This book was an unexpected delight. I didn’t remember what it was about at all or what it was about but it was on my Amazon wishlist (I’ve since made a dedicated book wish list, why did that take so long?) so I requested it and it was finally available to download to my Kindle. … Continue reading
I’ve read a few books the last couple of days but Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa was my favorite. Translated from Japanese, it is the story of a reluctant dorayaki (a type of pancake filled with sweet bean paste) chef who against his initial impulse hires a woman in her mid-70s to help out at the dorayaki … Continue reading
I’ve read that The Best Kind of People has been optioned by Sarah Polley as a movie and reading it, I can totally see why that would happen. It almost reads like a script as-is (Zoe Whittall does write for television so that makes sense)–a valued member of the community and high school teacher who … Continue reading
A Spool of Blue Thread was not my favorite Anne Tyler. I always liked Ladder of Years best, personally, although now I see the protagonist who seemed like a real, old, established adult to me when I first read it was only supposed to be 40. Oy. Living in Baltimore, I do like to read books that … Continue reading
I have read all of Nick Hornby’s books even the music essay ones and somehow it took me until now to read Funny Girl. I guess my library hiatus had more casualties than I thought. I enjoyed the beginning of the book. Barbara from Blackpool goes from being Miss Blackpool for an hour to … Continue reading
I’m not really sure how I feel about The Expatriates. I recently read The Copenhagen Affair which was also about expats (although the main character in that was an Indian-American woman living in Copenhagen and in The Expatriates the main characters are two white women and a Korean-American woman all living in Hong Kong) and I can’t … Continue reading
I picked up Harmony yesterday morning at the local library. I’ve never actually been in that branch before but it looked okay and the staff seemed more competent than the wackjobs at the Canton branch. I had Harmony on my wishlist for while (Netgalley rejected me for an ARC) so I was excited that it came in … Continue reading
I decided to re-read Is This Tomorrow last night after reading Cruel Beautiful World yesterday morning. I had read it when it came out but it was available for download from the library with no wait so I thought I might as well. I remember liking it at the time and I still enjoyed it this time … Continue reading
I’ve been reading Caroline Leavitt’s books a long time and always enjoy them even if they are occasionally a tad dramatic. Cruel Beautiful World takes place in 1969 when a 16-year-old girl runs off with her charismatic, idealistic, liberal 30-year-old teacher. Not only does running away with a man twice your age and dropping out of … Continue reading
White Fur by Jardine Libaire started out as a fast paced modern, urban Romeo and Juliet story. It was a quick read and engrossing; things seemed to happen to them vs. their making conscious choices. There are a lot of red flags in their relationship–neither seems quite mentally stable but they middle through. Then about … Continue reading
