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Review Date: 4/26/2009
Contains, among others, "Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day" by William Shakespeare, "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe, "Harlem (Dream Deferred)" by Langston Hughes, "A Visit from St. Nicholas" by Clement C. Moore, "This Land is Your Land" by Woody Guthrie, "Casey at the Bat" by Ernest Thayer, "Funeral Blues" by W. H. Auden, "Gunga Din" by Rudyard Kipling, "Because I Could Not Stop for Death" by Emily Dickinson, "Richard Cory" by Edward Arlington Robinson, "Fog" by Carl Sandburg.
Review Date: 9/17/2012
Helpful Score: 2
I had such high hopes for this book. Unique plot device, set in an era that I particularly enjoy reading about, and bearing the seal of 'Nobel Prize in Literature.' The first part (the novella) is boring and the second part (the memoir), strangely incomplete and lacking. I'm in the 7th decade of my life, and I've read a lot of books, but I just didn't get this one. Lessing's prose is not difficult to read, so I kept with it until the end, hoping for some nugget of wisdom or some cohesion of all the loose ends. It was not to be.
Review Date: 1/7/2020
The Gospels, the writings of Paul, and the book of Revelation bear witness to the resurrection of Jesus. With the mind of a scholar and the heart of a pastor, Dr. Stoffel addresses the relevance of the resurrection for Christian witness and personal faith today. A clear word of hope for all believers.
Review Date: 3/3/2009
A young adult's book that looks at the assassination of Abraham Lincoln through the eyes of a young seamstress at Ford's Theatre. She called the assassin "Wilkes" and he called her "Bella." Good historical fiction with good character development.
Review Date: 2/15/2016
A collection of powerful, memorable short stories; all based in fact, and Donoghue cites her sources. Her characters have all gone astray in some fashion, crossing the borders of race, law, sex, or sanity. If you have read Donoghue's 'Slammerkin', you know her talent for historical fiction is stunning. Each of these remarkable stories gave me pause for thought because they COULD have happened just this way.
The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb (Center Point Platinum Fiction (Large Print))
Author:
Book Type: Library Binding
2
Author:
Book Type: Library Binding
2
Review Date: 12/30/2022
As entertaining a piece of historical fiction as I have ever read, the story of Mercy Lavinia "Vinnie" Bump is told with realism and dignity. Vinnie was a lady of 2'8" who refused to be limited by either her size or the customs of the 19th century. She traveled the world, amassed a fortune, and was feted with a wedding reception at Lincoln's White House. Her personal life was one of complex and conflicted relationships, particularly with her promoter, P.T. Barnum, who arranged her "marriage" to Charles Stratton, aka Gen. Tom Thumb. To the end of her days, Vinnie would sign her name "Mrs. General Tom Thumb," despite a conflicted and melancholy marital relationship. A fascinating story with well-drawn, sympathetic characters.
Review Date: 8/5/2020
An English country house murder mystery, except in this case the house is a monastery. The visitors at a religious retreat are not as innocent as you might assume, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Barnard's usual cast of well-drawn, off-beat characters whose quirks will keep you guessing at who done it. And why!
Review Date: 2/9/2021
The problem with a collection of novellas is that it can be spotty. This collection traces the history of a golden coin/love memento from 'the present day' to the Civil War era. Novella #1 - 'the present day' - I give it a 2, just OK, rather circuitous, as the lovers finally connect. Novella #2 - Vietnam War era was somewhat more interesting, with redeeming themes of a young man preparing to be shipped out and his concern for those he leaves behind, 3 stars. Novella #3 - WW II era traces a family struggling with diminished circumstances and a pawn shop owner who rescues them anonymously. Well written, explores themes of faith in times of want and trial, I found it charming. Solid 4 stars. Novella #4 - Just ridiculous. Written in the style of the Perils of Pauline. The heroine was not tied to the railroad tracks, but it was headed in that direction. 1 dismal little star. Perhaps your opinion will be different. To each, her own.
Review Date: 10/4/2011
Helpful Score: 6
A remarkable little gem. If you are searching for something thought-provoking for your next airplane ride or lazy afternoon, I recommend "A Cup of Tea." The ending sneaked up on me. Exquisitely structured!
Review Date: 6/30/2018
Tobacco country, Virginia, 1948. Cora is a bright girl who longs to rise above her life of poverty and alcohol. Enter a handsome drifter named Aaron who plays on Cora's hunger for affection. She learns the hard way that Aaron is no prince on a white horse. When a child is born of their union, Cora despairs of being free of abusive Aaron. But then she crosses the color line for a friend who will make all the difference to her and her child. A poignant, believable story in the tradition of "White Oleander" and "Bastard Out of Carolina."
Review Date: 4/25/2009
The author, a Lutheran minister and professor of theology, examines the biblical conception of churchgoing and contrasts it with the modern view of churchgoing. He states that it is entirely possible to be "damned through the church" when we try to make over the church in our own image. "We actually imperil our souls if we view the church as a man-centered organization indistinguishable from a social club." Sub-titled: The Church can be a Place of Accelerated Salvation or Accelerated Damnation.
