A Cineaste’s Bookshelf
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ACCENT: ALL THE BIRDS, SINGING by Evie Wyld
Jake is trying to escape from her past. She’s taken up a modest sheep farm on a remote, rocky island off the coast of England. It’s the sort of place where trees only get so tall because the wind never lets up. Here, she can be invisible, or nearly so. No one knows her or… Read More »
ACCENT: 1000 FEELINGS FOR WHICH THERE ARE NO NAMES by Mario Giordano
This is an amusing collection of disparate thoughts, all compiled into a handy guide (of sorts). Some languages have words for which there is no easy translation (see: Schadenfrude). Giordano turns this around and describes the feelings themselves. The reader has very often been in that position and can easily relate to the lack of… Read More »
REVIEW: THE STEADY RUNNING OF THE HOUR by Justin Go
Admit it — at least once you have allowed yourself, for just a moment, to imagine that you are the long-lost relative and only distant heir to a massive fortune. A letter or a phone call informs you that you stand to inherit a beautiful mansion in some exotic location. You only need prove your… Read More »
ACCENT: SAILOR TWAIN by Mark Siegel
From the outset, this book is gripping. While the illustrations are beautiful, the story is engaging and well-told. The protagonist is a young steamboat captain named Twain. He navigates the Hudson River obsessively, all while avoiding his difficult home life. While he loves his invalided wife, he finds no pleasure remaining at home with her.… Read More »
REVIEW: THE NEW COLOSSUS by Marshall Goldberg
Nellie Bly is a household name in the world of undercover journalism with her game-changing expose on the Bellevue Women’s Asylum. Then she undertook a flight around the world, in a hot air balloon, in an attempt to beat the record of Verne’s Phileas Fogg. The author builds on this amazing true story of Bly… Read More »
COMING IN APRIL - New Titles to Watch For
Spring showers mean rainy days ahead … which means more time for reading. Here are some new books coming out this April. And where better to start than April in Paris… LOVERS AT THE CHAMELEON CLUB, PARIS 1932 By Francine Prose The author begins by telling the reader she was inspired by a particular… Read More »
ACCENT: THE IMPOSSIBLE LIVES OF GRETA WELLS
This unusual book questions the reality of time and place, and our ability to ever really know what is real. It is told from the point of view of Greta Wells, the surviving twin of a brother who died too young. Part of her attempt to recover from her depression is to undergo convulsive shock… Read More »
ACCENT: OF INK, WIT & INTRIGUE by Susan Cooper-Bridgewater
In this fast-paced and engaging novel, Susan Cooper-Bridgewater makes easy work of Lord Rochester’s daily life. Based on the real life details of John Wilmot, who ascended to his father’s title shortly after the Restoration, the book reads like a jaunty diary. Rochester describes his education, the wooing of his wife, encounters with the Sun… Read More »
REVIEW: THE REVENANT OF THRAXTON HALL
Those with more than a passing familiarity of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are aware of his interest in the supernatural. Perhaps mostly famous is his publication of the Cottingley Fairies photographs. Aside from theosophy, he also sought out mediums, ever hopeful that the dead can speak to those still living and perhaps he could reach… Read More »
ACCENT: THE BIRDS AND OTHER STORIES by Daphne Du Maurier
I’m sure I’m like many people in that I’ve seen Hitchcock’s The Birds but I’d never read the story. In fairness, I’ve read plenty of of Du Maurier’s books and stories, but I sort of assumed it was a written version of the film. And as a cinema student, I’d also seen a couple dozen Hitchcock… Read More »
ACCENT: THE HOTEL ON THE PLACE VENDOME
This is a must-read across the board, but especially for history enthusiasts. It’s one of those topics that everyone has vaguely heard of but when you start delving into the details that you realize just how entangled and incredibly interesting it is. The Hôtel Ritz was always *the* place in Paris. Once the Nazi Occupation… Read More »
REVIEW: THE MAN WHO WALKED AWAY by Maud Casey
This is my first foray into a novel by Maud Casey (The Shape of Things To Come, Geneology) and it was mind-bending. The book follows two narratives. Albert’s inner thoughts populate one of them. He is an ambler, a friendly walker who finds himself in the medium merchant towns of middle Europe. When Albert walked,… Read More »
ACCENT: PIONEER GIRL by Bich Minh Nguyen
A quick description of this book sounds highly bizarre and unlikely to hang together. A brother and sister are first generation Vietnamese Americans, struggling to find their own identities while respecting their mother and grandfather’s fierce loyalties to their heritage. As a child, our narrator loved the Little House on the Prairie series of books. She… Read More »
ACCENT: GARDEN OF MARVELS by Ruth Kassinger
This is a delightful compendium of botanical discoveries — and how they’ve shaped human history. Kassinger opens with a brief overview of how the sciences had tackled more out-of-reach topics, like constellations and orbits. Ancient Greek attempted to understand atomic structure. But plants had been left out of much of the study. She writes:… Read More »
GIVEAWAY: THE MOTH AND THE SPARK
Hello readers! I have a copy of THE MOTH AND THE SPARK to giveaway. Here is a description from the publisher: Set in the land of Caithen, a country on the brink of invasion by vicious Tyrekh, this breathtakingly imaginative fantasy packs every punch the genre requires—intrigue, war, sorcery and magic, dragons, and forbidden romance.… Read More »