Posts Tagged ‘novels’
Women’s Prize for Fiction 2019 shortlist out!
Yes, it’s that time of year again. The formerly Orange prize/formerly Bailey’s Prize/currently Women’s Prize for Fiction 2019 shortlist has been announced. I haven’t read any of these, so I have a lot to look forward to in coming months. I always pick a few new reads off this annual shortlist of female authors worldwide.…
Read MoreBook review: The Great Alone
I didn’t love the only novel I’d read by author Kristin Hannah, The Winter Garden. To me, it seemed a pale copy to Helen Dunmore’s much more impressive The Siege. But I was intrigued by the storyline of The Great Alone and decided to take a chance on this novel. I’m glad I did. I…
Read MoreBook review: The Rosie Project
I enjoyed reading The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion, an amusing, lighthearted novel about a highly intelligent but socially awkward man who has devised a ‘foolproof’ test for finding a wife. I always have a soft spot for novels about social misfits, and Professor Tillman fit the bill perfectly. What is perhaps most interesting about…
Read MoreMarch travels to Alaska, North Korea, Australia, Dubai & NY
Although I am an avid traveller, I am neither an airline pilot nor an international spy (even if both professions sound rather intriguing…) I did travel to all these places last month, but alas, only on the written page. And isn’t that the point of novels? To transport us around the world, to different periods…
Read MoreBeach reading season 2019 officially begins…
Last weekend was the first weekend of spring. The sun was shining. The temperatures were rising. And a trip to the beach was far too tempting… My younger son and I took off to one of our favorite beach hangouts south of Rome – the beautiful, medieval beach town of Sperlonga. And …. it was…
Read MoreBook review: Middle England
I somehow missed this novel by Jonathan Coe, and only learned about it when a colleague suggested I read it, and lent me her copy. This novel is set in London and ‘Middle England’, which I learned to be Birmingham, opens in 2010, in the wake of the worldwide financial crisis, and as London is…
Read MoreOn Women’s Day, celebrating women writers
Happy International Women’s Day! To celebrate, I thought I would play homage to some of my favorite female authors. Of course, there are my perennial favorites – Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters and Edith Wharton. But I decided to celebrate some of my favorite contemporary authors, by including some of the book reviews I’ve written…
Read MoreIt’s Friday. What’s on your reading list?
The weekend is upon us, and it’s time to turn to serious topics. What books do you have on your nightstand? The weekend is always a good time for me to catch up on pleasure reading – and I’m always up for recommendations, so do share what you’re reading now. Here’s what I’ll be reading…
Read MoreBook review: A Gentleman in Moscow
I adored this novel, the story of “former person” Count Alexander Rostov. In 1922, Count Rostov – recipient of the Order of Saint Andrew, member of the Jockey Club and Master of the Hunt – is declared an enemy of the state and informed he will be shot if he ever ventures out of his…
Read MoreNovels in the mountains
I always love reading, but there’s something special about books I take with me to read when I’m out in the mountains. I spend a lot of time out in the mountains, both in the spring and summer for hiking and in the winter for skiing. On a recent skiing escape in Abruzzo, I read…
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