I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I picked up this book. I thought it would be a piece of light escapism. A little sci-fi horror with a dollop of humor. I did not expect to be absolutely captivated. I didn’t expect that this would be the book that would make…
What do you do when the person who defines you forgets you? It’s a question posed by Avni Doshi‘s excellent novel, Burnt Sugar. Tara’s genuine love, frequent neglect and sporadic whims have shaped her daughter, Antara. Even as an adult, everything Antara does is in some way a response to her mother. So when Tara…
Normally on Friday I review a book I’ve recently read. But three years ago today my stepson, Hunter Lurie, passed away. Hunter was a cinephile. He loved everything about filmmaking and his film critiques were extremely sharp and insightful. So in his honor, instead of a book review this week, I’m going to write a…
This Mournable Body by Zimbabwean writer, Tsitsi Dangarembga is a masterful, brutal work of art. It’s cinematic, compelling, shocking and emotionally challenging. It works as a stand alone novel, but I suspect I would have benefitted from starting with the first two in this trilogy: Nervous Conditions and The Book Of Not. Since I didn’t…
In my world, books photographed with my pup are the equivalent of giving a work of literature 6 out of 5 stars. I read Diane Cook‘s The New Wilderness months ago. Yet I can not stop thinking about it. I’m not even entirely sure how to categorize it. Is it literary fiction? Yes. Is it…
This one’s for my Sophie fans. In Borrowed Time, by Tracy Clark, Chicago based P.I. and former cop, Cassandra (Cass) Raines sets out to solve a mystery. Tim Ayers who hails from considerable wealth and privilege, has died while out on his boat. It could have been an accident. It could have been a suicide….