Reviewed: Helen Dunmore, A Spell of Winter (Viking, 1995); Hollis Gillespie, Trailer Trashed (skirt!, 2008)

Mentioned: Barbara Kingsolver, The Lacuna (Harper, 2009); Justin Cronin, The Passage (Ballantine Books, 2010); et al

What a weird week for reading. The weather in Holland this past weekend w… Read full post »

Reviewed: Kristin Bakis, Lives of the Monster Dogs (FSG, 1997)

I'm finding my new Orange Project trying, from a strictly logistical standpoint. I assumed many of them would be available for Kindle. I also assumed I'd be able to find many of them in the university library. No, and no. English… Read full post »

As Amy Reiter admitted in her original post, yes. Any list of books meant to grow a young, reading girl is woefully inadequate. There are only so many books out of all the ones you love that you can recommend. Because my mom did such a great job raising a reader,… Read full post »

Reviewed: Rachel Cusk, Arlington Park (Faber and Faber, 2006); Anne Tyler, Breathing Lessons (Knopf, 1988)

I discovered Anne Tyler only last month. For many personal reasons, I needed a new reading project. When I moved to Boston three years ago I printed a list of the Booker/Man Booker prize winners… Read full post »

I'd scoffed at Brady Udall's The Lonely Polygamist everywhere. An Amazon email offered it up, amongst some other beach rubble, as summer reading. I rolled my eyes, wishlisted the David Mitchell instead. Amazon, that pusher, blinked the red-black-and-mudflap cover at me everywhere: Customers Who Bough… Read full post »