A Bookish Blog
Under the Wide and Starry Sky by Nancy Horan is a fictionalized account of the relationship of famed author Robert Louis Stevenson and his wife Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne . This is Ms. Horan’s second novel, her first, Loving Frank, was a bestseller and well received.
I truly enjoyed the fact that the author pays attention to history and imagines what it would have been like for his protagonists to prepare for battle and death. Mr. Pressfield understands the notions of honor in the context of ancient Greece and writes about it in a moving, serious way.
While laying in a hospital bed after his suicide attempt Leroy, the sci-fi fan, makes up his own story which centers on him and his girlfriend being hunted down by a group called “The Free” who believe they are unpatriotic.
About: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Vol. 1 by Alan Moore is a graphic novel collecting issue from the first run of this popular series. A movie by the same title was made in 2003, however don’t let that turn you off […]
The Lost Art of Gratitude by Alexander McCall Smith was my first Isabel Dalhousie novel (but the sixth in the series), a philosopher who pontificates about the mundane and lives in her own private hell where every word, gesture and movement has to be thought about, absorbed and dissected.
Midwife Elspeth Howell returns to her home after spending a few months away working. Elspeth can’t wait to get back; she has gifts for each of her five children and her husband.
What Elspeth finds, however, is a bloodbath. Her husband and children are murdered and one son, 12 year old Caleb, is missing. But Caleb is hiding and is so startled that he shoots his mother.
Mr. Riggs certainly is a talented writer with an eye for strange and wonderful characters. Much like the first book, the author uses weird and mesmerizing photographs to compliment the story.
A novel following the life of a Spanish woman’s journey from her humble beginnings as a poor seamstress, to an English spy during World War II.
Victor Dimitrov, Russian head of state, is suffering from leukemia. Not trusting the doctors in Russia to keep his secret from his political enemies, he requests an American doctor to treat him. Dr. Alex Cousins is hand picked for the job by the President, however Dr. Cousins discover that Dimitrov is planning to go out with a bang and strike China with nuclear weapons before he dies.
Rose Manon is an American journalist, born in Nevada, living in New York trying hard to deal with the attitudes of the 1930s. Rose has been posted to Paris with a looming global war on everyone’s radar.
During her time Rose will deal with a lover, a country which doesn’t know what each day will bring, anti-Semitism, and her hidden identity of a Jew. Before she leaves Europe, Rose will have to make some difficult decisions which will follow her throughout her life.
