When it comes to families, I think that Tolstoy (in Anna Karenina) said it best: “Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” And I think Brady Udall had this in mind when he wrote his newest novel, The Lonely Polygamist, because the Richards’ family is anything but run-of-the-mill [...]

Novel Brady Udall

Dan Simmons has dabbled in a lot of genres: Horror/Thriller, Science Fiction, Detective/Crime, and (his latest trend) fiction inspired by actual events. His writing has always revealed how well read and well researched he is. The result of that research and literacy has created some tremendously enjoyable books.
I am a fan of Dan Simmons. [...]

Novel Dan Simmons

It’s impossible for me not to draw comparisons between Joshua Ferris’ first novel, Then We Came To The End, and his second, The Unnamed. They struck me as so similar it’s almost as if The Unnamed is a slimmed down, repackaged “End,” which means the two novels share the same attributes and drawbacks. Unfortunately, The [...]

Novel Joshua Ferris

For nearly twenty-five years, the story of Blackbriar

Novel William Sleator, Young adult

In The Good Thief, Hannah Tinti has created the equivalent of a carnival moon walk for adults. It is an adventure story, complete with an orphan and everything: Ren is a one-handed klepto who has recently been sprung from a priest-run home for boys slash winery by a man named Benjamin claiming to be his [...]

Novel Hannah Tinti

Sadie Witt is a vibrant sixty-four year old woman who, with her sister, Jane, runs a small resort in northern Minnesota called Witt’s End. Unlike conservative Jane, Sadie wears miniskirts, a thong, tank tops, and spikes her colorful hair. Oh yeah, did I happen to mention she is also a death coach? It seems that [...]

MN Authors, Novel Beth Solheim, Mystery, paranormal, Sadie Witt

I think it’s fair to say that most people have (at least) a passing sense of Homer’s Odyssey. From Armand Assante to the Coen Brothers to James Joyce, the story of Odysseus’s voyage home has been told many times. The Lost Books of the Odyssey by Zachary Mason, however, is not your Grandfather’s Odyssey.
The book [...]

Novel Homer, Zachary Mason

If you can suspend your belief long enough to buy that Chicago’s fourth-largest newspaper would send its cub reporter to a small town eleven hours away to cover the grisly murders of two girls, than the rest of Gillian Flynn’s novel Sharp Objects is really easy.
Camille is a stoic toughie with a soft, forgiving touch [...]

Novel Gillian Flynn

When Catherine Madison falls in love with a boy named Thomas, the love is so complete and all encompassing that when he nicknames her Moonie it sticks so well that everyone takes to calling her Moonie. As is often the case in small midwestern towns, this one located in Nebraska, Moonie and Thomas marry soon [...]

Novel Jami Attenberg

As I just clicked on Goodreads’ four-star rating for Ha Jin’s A Free Life,  I couldn’t help but wonder about the countless number of stars I would have awarded it if something had actually happened in the book. I mean, I already “really liked it” in the book review website’s parlance. With a little drama [...]

Novel ha jin