Review: The Henna Artist

The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars



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Review: Delia's Shadow

Delia's Shadow by Jaime Lee Moyer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Meet Delia Martin, a wealthy young woman during the dawn of the century in the city of San Francisco. Her secret: she can see ghosts, and at times they seem as real as the living. Since the great quake in 1906, Delia has been haunted by the dead and fled to New York to escape them. However, one particular restless spirit seems unwilling to let her go. Delia returns to San Francisco in the hope that she can shake her "friend" off once and for all. Unbeknownst to Delia, "Shadow," her spirit, was one of the many victims of a serial killer who has never been caught and is killing again after thirty years. Detectives Jack and Gabe have been on this case as was Gabe's father before him. Delia, Sadie (Delia's childhood friend), Gabe, and Jack (Sadie's fiancé) join forces to solve the mystery. A dark paranormal mystery with a bit of romance, this is the first book in the Delia Martin trilogy.

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Booking Forward March 2020

American Animals: A True Crime Memoir

by Eric Borsuk

This is Erik Borsuk’s true crime confession about a few college lads that decide to burglarize their university’s library!  What could you possibly steal from a library you might ask…well this library had a few rare books worth millions.  I can’t wait to see how this heist caper turns out.  P.S. A librarian gets shot with a Taser gun!

For fans of: Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell; The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartless

The City We Became

N.K. Jemisin

I became enamored with Jemisin’s writing after reading her three-time Hugo Award-winning Broken Earth Trilogy. Here she leaves The Stillness behind and heads to New York City. While the setting might be familiar this go-around, the story appears to be wholly unique. The city is gaining sentience, and five New Yorkers have been chosen to become avatars for each borough and protect it from an alien threat.

For fans of: Trail of Lightning by Rebecca Roanhorse; The City by Dean Koontz         

Cool Town

Grace Hale

When people think of alternative music, they usually picture Seattle, Washington. This book takes a detour down to Athens, Georgia where the true birth of alternative music quite possibly took place. Along with bands like the B-52s and R.E.M., author Grace Hale was there when it all happened in the late 70s and early 80s, and promises the book will be a perfect blend of her own memories and a music historian’s diligent research. This one should be irresistible to all the music nerds out there. 

For fans of: Girl in a Band by Kim Gordon; Hunger Makes Me a Modern Girl by Carrie Brownstein

The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home

Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor

The creators of the popular podcast “Welcome to Night Vale” reveal to fans the thrilling life of one of the most mysterious characters from the show, The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives in Your Home. I’m especially interested to listen to the audiobook read by Mara Wilson of “Matilda” fame who also voices the character on the podcast.

For fans of: Midnight, Texas by Charlaine Harris; The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley

The Glass Hotel

Emily St. John Mandel

A strange and compelling story of people linked by a remote hotel in the Pacific Northwest. Fascinating characters and an intriguing but scattered plot that meanders all over the place. Difficult to pin down what it’s really about—trust, lies, luck, disappearances, the general uncertainty of life—but nevertheless a pleasure to read and hard to put down.

For fans of: A Visit from the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan; Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff

A Good Neighborhood

Therese Anne Fowler

Heartbreaking to read and think about. We all want to live in a good neighborhood, but what does that really mean? The author throws a lot of heavy stuff into this novel, with lines of tension running under everything. Race, environment, ambition, privilege, abuse, double standards for men and women, activism, all the things.

For fans of: Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane; Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

The Henna Artist

Alka Joshi

Seventeen-year-old Lakshmi leaves an abusive marriage and becomes the most requested henna artist. There she learns secrets and gossip from the wealthiest women. She must tread lightly to avoid jealous gossip that could ruin her.

For fans of: Dominicana by Angie Cruz; The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh

The Light in Hidden Places

Sharon Cameron

Based on a true story of Holocaust heroine Stefania Podgorska, a 16-year-old Catholic girl. Stefania hid 13 Jewish people in her attic with an SS officer that lived adjacent to her for months. A tense and gripping novel, full of urgency, in which death seems to wait around every corner.

For fans of: The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio Iturbe; Mapping the Bones by Jane Yolen

Recollections of my Nonexistence

Rebecca Solnit

"To have a voice means not just the animal capacity to utter sounds but the ability to participate fully in the conversations that shape your society, your relations to others, and your own life." In her new memoir, Solnit (Men Explain Things to Me) reflects on the events that helped her to find her own voice in a world and profession dominated by men.

For fans of: Hunger: a Memoir of (My) Body by Roxane Gay; We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Valentine

Elizabeth Wetmore

Amazing debut. Tells the story through the voices of several women and girls in Odessa, Texas, a town where the oil flows freely but so do racism, sexism, hatred, anger, and fear. A young Mexican girl is beaten and raped by a white oil worker and everyone takes a side. Mostly the young man’s side.

For fans of: The Mothers by Brit Bennett; Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward

Review: Stay and Fight

Stay and Fight by Madeline Ffitch
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Three women build their own house and live off the land in Appalachian Ohio. Karen and Lily are a couple, expecting their first child. When that child turns out to be a boy, they must leave the Women's Land Trust property on which they had set up their first home. Helen, who has traveled to the area with her boyfriend, reaches out to Karen and Lily after the boyfriend takes off. She has purchased a twenty-acre stretch of land, and asks the other two women, whom she barely knows, to throw in their lot with her in a partnership, building another cabin, hunting, growing a garden, constructing a life. Even with all their amazing skills and strengths, life is unimaginably hard. And black snakes, which apparently are almost impossible to get rid of, infest their house. Most people I know, including myself, might have a hard time relating to these three women. After all, when was the last time you ate a nettle sandwich, or brewed a raccoon stew? Ugh. But the boy, the heart of the "family," Perley, is the most lovable, winsome young character I've read about in a long time. He's smart and funny and eager to learn. It's when he insists that he wants to go to school that things begin to crumble. After the county officials find out about the living conditions, they intervene. (Snakes sleeping in the bed are apparently frowned upon. Along with the lack of indoor plumbing.) Things don't go well, and the women hit rock bottom. How they deal with it, and how Perley processes it, and rises above it, finding a true friend along the way, make this book a true gem.

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Review: Stephen King at the Movies: A Complete History of the Film and Television Adaptations from the Master of Horror

Stephen King at the Movies: A Complete History of the Film and Television Adaptations from the Master of Horror by Ian Nathan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ian Nathan’s Stephen King at the Movies is a perfect match for any fan of King’s novels, short stories, or the films and television series inspired by them. Claiming to be “a complete history of the film and television adaptations from the master of horror,” this compendium covers everything from 1976’s Carrie – which you’ll learn has already been remade twice – to 2019’s Doctor Sleep, chronologically giving every movie, mini-series, and TV show its own chapter complete with original poster art, filmmaking credits, photos from the set, and a review that includes making-of factoids as well as King’s own involvement (cameos!) and thoughts on each project.

This book also includes a few added sections I enjoyed as well. For instance, the introduction did a nice job of showcasing King’s career as a writer while at the same time explaining why his writing is so readymade for the silver screen. And, the author includes his own personal ranking of every movie and show in a section called The Final Reckoning. I won’t spoil which project got the top slot, but I have to agree with nearly all of the Children of the Corn sequels being near the bottom of the list.

The only dilemma with this book is that it became outdated the instant it was published. With shows like The Outsider currently airing, and over fifteen King-related projects slated for production, it seems the public demand for all things Stephen King is at an all-time high. But, what’s here in this compilation is outstanding – a film-geek and King-Completist’s dream. We can only hope for updated editions sometime down the road.


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