Category Archives: Throwback Thursday

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Originally reviewed June 2015 First a little background:  Emile Zola was a French novelist during the late nineteenth century and is credited with founding the naturalist school of fiction writing.  His contemporaries, and indeed friends, included Flaubert, Balzac, and Stendhal.  Zola attempted to apply the methods of natural science to fiction writing to make itContinue reading “Throwback Thursday: Germinal by Emile Zola”

Originally reviewed 2015 Finally, something edgy, clever, and not the least bit condescending. The unreliable narrator will keep you guessing until long after you close the book. When we meet Henry, he is in the midst of a crisis. His mistress is pregnant, but he likes being married to his wife, who incidentally, is theContinue reading “Throwback Thursday: The Truth and Other Lies by Sascha Arango”

This review was originally written in 2015 In the interest of full disclosure, I must admit that I am a big fan of Erik Larson.  In the Garden of Beasts kept me up late at night, The Devil in the White City creeped me out, Thunderstruck left me, well, thunderstruck.  With great anticipation I opened my e-galley (Thank you Crown!) andContinue reading “Throwback Thursday: Dead Wake by Erik Larson”

This book originally came out in 2011 and it was one of the many that I read on my Kindle back when everyone thought print was DEAD.  Well, as the saying goes, rumors of the death of print were greatly exaggerated and it is still with us!  Usually Throwback Thursday features a book review thatContinue reading “Throwback Thursday; My Year with Eleanor by Noelle Hancock”

In honor of the Netflix series, which by the way is just as dreadful as the book, I pulled out this old chestnut from 2017. Roasted… This was billed as psychological suspense, so I got sucked in.  Though it has moments of brilliance, in the end, it falls flat, partially because the main character isContinue reading “Throwback Thursday: Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough”

This book was originally reviewed in 2015 Grace Reinhart Sachs has it all.  A great job,  a loving, doctor husband, and a beautiful son.  She is even about to start the public relations tour for her first book, You Should Have Known.  As a marriage therapist, Grace has walked couples through trying to put itContinue reading “Throwback Thursday: You Should Have Known by Jean Hanff Korelitz”

This is a beautifully written book about a family suffering a terrible loss.  Lydia, the favorite daughter of a mixed race family (Caucasian and Asian) has drowned.  Surprisingly, though there are sad moments, the tone is hopeful.  Ng explores what happens when people’s lives don’t turn out the way they thought they would; when charactersContinue reading “Throwback Thursday: Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng”

This text is from the review I wrote in 2015.  Even MORE books about WWII have come out of the woodwork since then. The past few years of major anniversaries for important events of World War II coupled with the passing of so many of the heroes and villains of that time have brought forthContinue reading “Throwback Thursday: Avenue of Spies: a true story of terror, espionage, and one American family’s heroic resistance in Nazi-occupied France by Alex Kershaw (2015)”