series. However, this time my pleasure in digging into it was bittersweet. Y is, after all, the penultimate letter of the alphabet. This time Kinsey is
Review: “Y Is for Yesterday” Read More »
Background: Genre Fiction Genre is a term applied to different kinds of literature that can be defined by their subject matter, form, or technique. According to A Handbook to Literature, 7th ed., by William Harmon & C. Hugh Holman (Prentice Hall, 1996): Genre classification implies that there are groups of formal or technical characteristics among
Review: “The Blinds” Read More »
Kubica, Mary. Every Last Lie Harlequin Audio, © 2017 (print edition also © 2017) I enjoyed Mary Kubica’s first three novels: The Good Girl (2014), Pretty Baby (2015), and Don’t You Cry (2016). Each features a twist at the end. But these twists aren’t simple plot tricks designed to shock or titillate readers. Rather, they
Review: “Every Last Lie” Read More »
Connelly, Michael. The Late Show Hachette Audio, © 2017 ISBN 978–1–619–69430–9 (print book © 2017) Recommended Michael Connelly is one of my favorite authors. His two series characters are LAPD homicide detective Harry Bosch and criminal defense lawyer Mickey Haller, known as the Lincoln lawyer because he works primarily from the back seat of a
Review: “The Late Show” Read More »
Crouch, Blake. Dark Matter Crown, © 2016 ISBN 978–1–101–90422–0 Highly recommended It’s the beautiful thing about youth. There’s a weightlessness that permeates everything because no damning choices have been made, no paths committed to, and the road forking out ahead is pure, unlimited potential. (p. 10) I don’t give out many five-star ratings, but this
Review: “Dark Matter” Read More »
Maxwell, William. So Long, See You Tomorrow Random House, 1980 ISBN 0–679–76720–7 I very much doubt that I would have remembered for more than fifty years the murder of a tenant farmer I never laid eyes on if (1) the murderer hadn’t been the father of somebody I knew, and (2) I hadn’t later on
Review: “So Long, See You Tomorrow” Read More »
Moriarty, Liane. Big Little Lies Berkley, 2014 ISBN 978–0–399–58720–7 I hadn’t read any of Liane Moriarty’s books, although I kept seeing them recommended. I picked up this one when I heard that HBO was making it into a series. Set in a suburban seaside town in Australia, the novel delves into the lives and interactions
Book Review: “Big Little Lies” Read More »
Asher, Jay. Thirteen Reasons Why Penguin Random House, 2007 978–1–59514–188–0 Originally published in 2007, this book recently received renewed interest when streaming service Netflix made it into a series. In fact, that’s why I bought and read it. The story comprises 13 cassette recordings left by teenager Hannah Baker for the people who contributed to
Thoughts on “Thirteen Reasons Why” Read More »
