Hiding in the security of all things books, with some movies and tv - occasionally food...
From the Memoirs of A Non-Enemy Combatant, Alex Gilvarry’s debut novel about a young women’s fashion designer imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay after implication in a terrorist plot, may seem like a downer but its engaging protagonist, smart observations, and dark humor make it a fabulous and poignant read that is not to be missed. While sitting in Gitmo, Boy [...]
Maman’s Homesick Pie is Donia Bijan’s collection of thirty delicious recipes created based on dishes she ate growing up in Tehran and from her experiences as a Cordon Bleu trained chef. Along with her recipes she shares what inspired them; the memories from her family’s exile during the 1978 Islamic Revolution, and their subsequent relocation and adjustment to American [...]
If you’re looking for an alternate version of this classic fairytale, maybe one that’s a little heavier on the girl power, look no further than this extended picture book drawing on Greek versions of the Cinderella mythology. The drawings are minimal but charming and well-executed. This telling of Cinderella relies on the Universe, some words [...]
Ren Taylor’s career took a ride on the fast track when she posits that a single artist created a number of 12th century ceramic bowls found current day southern New Mexico. When Silas Cooper discovers bowls with similar markings on his own archaeological dig, he invites Ren to join his team in having a look around. [...]
Sonia Nadhamuni has to start the first year of sixth grade in an unfamiliar public school when her father loses his job, and her family can no longer afford the private school she loved. Faced with the loss of her best friend, larger classes and a school polarized by tight-knit cliques, Sonia has a hard time [...]
Richard Watts is a lawyer and advisor for the super wealthy. He has risen through the ranks in his profession and is now, also, pretty darn rich. In Fables of Fortune he sets out to provide the true stories of the super wealthy (those who have in excess of 100 million dollars – about how much you [...]
When Jo Jo Moyes’s Me Before You arrived unexpectedly in the mail, I took one look at the cover and thought I probably wouldn’t read it. It looked light, fluffy and like something I’d read before. It just didn’t seem likely that I’d be in the mood to read it any time soon. One rainy weekend [...]
The Invisible Ones is Stef Penney’s follow up to her acclaimed debut novel The Tenderness of Wolves. It opens with private investigator Ray Lovell in the hospital recovering from a brush with death via an unidentified poisonous substance. The hospital staff suspects that it may have been self-administered, but as Ray swims through strange, frightening hallucinations and recovers [...]
Welcome to BOOK CLUB, a joint venture between me and Jen from Devourer of Books. Today we are discussing Forgotten Country by Catherine Chung which was published by Riverhead Books. About Forgotten Country: Weaving Korean folklore and history within a modern narrative of immigration and identity, Catherine Chung delivers a fierce exploration of the inevitability of loss and [...]
In Janet Goss’s Perfect on Paper, Dana Mayo is a woman finally getting back into dating after realizing that she has carried the torch for an inappropriate man for far too long. She meets two men, both of whom may be inappropriate for their own reasons, but that doesn’t stop her from diving right in to try [...]