Next installment of Tommi Reads the World – still in the As. Country: AlgeriaTitle: The Star of AlgiersAuthor: Aziz ChouakiLanguage: FrenchTranslator: Ros Schwartz and Lulu NormanPublisher: Graywolf Press (2005), éditions Balland (2002) Aziz Chouaki fled Algeria in 1991 due to the civil unrest and the placement of the author on an assassination list. He died inContinue reading “THE STAR OF ALGIERS – Aziz Chouaki”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
STARTER VILLAIN – John Scalzi
Sometimes you buy a book strictly because of its cover. This is one of those times. Admittedly the cover should have an orange and white kitty on it, and this annoys me, but how fun is this? I’ve never read John Scalzi before, but his brand of quirky SF is exactly the kind of candyContinue reading “STARTER VILLAIN – John Scalzi”
GHOSTS OF HARVARD – Francesca Serritella
“They were ghosts, after all, and happy endings don’t haunt anyone.” Francesca Serritella’s Ghosts of Harvard (Random House 2020) is a rather ambitious work that suffers from trying to do too much. There’s a lot of good things, but the ghost story, mental health awareness, and political thriller don’t always mesh that nicely in theContinue reading “GHOSTS OF HARVARD – Francesca Serritella”
THE RIVER WE REMEMBER – William Kent Krueger
“Charlie Bauer doesn’t intend to leave this life filled with rancor or regret or plagued by the demons of if only. She intends to lie down in peace. And so, she sips her whiskey and reads her books and every once in a great while allows herself the pleasure of a cigar, and she awaitsContinue reading “THE RIVER WE REMEMBER – William Kent Krueger”
WILDWOOD MAGIC – Willa Reece
“Here be witches and wayward girls grown into lonely women spooked by the wind.” I recently finished Alice Hoffman’s The Invisible Hour, and for me, it just fell short. Imagine my surprise when I opened Willa Reece’s Wildwood Magic (Redhook 2023 – thanks to the publisher for the finished copy!) and found myself faced withContinue reading “WILDWOOD MAGIC – Willa Reece”
THE TEACHER OF CHEOPS – Albert Salvadó
Next installment of Tommi Reads the World – still in the As. Country: AndorraTitle: The Teacher of CheopsAuthor: Albert SalvadóLanguage: CatalanTranslator: Marc Brian DuckettPublisher: Indie Published (2012) The tiny country of Andorra has thus far proved the most difficult to find a selection of fictional works translated into English. Nearly every other reader also seeking toContinue reading “THE TEACHER OF CHEOPS – Albert Salvadó”
THE INVISIBLE HOUR – Alice Hoffman
“Trick your enemy, do what you must, believe in enchantments, save yourself.” Alice Hoffman’s The Invisible Hour (Atria Books 2023) is a slim, magical novel that smells like apples and fall. It’s also my first Hoffman work. (I know – that’s surprising considering my love of magical realism and of the movie Practical Magic.) TheContinue reading “THE INVISIBLE HOUR – Alice Hoffman”
FAIRY TALE – Stephen King
I’ve been reading Stephen King since the mid-nineties – devouring his works when I was in middle and high school. (My senior picture is of me reading The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon.) My favorites are Bag of Bones and Desperation, but I also have a special love for The Tommyknockers (which may or mayContinue reading “FAIRY TALE – Stephen King”
SHIELD MAIDEN – Sharon Emmerichs
It’s been years since I’ve read Beowulf. I remember when Seamus Heaney’s translation came out and the hoopla over him being a poet and not a scholar. His version is known for being both poetically beautifully and historically accurate, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Bang-up job. I’m no stranger to the lore, though I amContinue reading “SHIELD MAIDEN – Sharon Emmerichs”
THE BOOK OF CHAMELEONS – José Eduardo Agualusa
In my ever-constant desire to devour the world, I’ve decided to commit myself to reading a work from every country. I anticipate the journey to take several years as I intend to only read a couple from the list (which I’m slowly curating!) each month. I’m starting with the As. Country: AngolaTitle: The Book of ChameleonsAuthor:Continue reading “THE BOOK OF CHAMELEONS – José Eduardo Agualusa”
A Girl Named Tommi 