Time Shelter – Georgi Gospodinov

Meme after meme after meme- often referring back to my own baby boomer childhood - suggest that everything was perfect in the past, with well-behaved children who played outdoors and housewives and dinner together and church. You know what I mean. These memes don't mention Joseph McCarthy, the Korean or Vietnam wars, Jim Crow, the … Continue reading Time Shelter – Georgi Gospodinov →

Overboard – Sara Paretsky (Audible)

Overboard meets the high standards Sara Paretsky has set for this always engaging, well-plotted series with great characters… including as a character the windy city. This is the first time I read a V.I. Warshawski novel via audible and I definitely had some "driveway" moments where I sat to listen to the next ten, no-- … Continue reading Overboard – Sara Paretsky (Audible) →

You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey – Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar (Audible)

This is a series of anecdotes all horrifying, in fact, but written by a comedian and gifted writer and performed by both sisters, mostly Amber Ruffin. Most of the stories expose isolated incidents of or long periods of racism experienced within neighborhoods, rural/suburban communities, public school classrooms and church youth groups experienced by one person, … Continue reading You’ll Never Believe What Happened to Lacey – Amber Ruffin and Lacey Lamar (Audible) →

The Surgeon’s Daughter – Audrey Blake (Audio)

The Surgeon's Daughter is set in the mid-1840s in London, England and Bologna, Italy. Eleanore "Nora" Beady was a small child when renowned English surgeon Horace Croft attended her family for a serious illness. Her parents and siblings died and he took Nora to his home so she could recover. She never left. Dr. Croft … Continue reading The Surgeon’s Daughter – Audrey Blake (Audio) →

Spare Parts – Paul Craddock

Spare Parts is a very readable history of the evolution of transplants of human body parts, from skin grafts through heart/lung and covering many centuries. Craddock gives us the science involved in an accessible manner. The entire book is my favorite kind of history, full of social, political and cultural context. From earliest times, we … Continue reading Spare Parts – Paul Craddock →

The Murder of Mr. Wickham – Claudia Gray

Jane Austen enthusiasts will love this mystery and others will find it an entertaining late Regency period romp through a British house party gone terribly wrong (or right if you see it as many might). As the title and descriptions of this mystery suggest, all of the characters were first found in Jane Austin novels, … Continue reading The Murder of Mr. Wickham – Claudia Gray →

Little Souls- Sandra Dallas (audible)

What a lovely book. I was drawn to Little Souls because it falls at a time when the Spanish Influenza and WWI were simultaneously taking thousands of lives. I thought a story written about this era would be fascinating. But this book is about so much more, although both of those realities of the time … Continue reading Little Souls- Sandra Dallas (audible) →

The School for German Brides – Aimie K. Runyan

Fans of historical fiction, like me, have read lots of books about people in the resistance during WWII or about those who politically opposed Hitler or those who hid Jews. Any decent thinking person will ask from time to time, "why did so many people allow this to happen?" I've gotten cynical enough to say … Continue reading The School for German Brides – Aimie K. Runyan →

In the Face of the Sun – Denny S. Bryce

"In the Face of the Sun" is a portrait of several generations of a Los Angeles family, initially living in a Sears Roebuck home, built from a kit, living a fairly middle class/working class life. In 1928, Daisy and Henrietta still live at home with their parents, but their mother is seriously ill. She suffered … Continue reading In the Face of the Sun – Denny S. Bryce →

Dream Town – David Baldacci

I'm loving the Archer series, with the third entry confirming that David Baldacci has successfully nailed the hard boiled detective genre. When visiting his friend and aspiring star Liberty Callahan on New Years Eve 1953, Archer is drawn into a case when Liberty's friend, Ellie Lamb runs into them at dinner. Ellie is afraid someone … Continue reading Dream Town – David Baldacci →