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The Book Journal June 2022
The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins was a compulsive airport purchase and it hooked me from the start and was my constant companion for a plane, two trains, and a bus ride. Narrated by the title character, Frannie is a clear and honest storyteller. Laying out her life in full for her attorney…
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No One Round Here Reads Tolstoy by Mark Hodkinson
Hodkinson’s book is a bit of a hodge-podge of his life as a reader, a writer, a student, and a member of his family but as I mentioned in the “The Book Journal May 2022” post, it makes for a more natural memoir as you follow his story through themes and thoughts rather than a…
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The Book Journal May 2022
First up this month was a library read I was convinced I would love: The Department of Rare Books and Special Collections by Eva Jurczyk. Unfortunately, I’m not sure I would have finished it if I didn’t have the countdown toward its library due date in the back of my mind. There are two really…
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The Unfinished
In No One Round Here Reads Tolstoy, Mark Hodkinson discusses the common reader conundrum: when do you abandon a book? Hodkinson is confident in his technique, if the book doesn’t hook him quickly, he lets it go. Plenty of other writers and reviewers have addressed the issue. Some say deciding not to finish a book…
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Eight Detectives by Alex Pavesi
I, like many, love a good fictional English murder mystery. It doesn’t usually have the deep cynicism of a modern crime drama or the weight of real tragedy linked to true crime. There will be a murder and the alarm and dismay that comes with it – but it will be set up, investigated, and…
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The Book Journal April 2022
The Mystery of Henri Pick by David Foenkinos (Translated by Sam Taylor) was an engaging trip to literary France. This is a small book full of heart-warming characters and a large literary mystery but it’s also a thoughtful contemplation of the relationship between readers and writers. Border Crossing by Pat Barker is a short, tense…
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A Library Copy
When I was five years old my mother led me into the squat, rusty brown library complex in our town to ask for a library card. Now up until this point I was already a proxy library user through my mother but today that was going to change: I wanted a card in my name.…
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The Book Journal March 2022
This month I tackled two longer reads: Great Circle by Maggie Shipstead and The Binding by Bridget Collins.
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A Second Adolescence
Several weeks ago, I read The Magician by Colm Tóbín because he was coming to a local museum to give a talk (which of course ended up being virtual but at this point I’ll take a virtual talk over a cancelled one!) The book itself was a wonderful, thoughtful piece but something Tóbín said at…
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The Book Journal February 2022
The main event this month was The Magician by Colm Tobin which I absolutely loved. I did take a week break about 200 pages in (which is when I turned to Ibbotson) but that was mostly to make sure I could give the book the proper attention
lost in the dust jackets
A place to talk about books.
lost in the dust jackets 