In a ward in Tokyo there is a community building next to the elementary school. The two buildings used to be attached but now, to get to the community building you have to walk around back to the separate entrance. There are free adult classes, a farmers market some days and a large room that … Continue reading What You Are Looking For Is in the Library – Michiko Aoyama (Audible narrators -Hanako Footman, Susan Momoko Hingley, Kenichiro Thomson, Wilson Ting, Shiro Kawai)
Author: Emily Leader
I have been an avid reader since Dick and Jane met Sally. At age 7, I read my parents' first edition of "To Kill a Mockingbird." I am a retired lawyer and so read almost only fiction for pleasure. I'm adding in nonfiction these days, largely on social justice matters but also history, biography, and weird topics that catch my imagination. I used to read only serially, one book at a time. Presently, I read paperbacks, hardcovers, listen to audible, listen to CDs and read online through Net Galley. Covid-19 has caused me to read a lot so I have re-upped my Goodreads challenge for 2021 and am starting to review at least my favorite finds annd, perhaps, some stinkers.
Caste – Isabel Wilkerson (Audible Audio Narrator – Robin Miles)
Isabel Wilkerson, through one story after another, woven together with historically sound reflections helps us reframe what the USA did. In order to make it work. We've always known our ancestors had to dehumanize the Black people they kidnapped and enslaved, worked to the bone and tortured. But what happened because of that dehumanization was … Continue reading Caste – Isabel Wilkerson (Audible Audio Narrator – Robin Miles)
The Highgate Cemetery Murder – Irina Shapiro (Audio narrator – Imogen Church)
I greatly enjoyed what I now understand to be a first entry in at least a two part series featuring Gemma Tate, a thirty-something year old nurse who served in Crimea under Florence Nightingale and Sebastian Bell, a talented but opium using police detective. It is 1858. Victorian London. Women are decidedly expected to stay … Continue reading The Highgate Cemetery Murder – Irina Shapiro (Audio narrator – Imogen Church)
Neighbors and Other Stories – Diane Oliver (Audio Narrator Emma Rachelle)
I read and thoroughly appreciated the audio version of the short story collection, Neighbors and Other Stories. Diane Oliver wrote the stories in a period of continued civil rights activity in the United States just when the major Civil Rights Acts were before Congress and ultimately passed. She died in 1966, two years after their … Continue reading Neighbors and Other Stories – Diane Oliver (Audio Narrator Emma Rachelle)
Murder Your Employer – Rupert Holmes (audible narrators – Simon Vance and Neil Patrick Harris)
Listening to the Audio Version of this novel is a blast!! It was narrated in part by Neil Patrick Harris, playing Cliff Iverson, a brilliant and well-educated engineer who was fired and defamed by a nefarious boss. In particular, the boss redesigned an aircraft in a way that will kill at least one plane load … Continue reading Murder Your Employer – Rupert Holmes (audible narrators – Simon Vance and Neil Patrick Harris)
Ordinary Human Failings – Megan Nolan (Audio book narrated by Jessica Regan)
Carmel Green at 15 is bright, a good student, an avid reader, the daughter of John and Rose. Her half brother Ritchie is a good bit older the product of John's first marriage. We know early on, in 1990s London, that Carmel's ten year old daughter is Lucy, born out of wedlock, and conceived in … Continue reading Ordinary Human Failings – Megan Nolan (Audio book narrated by Jessica Regan)
A Love Song for Ricki Wilde – Tia Williams (Audio Narrators: Mela Lee and Preston Butler)
I don't do Romance novels. Oops. This is a lovely and well plotted tale of Richard Wilde, Jr. fourth daughter (Ricki) of the Wilde funeral home chain Wildes -- and the misfit. Ricki's older sisters grew up to run franchises and please their Dad. Their mother just drinks booze these days. Ricki just wants to … Continue reading A Love Song for Ricki Wilde – Tia Williams (Audio Narrators: Mela Lee and Preston Butler)
Cloud Cuckoo Land – Anthony Doerr (audio) Narrators – Marin Ireland and Simon Jones
It took me several tries to get into the rhythm of Cloud Cuckoo Land. I felt at first I was stuttering through a series of confusing and incomplete pieces of stories. I was and it was all for a profoundly rewarding purpose! Cloud Cuckoo Land is in fact a tapestry with a theme. It presupposes … Continue reading Cloud Cuckoo Land – Anthony Doerr (audio) Narrators – Marin Ireland and Simon Jones
A Body on the Doorstep (London Ladies’ Murder Club Book 1) – Marty Wingate (Audio) Narrator – Naomi Frederick
Admission: Marty Wingate just got a buyer for all of her mystery series. I loved listening to the audio version of A Body on the Doorstep. I ate it all up as fast as I could, enjoying its historical setting in 1921 London, the cast of characters from the fading music hall actors, to the … Continue reading A Body on the Doorstep (London Ladies’ Murder Club Book 1) – Marty Wingate (Audio) Narrator – Naomi Frederick
The Edge – David Baldacci (Audible Audio Narrators Zachary Webber, Erin Cottrell, Will Collier and Tiffany Smith)
Travis Devine, the 6:20 man and ex-Army Ranger, is back, now working for a a Homeland Security section. His handler, an older former colleague with a lot of confidence in Travis, sends him to Maine to quietly solve the murder of Jenny Silkwell, a CIA operative who returned to her coastal hometown for unspecified reasons. … Continue reading The Edge – David Baldacci (Audible Audio Narrators Zachary Webber, Erin Cottrell, Will Collier and Tiffany Smith)
They Called me Bookworm 