4 out of 5 stars I am a sucker for a feel-good story, and The Authenticity Project is a perfectly frothy little breeze of a book. Goodreads.com: The Authenticity Project, by Clare Pooley A lonely, eccentric old man named Julian gets an idea: People should tell the truth about themselves. So he writes his in … Continue reading Review: The Authenticity Project
5 out of 5 stars A stunning book: powerful, important and beautiful. And there's hockey. Goodreads.com: Firekeeper's Daughter, by Angeline Boulley I listened to the excellent Firekeeper's Daughter audiobook, which means I heard how to pronounce all of the Anishinaabe words and phrases, but have no idea how to spell them. That leaves me woefully … Continue reading Review: Firekeeper’s Daughter
1.5 out of 5 stars A very cool idea goes absolutely nowhere until it goes right off a cliff. Goodreads.com: Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: an Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution, by R.F. Kuang Please explain to me why people are raving about this book! (4.5 stars based on 11.5k reviews on … Continue reading Review: Babel
4 out of 5 stars (+.5 star bonus for the audiobook!) Great story, but with one critical plot point I just could not buy. Goodreads.com: Black Cake, by Charmaine Wilkerson Do yourself a favor and listen to Black Cake on audiobook. Narrators Lynnette R. Freeman and Simone Mcintyre do an incredible job with the musical, deeply emotional … Continue reading Review: Black Cake
4.5 out of 5 stars Goodreads.com: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, by Taylor Jenkins Reid When Hollywood legend Evelyn Hugo sits down to tell her life story, she wants one thing made clear: "I am not a good person." But through learning the intimate details of her life on- and off-screen, the reader eagerly … Continue reading Review: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
2 out of 5 stars 3-star story wasted on 1-star writing. Goodreads.com: The Inheritance Games (#1), The Hawthorne Legacy (#2), The Final Gambit (#3), by Jennifer Lynn Barnes Please do not listen to the audiobooks for this series. Narration exacerbates the poor writing and creates additional problems of its own. Clearly, no one heeded their … Continue reading Review: The Inheritance Games trilogy
2.5 out of 5 stars A locked door mystery with one good reveal, and ten too many twists. Goodreads.com: The Paris Apartment, by Lucy Foley Escaping a rough situation in England, ne'er-do-well bartender Jess makes an impromptu trip to stay with her brother Ben in Paris. But when she gets there, Ben is missing. As … Continue reading Review: The Paris Apartment
3 out of 5 stars Two halves of what should have been different books subtract from each other, instead of adding up. Goodreads.com: Piranesi, by Susanna Clarke Don't get me wrong. I understood Piranesi just fine, once Susanna Clarke chose to make that possible. Up until that point, I was interested, if not quite intrigued. … Continue reading Review: Piranesi
2.5 out of 5 stars At least it wasn't The Goldfinch, I guess. Goodreads.com: Olive Kitteridge (Olive Kitteridge #1), by Elizabeth Strout I've read (and loved!) Pulitzer Prize-winning fiction before: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, and others. But the adoration for Olive Kitteridge, I do not … Continue reading Review: Olive Kitteridge
4 out of 5 stars Haunting and beautifully bleak, Circe shows us that female empowerment isn't just for humans. Goodreads.com: Circe, by Madeline Miller The Gods of Ancient Greece are not good. They are cruel and cold. Immortality is a gift and also a curse - how can anything have value if nothing can ever … Continue reading Review: Circe
Make your garden beautiful!
Vin 909 Winecafé
Books, book fashion and book reviews.
Books. Life. Movies. Fun and more...
read. write. art.
Books. Beauty. Life.
Love in the Library 