fiction

  • Novels tough as nails

    These are some of my favorite novels because they feature brave, foolish and lucky characters that know how to persevere in the face of adversity. Rain, wind and cold are facts of life for them. They lead a gritty life with adversity around every corner. Not surprisingly, the writing in these novels is often as… Continue reading

  • Suddenly everything has changed

    I’ve never been able to keep a New Year’s resolution. In 2006, after a string of particularly bad dates, I vowed to take a year off of dating. Three weeks later, I met my partner of almost seven years and counting! As you reflect on the past year and focus on goals for the next,… Continue reading

  • Occasional Mysteries: Reading Retro

    I’ve recently been reading some classic historical mysteries. That’s classic not in the sense of “set in older times,” but as in foundations of the genre, written in the vernacular of older times. First published in 1903, The Riddle of the Sands, by Erskine Childers could in some ways be thought of as rather more… Continue reading

  • Dark Reads for Dark Winter Days

    In many ways, winter is an ideal setting for a story. Stark landscapes of vast white nothingness, silence punctured by the occasional chirp of a bird or a distant train whistle, and the sense of time standing still provide a fitting backdrop for tales of sorrow, solitude, suspense and ennui. Here are five fiction selections… Continue reading

  • Death Comes Knocking

    Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me. The Carriage held but just ourselves And Immortality. -Emily Dickinson A Dirty Job by Christopher Moore is an edge-of-your-seat read. After seeing a man in mint green at his wife’s hospital bedside – a man he shouldn’t be able to see – Charlie Asher’s life… Continue reading

  • Chinese writer Mo Yan wins 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature

    Chinese writer Mo Yan was awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize in Literature on October 11, 2012. Born to a peasant family in 1955, Mo grew up in Gaomi, Shandong Province. He joined the People’s Liberation Army in 1976 and published his first novel in 1981 while he was serving in the army. Many of his… Continue reading

  • Your Next 5 Books: Books with families and food

    In this column we regularly highlight a Your Next 5 Books submission that we find interesting, funny, unique, or useful to other readers. Submit Your Next 5 Books entry now, or stop by and see us in person, and maybe you could see your (anonymous) reading habits on Shelf Talk! Continue reading

  • London Calling: a Reading List.

    “London itself perpetually attracts, stimulates, gives me a play & a story & a poem, without any trouble, save that of moving my legs through the streets… To walk alone in London is the greatest rest.”   ~ Virginia Woolf, Diary, March 28, 1930. So you say your tickets to the London Olympics got lost the… Continue reading

  • Summer reading: Reviews from readers at our Northeast Branch

    Cakes and Ale by Somerset W. Maugham An old book with language used at the time in Britain. Smooth writing with an easy beat to follow. Interesting descriptions of people and places. ~ Carol Harlem: The Four Hundred Year History from Dutch Village to Capital of Black America by Jonathan Gill A fascinating history of the… Continue reading

  • The Phantom Tollbooth at 51

    One of my favorite books of all time, The Phantom Tollbooth, the novel by Norton Juster and illustrated by Jules Feiffer, celebrates its 51st birthday this year. It is fitting that I am writing to mark its 51st birthday, rather than its 50th because the book itself is a celebration of the unusual in the… Continue reading

  • Your Next 5 Books: A strong female voice

    In this column we regularly highlight a Your Next 5 Books submission that we find interesting, funny, unique, or useful to other readers. Submit Your Next 5 Books entry now, or stop by and see us in person, and maybe you could see your (anonymous) reading habits on Shelf Talk! Continue reading

  • Science Fiction Fridays: As cool as their covers

    Even though I did a column not too long ago about updated book covers, I was really struck by the fact that three books I read this week all have gorgeous artwork. These titillating and beautifully rendered designs stopped me in my tracks and had more than a little influence in my choosing to read… Continue reading

  • Crime: Evil under the Rising Sun.

    Watching the cherry blossoms burst forth and fade always makes me think of Japan. But my Japan is not a place of samurai, ninja and serene Zen temples. The Japan I think of is lit by neon rather than a rising sun. A place of tailored suits, leather jackets, discos and hostess bars, a place where… Continue reading

  • Your Next 5 Books: Characters you can sink your teeth into

    In this column we regularly highlight a Your Next 5 Books submission that we find interesting, funny, unique, or useful to other readers. Submit Your Next 5 Books entry now, or stop by and see us in person, and maybe you could see your (anonymous) reading habits on Shelf Talk! Continue reading

  • Crime: If You Like Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch series.

    In his 1950 essay The Simple Art of Murder, Raymond Chandler outlined the character of the modern detective, in words fit to quote at length: “…down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid. … He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual… Continue reading

  • A Mother’s Day tribute

    My love for books was instilled in me by my mom when I was a child. Mom became a high school librarian when I was an elementary school student. She would always bring home books that she checked out from her library for my siblings and me. We were extremely lucky to have books to… Continue reading

  • Your Next 5 Books: Historical fiction ebooks

    In this column we regularly highlight a Your Next 5 Books submission that we find interesting, funny, unique, or useful to other readers. Submit Your Next 5 Books entry now, or stop by and see us in person, and maybe you could see your (anonymous) reading habits on Shelf Talk! Continue reading

  • Science Fiction Fridays: When the TV is turned off

    So of all my deep, dark secrets (including the Rupaul-shaped one that has taken the place of my heart), the one I am most ashamed of is the fact that for most of my life I have had a snobby aversion to science fiction television. For some reason, I felt that the television medium must be… Continue reading