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This is the first title by this prolific British author I’ve sampled, and I’m hooked. Well written with interesting main characters both male and female. Suspenseful, but not heart pounding. You can, as I did, dive in into the middle of the Inspector Banks series, as the back stories of the main characters are interwoven into the story as necessary. For lovers of British mysteries like the Inspector Morse stories.
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If you have ever visited the Everglades, (or what’s left of it) you know it is a marsh, not a swamp. The swamp of the title refers to the name commonly, especially in previous centuries, assigned to it by non-specialists, but even more to the morass of politics that has alternatively consigned it to death, and pushed it back from the brink. This is a book for observers and students of political strategy and American history. Yes, there are ecological lessons here, but it is more a tale of why some people become environmental activists (some very surprising stories), and why some have a different vision for the future, and of their continuing battles for the future of the Everglades, and by extension, south Florida.
Tagged: Non-fiction, Politics
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This is a difficult-to-classify tale of a medical researcher studying near death experiences. An interesting cast of characters of different races and backgrounds populate the novel and the story takes several turns, mostly unexpected. The politics and gossip and in a hospital setting are realistically portrayed. For mystery lovers who don’t mind a touch of medical-science-fiction. And for the philosophically inclined lover of escape fiction. A bit of a spooky read, and not everyone lives happily ever after. I found the main character a bit exasperating. But I had trouble putting it down until the end.
Tagged: Fiction, Mystery, Science fiction
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Scott Kelly reads the parallel stories of how a boy from blue collar New Jersey, son of alcoholic parents, became an astronaut and how he endured a year on the International Space Station. These stories are told in alternating chapters. Once you get used to his somewhat deadpan (I’m a tough fighter pilot, man of few words) delivery the parallel stories are engaging. Details of training in Russia and life aboard the ISS are fascinating. For those with an interest in the space program and science in general.
Tagged: Memoir, Non-fiction, Science, Space
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Though we’ve labeled this science fiction, for the most part these short stories are magic realism, little worlds where everything is normal, except perhaps, grandma can fly. Some funny, some a bit macabre (think Joyce Carol Oates with a sense of humor.) One is a paean to a feminist anthropologist, many about the lives of women. They will stick with you after the volume is closed.
Tagged: Fiction, Humor, Magical realism, Short stories
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The “messy truth” to CNN commentator and progressive activist Van Jones is that the country was primed for a revolution regardless of the candidates in the 2016 presidential election. He elucidates the history of the increasing divide between the four segments of American political life he identifies, and makes suggestions for both liberals and conservatives for understanding, corrective action, and finding commonalities across what seems a huge chasm. In spite of the detailing of serious problems like the epidemic of addiction, Beyond the messy truth isn’t a depressing read because of solutions offered. Fresh ideas, persuasively expressed. Strongly recommended regardless of your politics, though progressives may find the most to digest here.
Tagged: Non-fiction, Politics
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Middlesex is an multi-generation immigrant family drama limned by an omniscient narrator with a serious predicament. At turns funny and poignant, it is about identity and finding where you belong, including inside your own skin. Winner of the Pulitzer for fiction in 2003; I highly recommend this lushly written page turner.
Tagged: Coming-of-age, Fiction
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An English country house mystery, but set in the Australian countryside in the 1920s. Greenwood’s Phryne Fisher, a woman of independent means and modern attitudes, detects the solution to a number of mysteries involving her hosts and fellow guests including a servant’s murder. Fans of Dorothy Sayers’ Lord Peter should give this series a try.
Tagged: 1920s, Australia, Cozy mystery, Mystery
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No perplexity required. A survey of beliefs about God, primarily in the West, beginning with ancient Greece. From the common folk to philosophers both famous and obscure. Sprinkled with wry humor and anecdotes. Recommended for history buffs, particularly those interested in the evolution of Christian beliefs.
Tagged: Non-fiction, Religion