Notes on Books & Life
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie is a slim volume, coming in under 200 pages, but it does not feel short or insubstantial. Rather, it seems to me to be a study in how to write a novel that contains precisely what it must contain to achieve the author’s endpoint and nothing …
Continue reading “Thoughts on “Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress” by Dai Sijie”
I’ve recently finished three YA books that deserve a mention on here. They are, in order of reading: Incarceron by Catherine Fisher, The Agency: A Spy in the House by Y.S. Lee, and Seth Baumgartner’s Love Manifesto by Eric Luper. Incarceron is a fantasy-esque novel set at some point in the distant future. Incarceron is …
The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin had the potential to be one big cheesy cliche. For that reason, I considered passing it by. I’m glad I didn’t. True, it’s one of those books where the author decides to focus on a particular thing for one year and then writes a book about it. But instead …
Continue reading “Thoughts on “The Happiness Project” by Gretchen Rubin”
I finished My Name Is Mary Sutter, the debut novel by Robin Oliveira, a few nights ago. It reminded me of Sarah Blake’s The Postmistress, only set during a different war and, in my opinion, better. Albany midwife Mary Sutter wants desperately to become a surgeon. On the eve of the American Civil War, she …
Continue reading “Thoughts on “My Name Is Mary Sutter” by Robin Oliveira”
Ariana Franklin’s Mistress of the Art of Death series is one of my favorites. One of my co-workers calls it 12th century CSI. Thus far there are three books: Mistress of the Art of Death, The Serpent’s Tale, and Grave Goods. The premise is this: Adelia, who studied medicine in Salerno, Italy, is sent to …
Continue reading “Thoughts on “A Murderous Procession” by Ariana Franklin”
