James MacManus’s newest book, Black Venus, focuses on the poet Baudelaire and Jeanne Duval, the Haitian cabaret performer who was his lover and inspired some of his poetry. This is just the sort of historical fiction I enjoy and I’m really looking forward to getting to read it. In the mean time, I have this [...]
Call Me Zelda by Erika Robuck Published by NAL Trade, an imprint of Penguin Like Therese Fowler’s Z, Call Me Zelda is a story of the life of Zelda Fitzgerald, perhaps best known as the troubled wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald, although an accomplished writer and artist in her own right. Whereas Z focuses on [...]
The Other Typist by Susanne Rindell Published by Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam, an imprint of Penguin As a typist in a Prohibition-era New York police station, Rose Baker holds a certain amount of power. After all, whatever is in the reports she writes up is taken as gospel truth in prosecuting criminals. It is about as [...]
In April I read a total of 14 books, 9 of which were print/ebooks and 5 of which were audio. This ended up being a total of about 2800 pages and 54 hours of audio. This is a bit disappointing after the old days of getting to 15 or 16 print/ebooks and 5 or 6 [...]
Mrs. Robinson’s Disgrace by Kate Summerscale, narrated by Wanda McCaddon Published in audio by Tantor Audio, published in print by Bloomsbury USA Synopsis: From the publisher: Headstrong, high-spirited, and already widowed, Isabella Walker became Mrs. Henry Robinson at age 31 in 1844. Her first husband had died suddenly, leaving his estate to a son from [...]
I had a lot of fun reading James Forrester’s first novel, Sacred Treason. Forrester is the pen name of Dr. Ian Mortimer, a historian whose nonfiction The Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England I also very much enjoyed. Well, Mortimer-as-Forrester is back with a second book in the Sacred Treason series: The Roots of Betrayal. [...]
The World’s Strongest Librarian by Josh Hanagarne Published by Gotham, an imprint of Penguin Raise your hand if your favorite librarian is a weigh-lifting Mormon with Tourette Syndrome. Nobody? Then clearly you have not yet read Josh Hanagarne’s memoir, The World’s Strongest Librarian. Josh Hanagarne is the 6’7″ librarian working for the Salt Lake City [...]
Hey, remember about this time last year when I was loving on Jane Roper’s Double Time: How I Survived – and Mostly Thrived – Through the First Three Years of Mothering Twins? Being pregnant with twin girls of my own at the time, I found it reassuring to read someone else’s account of motherhood of [...]
A White Wind Blew by James Markert Published by Sourcebooks Landmark, an imprint of Sourceboks Wolfgang Pike is a man who is not entirely sure of his place in life. He has long thought that he might become a priest, but plan took a detour when he met Rose, and again when he came to [...]
So, for the first time since Daniel (who is almost 4, by the way) was just a few months old I was able to participate in the Readathon this weekend. I got to head to an empty condo with my lovely ladies Michelle from That’s What She Read and Julie from Girls Just Reading for [...]