Land of Love and Drowning, the debut by Tiphanie Yanique, is the first book I’ve read by an author from the Virgin Islands. Yanique’s unique voice and writing style completely transported me to another world. Set in The Virgin Islands from the time of transfer to the US in the early 1900’s until the 1970’s, the novel follows three generations of Bradshaw women. Full of magic, love, island culture and a fair amount of incest, Yanique’s dazzling prose is what…
My Year with Eleanor by Noelle Hancock is a memoir of a year of doing one thing each day that scares you, the idea taken from a quote by Eleanor Roosevelt. I don’t usually like books where women take a year off to find themselves, but this one is quite amusing. Hancock decides to do one scary thing every day for a year, until her 30th birthday. Some of these are small things, like sending back food in a restaurant,…
A Window Opens by Elisabeth Egan is a novel about a woman who thinks she has it all, the perfect balance of part-time work at a job she loves, and a wonderful family life. That is, until her husband loses his job and her perfect life is thrown into chaos. Egan creates such wonderful, well developed characters, I felt like they were old friends and I didn’t want this book to end. She writes with humor, intelligence and heart. A…
Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho is a rather strange book, full of characters I never really understood, liked or believed in, other than the Sorcerer Royal, Zacharias. Cho creates a world where British magicians and Sorcerers are having their magic drained by nearby Fairy; the head Sorcerer is a former slave, and eventually an Indian woman. A British novel of magic and manners written by Malaysian born Cho, it never felt quite right to me, and I wasn’t…
The Lake House by Kate Morton is maybe her best novel yet, and I love all her books. Set in present day London and Cornwall and in 1930’s Cornwall, it tells the story of the seemingly happy Edevane family, Mother, Father, three daughters and a precious and beloved baby boy. One day at a Mid-Summer’s party, baby Theo disappears and is never found. The family abandons the house and it is left unopened for 70 years, until a young female…
Unfinished Desires by Gail Godwin, author of Evensong, takes place in a Catholic girls school in North Carolina in the 50’s. Decades later the headmistress looks back on that time, and tells the tale of one group of girls and what happened on a fateful night. Goodwin exposes all the hidden parts of each personality, the queen bee, the brain, the girls in the background, and the jealousy and passion and concealed emotions that move them all. Goodwin is a…
Isabelle Allende is one of my favorite writers, I love everything she’s ever written. The Japanese Lover is her latest. Now an old woman looking back on her life, Alma tells the story of coming to San Francisco from Poland when she was 8 years old and meeting 8 year old Ichimei, the Japanese gardener’s son. This is the beginning of a life long forbidden love affair that survives WWII. Allende is a wonderful writer and a fantastic storyteller. This…
The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George is a wonderful book for book lovers. Monsieur Perdu has turned a floating barge into a bookshop he calls the Literary Apothecary. After losing the love of his life 20 years earlier, he finally opens her last letter to him. This sets him on a journey of self-discovery, friendship, good food, and bookselling down the rivers and canals of France all the way to the sea. This is a beautifully written story, I…
A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan is a book about an aging punk rocker, now music producer, and all the troubled people in his life, past and present. It is more a set of short stories than a novel, and I found it hard to follow all the characters that were introduced or even care about them. Egan, author of Look at Me has a unique and compelling writing style and for a while it pulls me…
Tibetan Peach Pie, A True Account of an Imaginative Life by Tom Robbins is a wonderful collection of stories, an almost memoir, although the author doesn’t refer to it as such. Fans of Robbin’s novels will love this book. Robbin’s never sit still imagination is on full parade here, and even in his eighties, his wonderful way with words has not left him. A must read for Robbin’s fans.