“Unsheltered, I live in daylight. And like the wandering bird I rest in thee.” Neither Willa Knox nor Thatcher Greenwood are resting easily in the house that binds them in Barbara Kingsolver’s “Unsheltered,” a novel that follows the paths of these two families from two different time periods. The Knox family is our voice in the present while the Greenwood […]
Book Remarks
‘Lincoln in the Bardo’ by George Saunders
Book Remarks“Oh, the pathos of it! – haggard, drawn into fixed lines of unutterable sadness, with a look of loneliness, as of a soul whose depth of sorrow and bitterness no human sympathy could ever reach. The impression I carried away was that I had seen, not so much the President of the United States, as the saddest man in the […]
‘The President Is Missing’ by James Patterson and Bill Clinton
BOOK REMARKS“If there is nothing else to learn from history, it’s that from humans to animals, from the most primitive to the most civilized, most individuals want to be led. Take out the leader, and the rest of the pack panics.” As I’ve mentioned before in this column, mystery/thriller novels are not my first pick of reading material. But since I […]
‘O Pioneers!’ by Willa Cather
BOOK REMARKS“Isn’t it queer? There are only two or three human stories, and they go on repeating themselves as fiercely as if they have never happened before; like the larks in this country, that have been singing the same five notes over for thousands of years.” I have read quite a few new releases and wanted to revisit my “classic reading […]
Elevation: A Feel-Good Novel by Stephen King
BOOK REMARKS“Hands on a clock, numbers on a bathroom scale, weren’t they only ways of trying to measure invisible forces that had visible effects? A feeble effort to corral some greater reality beyond what mere humans thought of as reality?” “Elevation” by Stephen King doesn’t necessarily try to answer this weighty philosophical question but it is an interesting thought to consider […]
Lessons Learned in Life’s Moments
BOOK REMARKS“But Willa knew what she meant. She had felt that way during her own childhood; she’d felt like a watchful, wary adult housed in a little girl’s body. And yet nowadays, paradoxically, it often seemed to her that from behind her adult face a child about eleven years old was still gazing out at the world.” “Clock Dance” by Anne […]
Nothing is as it Seems in WWII Espionage Novel
BOOK REMARKS“People always said they wanted the truth, but really they were perfectly content with a facsimile.” Truths are well hidden in Kate Atkinson’s latest novel, “Transcription,” a winding tale of espionage and counter-espionage during World War II. Juliet Armstrong is an 18-year-old file clerk who is reluctantly recruited into the world of spying by the British Security Service, or MI5, […]
‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ – Only Truth is Stranger Than Fiction
BOOK REMARKS“History is a merciless judge. It lays bare our tragic blunders and foolish missteps and exposes our most intimate secrets, wielding the power of hindsight like an arrogant detective who seems to know the end of the mystery from the outset.” Imagine a story where a wealthy family succumbs to treachery from one of their own. Where family members die […]
A Florida Family of Yesteryear’s Epic Tale
BOOK REMARKSThe trials and tribulations the MacIvey clan face over 114 years is incredible. There are hurricanes (including the devastating 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane) and encounters with everything from wild boar to outlaws. “All I’m trying to tell you is to be strong. Don’t ever let nothing get you down. Don’t be afraid or ashamed to love, or to grieve when the […]
Short Stories Give Readers a Dark Look at Florida
BOOK REMARKSThe other words Groff uses to describe Florida: mold, slime mold, humidity, rot, gators, feral cats, tent cities, and snakes. LOTS of snakes. “Of all the places in the world, she belongs in Florida. How dispiriting to learn this of herself.” There are a number of books centered in and around Florida that do a wonderful job of making our […]
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