A Cineaste’s Bookshelf
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REVIEW: TROUBLED DAUGHTERS, TWISTED WIVES
Seeing as I wrote two papers during my time as a Masters student about domestic suspense in film, I couldn’t wait to read these stories. And I was not disappointed. Editor Sarah Weinman has done a fine job of sifting through so many tales and giving us a curated taste of various styles. Some stories… Read More »
REVIEW: THE BAT by Mary Roberts Rinehart
I am so excited to tell people about this book. It’s witty and campy at the same time. It belongs firmly in the “B” or pulp category — but deliciously so. Reminiscent of the smart, slapstick movie Clue, it is just plain fun. Older (but not elderly) Miss Cornelia is of New York blue-blood stock. She… Read More »
Why CROSSROADS is great -- and why you should go
About this time last year I received a postcard in the mail that looked like this. I’d kinda been stalking Crossroads for a couple of years (sorry, about those creepy collage letters, guys), but I hadn’t made the plunge to actually attend. I live about 3 hours away, so the drive isn’t bad but it… Read More »
REVIEW: THE RATHBONES by Janice Clark
We moved a lot when I was young. We weren’t military but my father was a federal employee so he took various assignments, mostly up and down the Eastern seaboard. No matter where we lived, we were never very far from the ocean. At times it was only a few steps — which was terrifying… Read More »
REVIEW: SOUNDINGS by Hali Felt
I’d never heard of Marie Tharp. The only woman I’d ever heard of remotely related to anything to do with the bottom of the ocean was a woman in a portrait at my parents-in-law’s house. She was named Nannie (Maury) Herndon. A member of my husband’s ancestors, her father was an oceanographer and was the… Read More »
REVIEW: ASYLUM by John Harwood
Weary, windswept, and wet, a young woman arrives outside Tregannon House, an estate-turned-asylum in somewhere near Cornwall in England. She awakens with little memory of how she got there, or why. She is convinced, however, of her identity as Georgina Ferrars. The only problem is the kind staff at the asylum assure her she… Read More »
REVIEW: EVE IN HOLLYWOOD by Amor Towles
As most of my readers know by now, I greatly enjoyed Rules of Civility by Amor Towles (You can see my review here). Towles finds that magical balance between bright, vibrant characters and poignant, basely human moments. Eve in Hollywood is a novella, written exclusively for e-publication, that picks up where we left off… Read More »
REVIEW: TWO UNLIKELY DETECTIVES - Sidney Chambers and Harriet Westerman
The Perils of the Night James Runcie has put a sometimes-reluctant pastor, often-accidental detective Canon Sidney Chambers in 1950s Cambridge. Chambers is a townie, one of the few outsiders tolerated by the establishment. When a thrill-seeker falls to his death while scaling a cathedral tower,… Read More »
REVIEW: SHOT ALL TO HELL by Mark Lee Gardner
Few names in American have the instant recognition, and connotation, as Jesse James. Star of the dime novel, his legend became more noted than perhaps his true self. But as you will discover in this historical visit to the end of the James-Younger reign, much of his status earned. The details may have been been… Read More »
REVIEW: LOOKING FOR ME by Beth Hoffman
This is a guest review by SAGE HELENA HOOTEN. Her bio: Sage is a 15-year-old girl living in Savannah, GA with her eccentric family. In addition to being a voracious reader, she enjoys ballroom dancing, singing and using her imagination. She is an avid hamster lover as well. Beth Hoffman’s new book Looking for Me,… Read More »
REVIEW: QUEEN OF THE AIR by Dean Jensen
I love stories about the circus — and magicians, performers, and theatres — , particularly in this era. There is something about the great gulf between the reality of the grueling life and the sparkling image that was maintained for the crowds. Unforgiving schedules, primitive travel, punishing physical feats were all typical of even… Read More »
REVIEW: THE OCEAN AT THE END OF THE LANE by Neil Gaiman
It’s difficult to know where to begin with a Gaiman book. His tales are always so different, yet somehow always Gaiman. In fact, I hear his voice in my head while I’m reading, which is both comforting and unnerving — appropriately. This time, the hero is just a young boy. Now grown-up, he returns to… Read More »
REVIEW: THE RESURRECTIONIST by EB Hudspeth
The Lost Work of Dr. Spencer Black This fantastic (in both senses of the word) book is really two-in-one. The author has compiled the “lost work” of one Spencer Black. The first half is a narrative of strangeness and secrecy. Through letters, diaries and recollections, the scientific life of Black is cobbled together. As… Read More »
"Text Hexes" via Futility Closet
Text Hexes – Futility Closet. Books were so precious in the Middle Ages that monks invoked curses against any who might steal them: This book belongs to S. Maximin at his monastery of Micy, which abbat Peter caused to be written, and with his own labour corrected and punctuated, and on Holy Thursday dedicated to… Read More »
REVIEW: THE WOMAN BEFORE WALLIS by Andrew Rose
Before Edward took up with American socialite Wallis Simpson, before he gave up the crown and eschewed his duties as the King of England, the young prince was involved in an even more scandalous relationship. A antsy and angsty Prince is assigned to duty in France during WWI. Seeing as he was poised to take… Read More »