Oscar Wars is very long and detailed-500 pages of actual text and another 100 of sources. The strongest bit was the first 1/3 or so when he writes about the Academy’s early days and “Old Hollywood”. Then he strays from the long-established pattern of talking about the literal making of the movies and the stars … Continue reading
I have some mixed feelings about Confessions. It looks like it’s just coming out here in the US after the sitcom that is based on it finished airing. It’s coming out in September so maybe they are trying to get it out before the second season airs? The show was a mid season replacement and … Continue reading
I was a little disappointed by Mott Street. It’s a fascinating history and family story but I felt like the author veered too far into the speculative at times. Sometimes she would start anecdotes with phrases like “I wonder if this is what it was like”, “Maybe she felt like this” which is fine and … Continue reading
Honestly, I was a little disappointed by Unraveled. I almost didn’t request it because I had her confused with the odious Peggy Noonan and thought what a waste of a good idea on her! Then I realized my mistake and waited weeks to get it. I thought this would be a real book highlight of … Continue reading
A Stolen Child was a little different than the previous three Maggie D’Arcy books. There is a big time jump between the last one and this one so Maggie is now completed training to be an Irish police officer, living with her boyfriend, his son and her daughter after spending much of the training apart. … Continue reading
I have been wanting to find some easy-to-read but not childlike mystery series to get into and stumbled across the Maggie D’arcy book four on Netgalley. I requested the first three from various library systems and have been working my way through them. I like the settings of each one and the mysteries are fairly … Continue reading
After reading Those People Next Door (I read this book as an ARC entitled Perfectly Nice Neighbors which I believe is the UK title but it’s on Amazon as TPND) I read that the author’s other books were legal thrillers which surprised me because the court case was a real low part of the book. … Continue reading
I have followed the author of The Survivalists on Twitter for years and was really excited about the book. I suggested it to several library systems to buy. I enjoyed her Grub Street Diet which I read after the book and filled in some blanks for me. I too grew up eating seasonally because it … Continue reading
Vanishing Fleece was fairly interesting but I can’t get over that she built a career of writing about yarn but never, until this book, knew much about how it was made? I still don’t know how much she knows, a lot of the details are a little glossed over—she talks about things like ply, staple … Continue reading
I will say up front I never really watched Friends, have no real interest in Friends, and even when it was first airing I felt it was an oddly retrograde throwback show to an imaginary all-white NYC where no one really had to work to live. That said, it was impossible to avoid reading about … Continue reading
Rachel Reads Books 