The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elisabeth Tova Bailey is an exquisite meditation…
The Golden Mean by Annabel Lyon is a historical novel about the relationship between Aristotle and Alexander the Great. Aristotle was a tutor to the young Alexander, a position conferred by his reputation for wisdom and his friendship with Philip, Alexander’s father. Lyon does a wonderful job…
Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese is a great book. It had been recommended to me over and over, so a few months ago I bought it, looked at the cover and the thickness, and put it in my pile of books to…
Swallow by Tonya Plank is an entertaining and engrossing read about an ambitious young lawyer in New York City, with all the necessary stuff about long hours, extreme pressure, and cut throat competition, along with the attendant splurges of materialistic gorging that a hard-working…
A Novel Bookstore by Laurence Cossé is a very original take on an enduring theme: the passion that readers have for books. What is the dream of book lovers everywhere? To visit the perfect book store, one that stocks only the best of books, where “best”…
The Past is a Foreign Country by Gianrico Carofiglio is a chilling depiction of a good kid’s descent into hell. Giorgio, law student, loyal boyfriend, and responsible son, is knocked off the pilings of his structured life by a chance encounter with…
Susan Hasler’s debut novel, Intelligence, set deep in the working bowels of the CIA, is engrossing and terrifying, while also being very, very funny. Counter-terrorism intelligence analyst Maddie James knows deep in her Maalox-coated gut that another terrorist strike is imminent but…
The days I spent reading The Great Bay: Chronicles of the Collapse by Dale Pendell were uneasy ones. While reading this chilling book of fiction set in the future, I happened upon a very real article of fact…
