The Likeness is the second book by Tana French. It follows In the Woods, the first book in the “Dublin Murder Squad” series. You don’t absolutely have to read In the Woods before you pick up The Likeness, but, readers who skip the first one will miss out on some background information.
Continue Reading “The Likeness – by Tana French”
In the 1980’s, three best friends, all twelve-years-old, go into the woods adjacent to their Dublin neighborhood. Two are never to be found again.
The third, Adam Ryan, returns covered in blood, and in a state of shock. What happened to the two missing children? No one knows.
Continue Reading “In the Woods – by Tana French”
Sellevision is the one and only book written by Augusten Burroughs that is completely fictional. Burroughs describes Sellevision as “my cheese popcorn book“. It’s yummy, and light, and probably not good for you at all, but it’s so much fun you just can’t put it down. Cheese popcorn is an appropriate description.
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Luca Bastardo lives on the streets of Florence, Italy, in the early 1300’s. He has no knowledge of who his parents were, or how he became lost from them. All he knows is that he is different from the other homeless boys he befriends.
His hair is blond (and a little red) and everyone else has brown hair. He is clearly smarter than the rest of the children, as well as many of the adults. Luca is strikingly beautiful, and being so brings him much grief.
Continue Reading “Immortal – by Traci L. Slatton”
If you are at all familiar with the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, you will enjoy the parts of Loving Frank that describe not only his buildings, but also what he was thinking about when he designed them. You can almost see the buildings taking shape.
Continue Reading “Loving Frank – by Nancy Horan”
To be honest, I have mixed feelings about Nineteen Minutes. I suspect I am supposed to, so maybe that is ok. Nineteen Minutes is about a school shooting, a subject that makes both scares me and interests me at the same time. The title comes from how long it took for the whole shooting incident to occur, from start to end.
Continue Reading “Nineteen Minutes – by Jodi Picoult”
A Prayer for Owen Meany is a book that many students are assigned to read as part of the course work for their high school English class. It is also a book that tends to get banned.
Owen Meany is a small kid with a voice that is so bizarre that people stop and stare at him when he speaks. It sounds like a permanent scream. Owen is also brilliant, and wise beyond his years, and, like most kids who are a combination of highly intelligent and odd, he gets picked on all through childhood.
Continue Reading “A Prayer for Owen Meany – by John Irving”
The Worst Thing I’ve Ever Done is a book of layers. Annie, Jake, and Mason are closer than best friends, and have been since they first met when they were very young. These are some extremely complex friendships.
From early on, it’s clear that Mason feels the need to be loved “the most” by both Annie and Jake. He is the most daring of the three, and his dares and threats direct the action of the group more often than not.
Continue Reading “The Worst Thing I’ve Ever Done – by Ursula Hegi”
Dive in. Swim around for a while in Fitch’s smooth, clear, style of writing. I found myself submerged in White Oleander for hours at a time, without the desire to come up for air. It flows like water. Few other books even come close to how well this book moves.
Continue Reading “White Oleander – by Janet Fitch”
The Spanish Bow is a sensuous book, from beginning to end. The physical book itself is a treat all on it’s own. Rich, deep red cover. Slightly raised gold title, in flowing script that looks painted on, and still wet. Gold border tracing it’s way around the front cover. The only object pictured is the end of a bow for a cello, curving across the cover.
Continue Reading “The Spanish Bow – by Andromeda Romano-Lax”