‘There There’ “There There” is an incredible debut novel by Tommy Orange. It follows a dozen different Native American perspectives all coalescing around a powwow taking place in Oakland, California. Tommy Orange breathes life into each of these characters and paints a vivid picture of what it’s like to be
Read More →‘The Great Halifax Explosion: A World War I Story of Treachery, Tragedy, and Extraordinary Heroism’ During World War I, the city of Halifax was a prominent shipping port for military supplies, as crossings from North America to Europe became increasingly perilous. The French freighter Mont-Blanc sailed from New York in
Read More →‘Beaut’ Award-winning author Donald Morrill presents his first novel, “Beaut,” a gorgeously written tale of family and motherhood, love and heartbreak, and the possibilities and failures in life. We learn about Jill Lundgrove through her writing to an as-yet unnamed person. Through fits and starts as she writes, stops and
Read More →‘Waiting for Tomorrow’ Nathacha Appanah’s “Waiting for Tomorrow” is a slim novel that packs a powerful punch. It tells the story of Anita and Adam. They met at school in Paris where they both felt like outsiders. Anita is from the island of Mauritius, and Adam is from the French
Read More →‘Leonardo Da Vinci’ In a wonderfully wrought volume, Walter Isaacson describes the life of Leonardo Da Vinci in engaging prose accompanied by many examples of his art, drawings and notes. The book is heavy due to the fine paper used throughout, which is necessary to bring his art to the reader. It is a must
Read More →‘It’s Not Yet Dark’ Simon Fitzmaurice is an award-winning Irish writer and film director, and his beautiful memoir — a No. 1 bestseller when it was published in Ireland — is his courageous story of being afflicted with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). A month after he receives a call from
Read More →‘Greetings from Utopia Park: Surviving a Transcendent Childhood’ In the early 1980s, after being abandoned by her alcoholic husband, 5-year-old Claire Hoffman’s mother, a devoted practitioner of Transcendental Meditation, abruptly moved Claire and her brother from New York to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s headquarters in Fairfield, Iowa. “Greetings from Utopia Park” is
Read More →‘Long Haul: A Trucker’s Tales of Life on the Road’ Finn Murphy’s memoir is one of (most of) a life driving a truck, moving customers long distance. Called a “bedbugger,” he carefully packs belongings and loads them into his trailer, preparing them to safely reach their destination. Having dropped out
Read More →‘The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit’ In 1986, 26-year-old Christopher Knight walked away from his job, his car, his family and his life and set up a camp in the Maine woods where, other than two very brief accidental run-ins with hikers, he spoke to no one until
Read More →‘It Devours!’ Night Vale is a weird little town with a lot of heart. It was first made popular in podcast form and then in its first brilliant novel and now selling out live shows all over the world. It seems there’s nothing the strange little town in the desert
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