It’s been a wee while since I’ve delved into historical fiction, and before you think the use of “wee” is a reflection of my almost-five years in Scotland, it is but a clever way of alluding to the setting of this novel. While it starts on a Virginian plantation, much of the story is actually…
Category: 7.5
Infamy: The Shocking Story of the Japanese American Internment in World War II
The first time I registered the weight of the Japanese American internment was in a high school history class, when a classmate brought in a letter his grandfather had received. It was an apology from a former president; an apology for the impact and harm that had been caused by the internment. While jarring at…
Funny Story
I have been rather harsh on chick-lits (and Emily Henry) recently, for which I do not apologize because I meant every word, but I’m a big enough person to admit that I feel Henry really showed her stuff with this one. I thought Funny Story – while still following a lot of chick-lit tropes –…
A Guide to Midwestern Conversation
I’ll admit that the main reason I listened to this book (yes, listened to it) was because it was three hours long and I was making a last ditch-effort to catch up with my 2023 Goodreads reading challenge (which I have now completed!). What began as a means-to-an-end resulted in the discovery of a hilarious…
Janesville
When General Motors closed their plant in Janesville, Wisconsin, an entire town – its infrastructure and the lives of its inhabitants – was upended. Janesville is not alone in experiencing the vacuum a factory closing can have on the livelihood of a community, but Janesville had gone through this before and recovered, so why should…
Storm in a Teacup
When looking at two eggs – shell and all – how can you tell which one is hard boiled and which isn’t? This, among other everyday phenomena, is a mystery that Helen Czerski unpacks in Storm in a Teacup, using the laws of physics to explain our daily life. If you’re thinking, “my brain hasn’t worked…
This Time Tomorrow
Happy endings were too much for some people, false and cheap,but hope – hope was honest. Hope was good. If you’re like me, you don’t look at the images above and think “time travel”, but you know what they say about judging a book by its cover… Alice is turning 40 and dealing with all…
Writers and Lovers
It’s strange, to not be the youngest kind of adult anymore.I’m thirty-one now, and my mother is dead. A realistic ode to the profession of working with words, Lily King uses the life of 31-year-old Casey to bring a writer’s struggles to life. It is 1997 and Casey Peabody is floundering. She’s waiting tables in Harvard Square…
Lord of the Flies
Pretend they were still boys, school boys who had said ‘Sir, yes, Sir’ and worn caps? Daylight might’ve answered yes; but darkness and the horrors of death said no. I am in the minority of individuals who were not required to read Lord of the Flies in high school and having just now read it, I’m grateful…
Where the Crawdads Sing
I would like to begin by acknowledging that I’m a few years late to the craze surrounding this book and my only excuse is my stubbornness about being a “band-wagoner”. Additionally, I had heard mixed, lackluster reviews from friends, which only cemented its position at the bottom of my TBR list. I’m thankful for my belated reading…