The Dead Shall be Raised and Murder of a Quack (British Library Crime Classics)
Author:
Book Type: Paperback
2
Author:
Book Type: Paperback
2
Review Date: 9/11/2018
I like a mystery that is strong on characterization, atmosphere, and intelligent conversation. So these British novels (two in this volume) are just my cup of tea. The author, George Bellairs, worked in the same bank for 45 years and for him, writing was an enjoyable sideline. His writing career spanned nearly four decades - with the same publisher. He was a modest, decent man whose affability and sense of humor are mirrored in his creation of Detective Littlejohn. He wrote the Littlejohn series to give his fellow Brits a little distraction from the stress and loss incurred by WWII. If you are looking for graphic violence and gore, you won't find it here. But you will find a solid mystery set in the atmosphere of the English village and populated with interesting characters whose dialog will entertain and perhaps even bring a chuckle.
Review Date: 6/5/2023
One of a series of Hamish MacBeth novellas, this one stands out for its Christmas setting (in Scotland, of course). I'm not a big cozy series follower, but I was delighted to find one with this kind of wit. Hamish, the constable with the flaming red hair, is a believable character, with girl problems and boss problems, but with a concern for most of the oddball characters that make up his constituency. And he's an animal lover. I like Hamish and I have to make a quick visit to Lochdubh from time to time.
Review Date: 7/3/2011
Entertaining biography of Dr. Susan Anderson, a country physician in the Rockies of Colorado at the turn of the last century. Written in the style of a novel. The author makes an interesting point that the 1880's (the time in which Doc Susie trained) preceded the budding age of technology in medicine, and it was not unusual for a woman to be accepted in a career that, in the Victorian era, entailed a lot of hard,tedious, and dirty work.
Review Date: 3/24/2020
Excellent writing, awful story. Characters that will stay in my mind but not in a good way. I had this book on my shelf for years; when I picked it up, it was hard to put down! It was like an accident that I couldn't look away from. Infidelity, child abuse, abortion, fractured families, prostitution - too much sadness for me. I read for relaxation! The fact that I felt compelled to read it to the end says a lot about the writing because it was not a relaxing experience. I honestly don't even know how to rate something like this. 2 stars because I didn't like it, but really deserves more stars because it's a good book -just one that I didn't like.
Review Date: 6/17/2018
I'm a reader of mystery, psychological suspense, and true crime, but I had to stop with this book. Some of the stories inhabit the mind of insanity a little too deeply for me. "Heroes and Villains" by Stephen Gallagher was a thought-provoking story.
Review Date: 6/9/2009
Helpful Score: 1
Stephen King can make your blood run cold with the most commonplace of scenarios - don't you love it?! He takes the dreary life of a "jumped up housekeeper" for a "high-ridin' bitch" and creates a story that demands the reader's attention to the final page. The first person narrative of Dolores is an authentic feminine voice from post-war America through the end of the century. Perhaps the most frightening picture is a time and a place where women's liberation had not gained even a token acceptance from men or from women, either. A word from Dolores: "Sometimes a woman has to be a bitch to survive, but bein' a bitch is hard work, I'll tell the world it is."
Review Date: 8/7/2018
"Dumped" - and who hasn't been? Twenty-three stories told from the vantage point of the dumpee, but also the dumper. Some are funny, many are sad, all are thought-provoking. Contributors include Jane Austen ("I felt myself to be solemnly engaged to him....but unfortunately he did not feel the same"), Roald Dahl (his immortal 'Lamb to the Slaughter' depicts cops discussing the whereabouts of a murder weapon with the comment, "probably right under our very noses"), Dorothy Parker (They hate you whenever you say anything you really think), and Dallas Angguish, who takes on being dumped from the perspective of a precocious gay teenage boy. All in all, a very entertaining collection.
Review Date: 6/13/2021
Sometimes called "the most English of the English novels." A plot that proves life is not always boring far from the madding crowd - that the rural life has its own drama. Unforgettable characters - Bathsheba Everdine, heartbreaker and feminist prototype; Boldwood, the landowner who has always been too busy and self-contained for love; Sergeant Troy,a womanizer who cannot overlook the possibilities that Bathsheba presents; and Gabriel Oak, the steady shepherd who remains faithful through wrack and ruin to 'Mistress Everdene.'
Review Date: 10/4/2018
I recommend this for the dedicated Anglophile. Examines the lives and deaths of three Brits: Christopher Wood, an artist in the Paris of the 1920's; Richard Hillary, handsome and gallant RAF pilot during WWII; and Jeremy Wolfenden, journalist and spy in Cold War Moscow. All lived hard and died young. Their stories are used to depict the changes in English society from the Edwardian era through the swinging 60s.
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