The strength of the novel is in Francesca’s voice. Her memories of the hardscrabble town clawing to the side of a mountain are vibrant. The characters were drawn with a sharp, dark charcoal pencil — impressionistic in style but specific and bold.
Books for June
If I had Aladdin’s lamp and the usual three wishes, the first would always be, ‘Give me the first day of June.’ ~ Gladys Taber
Books for November
“November comes / And November goes, / With the last red berries / And the first white snows. / With night coming early, / And dawn coming late, / And ice in the bucket / And frost by the gate.” ~Elizabeth Coatsworth
For the Brontes
THE MADWOMAN UPSTAIRS by Catherine Lowell For someone like me — obsessed with Gothic literature, wrote their masters thesis on the “madwoman in the attic” in film and makes jokes about being “gaslit” — this book was serious fun. The spunky narrator, Samantha Whipple, has just been admitted to Oxford to study English literature. She…
READS for your winter break
A few days off mean more time to read. Right? Even between all the travel, parties and meals, we bibliophiles can usually find a few secret hours to read. Here are my suggestions on what to read (and what to skip) on your winter break. the big black lizard big book of locked-room mysteries Edited…