Category Archives: Book Reviews

Gifting: Book Recommendations

Posted on December 11, 2022 by Marion

I have book recommendations for some of the folks on your gift-giving list this year.  Here we go: Books for the Reader of Feel-Good Books: Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby van Pelt. The book got lots of buzz for its … Continue reading →

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Remarkably Bright Creatures

Posted on September 23, 2022 by Marion

A capsule review of Shelby Van Pelt’s novel Remarkably Bright Creatures: this book is an absolute charmer. Like others who have reviewed it or discussed it, I’m going to start with the octopus, because, after all, he starts the book. … Continue reading →

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Capsule Reviews

Posted on March 15, 2022 by Marion

The past two weeks have been crazy, in a mixed but mostly not-good way. Finally (touching all the wood I can find) things are calming a little, or at least there’s a lull, and I found some time to read. … Continue reading →

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Vanessa and Her Sister

Posted on February 14, 2022 by Marion

Priya Parmar published Vanessa and her Sister in 2014. I found it used at the Four-Eyed Frog in Gualala. This book was just engaging enough for a leisurely weekend away. Parmar’s graceful prose made it an easy book to slip … Continue reading →

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An Old Man’s Game

Posted on January 12, 2022 by Marion

Andy Weinberger opened Sonoma’s beautiful bookshop, Readers’ Books, in 1991, along with his wife Lilla. I’m always pleased to discover a book by someone I know in a different mode. When I visited Sonoma a couple of weeks ago, I … Continue reading →

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The Siberian Dilemma is a Dilemma

Posted on January 8, 2022 by Marion

The Siberian Dilemma is the ninth Arkday Renko thriller by Martin Cruz Smith. I realized I’ve only read two: Gorky Park, something of a classic, and Havana Bay. I suspect this book would have more resonance if I’d read others, … Continue reading →

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The Broken Girls by Simone St. James

Posted on December 17, 2021 by Marion

I bought The Broken Girls, by Simone St. James, at The Poet’s Corner bookshop in Duncan’s Mills. It’s a ghost story mystery with a girl’s boarding school, and in the midst of the hurly-burly of holiday prep, it seemed like … Continue reading →

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A New Spin on an Old Trope Leads to a Bumpy Ride

Posted on September 11, 2021 by Marion

In 2008, Random House published Lauren McLaughlin’s YA speculative sex comedy Cycler. On one level, it’s the story about Jill, an only child, and her quest (with the help of her friend Ramie) to get the New Boy at school … Continue reading →

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3 Rules for an Ann Cleeves Mystery

Posted on August 19, 2021 by Marion

(Warning, spoilers.)Ann Cleeves is a British mystery writer, who has won the Duncan Lawrie Dagger Award, and has two of her detective series, the Vera Stanhope books and the Shetland series, adapted for BBC television. Her books are extremely popular. … Continue reading →

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Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line

Posted on June 23, 2021 by Marion

In Deepa Anappara’s debut novel, voices of hope provide a counterpoint to a backdrop of despair. Leading the chorus is nine-year-old Jai. Jai and his friends Faiz and Pari are determined to find the schoolmate who has disappeared from their … Continue reading →

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