12/4/2009
America's past and present in all its glory and perfidy.
Ilan Stavans has compiled a comprehensive and amazingly diverse collection of stories and poetry in "Becoming Americans." A look at the table of contents is daunting. It includes entries from many internationally famous writers such as John James Audubon, Charles Chaplin, Isaac Bashevis Singer, W....
12/4/2009
A subtle horror that thrills as it chills the blood.
Drawing from Greek mythology, Egyptian archeology, science fiction and apocalyptic flights of fancy, Terrence Holt stories delve into the hearts and minds of what it means to be human. Among the eight stories of "In the Valley of the Kings," Holt weaves the threads of loss and fear and takes us...
11/7/2009
An intricate and complex story with a simple theme.
The Magicians: A discontented, talented, but unfocused Harry Potter goes to college ? sort of.
11/7/2009
Luscious and satisfying tidbits of humor, ethereal beauty and insight.
The Southern Woman: A collection of stories as graceful and genteel as a southern woman.
Forrest Gump's mother taught him, 'Life is a box of chocolates. You don't know which one you're going to get.' Mrs. Gump was a southern woman.
11/7/2009
The amazing and often confusing sequence of coincidental events prove that there is no such thing as coincidence.
Await Your Reply: A fascinating journey behind the mask of identity.
Ryan is in danger. Jay drives him--and his severed hand packed in ice in a beer cooler--to the emergency room.
Lucy has left Ohio with her high school English teacher, George Orson, and ends up in an abandoned motel in Nebraska...
10/20/2009
Magic and the seedy side of Manhattan and Brooklyn take center stage.
Mia Saul is really having a hard time. Her daughter Eden has decided to become a vegetarian, and someone stole Mia's bag of groceries. She's late picking Eden up at school and feels at the end of her rope. Mia works temporarily at a publishing house since losing her editing job and the temp job...
10/20/2009
A new and vibrant view of what is and is not memoir.
The 'I' in memoir is a literary device to both enhance and explore complicated truths. Just as we are complex people in real life, we must be equally complex on the page - albeit artistically rendered.
10/20/2009
Deftly mixes fact with a creative use of color and character.
In a world obsessed with change and a hunger for razing the old to make room for the featureless new, Robert Moses found that working outside the political arena was not only lucrative but made him powerful. One by one, he razed areas to create the parks and public swimming pools of New York,...
10/6/2009
Kenyon gives great horror.
Murder, disappearances and madness in the snowbound forest of Quebec.
Joe Thibodeau searched for the missing little girl, following his instincts and the faint trace of tracks to the silent hydro plant and straight into the lair of a maniac.
After a year of being unemployed, David Pierce has been...
9/14/2009
A touching tale with just a hint of mystery.
The Finishing Touches': Fashion tips, well written chick lit and a subtle mystery like a string of perfect pearls. The day before Prince Charles weds Lady Diana Spencer, Lady Frances Phillimore is handed a marmalade box that is left on the stoop. Inside it is a baby wrapped in a cashmere shawl with...
