Life After Life explores the concept of reincarnation and how simple decisions can fundamentally alter the course of one’s life. Although I mostly liked it, the story got bogged down in the middle and ended ambiguously. Continue reading
Category Archives: Historical Fiction
Book Review: Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner
I have had good luck recently with reading older books – not quite “classics” but noteworthy in their own time, still thoroughly enjoyable and without the long library hold times of recent releases (bonus!). One example is The Secret of Santa Vittoria, which I read and reviewed earlier this year. Angle of Repose is another example. This novel with a James Bondian title won the 1972 Pulitzer, and it’s no wonder – Wallace Stegner is a true word magician. The prose in this novel is gorgeous. Continue reading
Book Review: Maisie Dobbs by Jacqueline Winspear
Maisie Dobbs is the first book in Jacqueline Winspear’s successful Maisie Dobbs mystery series. The series, which recently added book number 15, features a British female sleuth who solves mysteries in the 1920s/1930s. Although this first book had a few rough spots, it was interesting enough to make me want to read the next book in the series to see how things progress. Continue reading
Book Review: People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks
The book in the title is a centuries old Jewish prayer book that has survived the Inquisition, Nazi occupation and a ton of conflict in between. Now it’s threatened again. Smart and creative, People of the Book is a very satisfying read. Continue reading
Book Review: Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Pachinko follows four generations of a Korean family as they fight poverty and prejudice in Japan. Although there were some good qualities, this National Book Award finalist just didn’t work for me. Continue reading
Book Review: Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
This month, as part of the 12 Months of Reading Goodness challenge, I read a Pulitzer Prize winner. The Pulitzer committee announces the annual prize winners each year in April. In fact, the 2019 winners were announced last week. I’m not familiar with the book that won this year’s Pulitzer for fiction, The Overstory by Richard Powers, and I’m not sure I’ll ever read it. But I am sure of this – I am so pleased that I read Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, winner of the 1986 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. It is an amazing book. Continue reading
Book Review: The Secret of Santa Vittoria by Robert Crichton
I read this wonderful book as part of the “12 Months of Reading Goodness” challenge. January’s challenge is to read a book published in your birth year, which for me is 1966. I’m so glad I did this challenge because otherwise I wouldn’t have discovered this book – it’s over 50-years-old, afterall; vintage, just like me. Continue reading
Book Review: The Tuscan Child, by Rhys Bowen
Joanna Langley is distraught when her estranged father dies. Regretting that she didn’t know him better, she travels to the Tuscany region of Italy to find out more about what happened to him when he was shot down in the area during World War II. But someone wants the secrets of the past to stay buried. Continue reading
Book Review: “The Summer Wives”, by Beatriz Williams
“The Summer Wives” is an engrossing novel, set in a time and place where wealthy families summered in island mansions off the coast of New England, over-drank regularly at their exclusive clubs and played a lot of bridge (actually, they probably still do most of that). It explores themes of love, family and social class in a way that is sometimes melancholy, sometimes hopeful and always engaging. Continue reading
“The Forgotten Garden”, by Kate Morton
On her 21st birthday, Nell learns that she isn’t who she thinks she is. Her well-intentioned father reveals that he found her abandoned on the dock when she was 4, apparently dropped off there by one of the ships that had made the journey from England to Australia. Thus begins the unraveling of the mystery of Nell’s origins, a process that spans over 100 years. Continue reading
