December 17, 2016
by Emily
Comments Off on Indie, Quirky, and Forgotten Books for the Reader on Your List Who Has Read Everything
I figure some of you may not want the most recent, expensive hardcover new releases for the readers on your holiday list. So here are some of my recommendations. I love books, and I read a lot of them. Far from … Continue reading
August 1, 2016
by Emily
Comments Off on Love and Jazz in the Time of War
Esi Edugyan’s prize-winning novel Half-Blood Blues (Thomas Allen, 2011) tells the story of struggling African-American jazz musicians in World War II Europe. Her narrator, Sid Griffiths, is the heartsick drummer, hoping in 1992 to redeem himself from the events from 1940. Called … Continue reading
June 23, 2016
by Emily
Comments Off on Iron Tenderness in The Samurai’s Garden
Gail Tsukiyama created a world I have since needed to visit in her novel The Samurai’s Garden . I end up there when trying to cope with the hard news of another shooting or kidnapping and seeking calm, peace or escape. I … Continue reading
May 31, 2016
by Emily
1 Comment
The movie version of Philip Roth’s novel is called “Indignation,” and its main character, Marcus Messner, has every right to his. Squeezed by threat of being drafted if he didn’t fit in and do well in his first years at … Continue reading
April 23, 2013
by Emily
Comments Off on Another Reason I Wrote Holding True
The first time I thought of this novel I was crossing railroad tracks in my ’84 Plymouth Turismo, bumpy railroad tracks in the middle of Packard Street in Ann Arbor. That was 1986. I urgently needed to make sense of … Continue reading