Reviews

Moon over Manifest won the 2011 Newberry award. That was enough reason for me to read it, but I quite enjoyed it and want to offer a few more reasons.

On Labor Day, 1960, before cell phones and GPS devices, the author set out with his poodle, Charley, to see and take the pulse of America.  He took Charley for company and because a dog is a good ambassador when meeting strangers.  In a custom-made camper t

Author Cheryl Unruh revels not just in the expansive Kansas landscape but also its people and places. In Flyover People: Life on the Ground in a Rectangular State, she explores Kansas through perceptive vignettes that show her affection for the state.

Kelley Armstrong has created a whole world similar to ours but with the addition of supernatural creatures, the stuff of myth and legend come to life.  She calls this series, Women of the Otherworld. The first book in the series, Bitten, focuses on Elena, an oddity even for this odd world.

A story of love, class and the “American Way” in Gilded Age England, this is definitely several cuts above the traditional historical romance.   Aptly named Cora Cash is the richest debutante in America in 1893, and her mother will stop at nothing to marry her into British nobility.  Cora, very spoiled and accustomed to her own way, meets Ivo, the D

Marina Singh, Minnesota research pharmacologist, is sent to the Amazon jungle to find the remains of her dead office mate who went there to check progress at the company’s research station.  There are many reasons why she does not want to go, but in the end the pleas of the dead man’s wife force her on in her quest.  Ann Patchett once again transports her

“Pimps make the best librarians. Psycho killers, the worst. Ditto con men…This is at least what I’m told. I wouldn’t know. I’m not a pimp. I’m in a different sort of racket. My name is Avi Steinberg, but in the joint, they call me Bookie.”

I began reading George R.R.

To this day “Tiffany” is synonymous with beautiful stained glass windows and lamps.  Although never receiving credit, it is generally agreed that women designed and made most of the early lamps and more intricate windows.  Their leader was