Reviews

For those familiar with Jane Rizzoli and Maura Isles, the story opens with Maura preparing for a two-week vacation in rural Maine at Evensong, the school that Julian “Rat” Perkins has been attending since he and Maura survived a harrowing ordeal in Ice Cold.  Julian, now 16, loves the unique and isolated school where all of the students have survived some traged

Do you ever wonder what would happen if several teenage beauty contestants crashed on a seemingly deserted island? This book is about survival:  Can a bunch of pretty teenagers work together or will they die trying?  Then there are the countless others who are sure the teenagers won’t survive more than a couple of weeks.

Cypress

n.    1. Any of various evergreen trees or shrubs of the genus Cupressus, native to Eurasia and  North America and having opposite, scale-like leaves and globose woody cones. 

 2. Cypess branches used as a symbol of mourning.

I admit: The reason I first picked up a book by Ayelet Waldman is because I have a literary crush on her husband, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Michael Chabon.  I wanted to get into the head of Waldman, to see what Chabon sees in her.  After having devoured all seven of her Mommy-Track Mystery series, I understand her appeal.

Sometimes called The Grapes of Wrath for Mexicans seeking refuge in the U.S., this political novel follows two families:  Candido and America; and Kyra and Delaney.  Candido has been to the U.S.

If you are a fan of Moning’s Highlander series you won’t want to miss this companion novella in which another modern young woman finds her true love in the Scottish Highlands of the distant past.  Working as a barista to pay the bills while writing romance novels and receiving rejection letter after rejection letter from publishers, Jane Sillee is lo

I was rapt with joy upon discovering that the library had acquired the first U.S. release of the Scala & Kolacny Brothers choir. Trying to explain what it is that Scala & Kolacny Brothers exactly do is like trying to explain to an old Italian woman who has never been to the U.S.

The narrative non-fiction book, Hellhound on His Trail: The Stalking of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Hampton Sides, tracks the parallel movements of MLK, Jr.

Several years ago I stumbled upon a blog about Louis Armstrong’s career (dippermouthblogspot.com) written by Ricky Riccardi.  Now Riccardi has written What a Wonderful World:  The Magic of Louis Armstrong’s Later Years. He is currently the

Contemporary author, Nadine Gordimer, writes with compassion about her native land.