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Reviews by Patricia L. (Seward, AK)

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Mating for Life
Mating for Life
by Marissa Stapley
As the World Turns in book form... (3/28/2014)
Reading Mating for Life feels much like watching an afternoon TV soap opera, lots of drama and close ups of faces with wide eyes and/or pained expressions. The story revolves around a former sixties folk music star and her three daughters, each with different fathers, as …more
I Am Livia
I Am Livia
by Phyllis T. Smith
Roman Peyton Place (1/15/2014)
I am Livia is historical fiction set amid the dramas of the Roman Empire. Livia Drusilla reflects on her part in "saving Rome." From her life as a very young wife and mother to her involvement with Caesar Octavianus, son of Julius Caesar, Livia's remembrances reveal her as …more
Safe with Me
Safe with Me
by Amy Hatvany
Stay with Safe with Me (11/17/2013)
Safe With Me begins slowly. The first eighty pages are slightly tedious, especially one long paragraph detailing how to play Zombie Wars. A grieving mother donates her daughter's organs after a fatal accident. A year later she thinks she has met the girl who is a recipient …more
Henry and Rachel
Henry and Rachel
by Laurel Saville
Belaboring their lives…. (9/23/2013)
Henry and Rachel by Laurel Saville is a story crafted from letters between the author's great-grandparents and personal family lore. Saville is a good writer, her first pages piqued my interest and I eagerly anticipated the rest of the story. Henry, Rachel, their daughter, …more
The Affairs of Others
The Affairs of Others
by Amy Grace Loyd
Good-by forever and then? (7/18/2013)
Early in The Affairs of Others by Amy Grace Loyd, the protagonist Celia Cassill says "My husband died a difficult death. I went with him, or a lot of me did….American life asks us to engage in an act of triumphant recovery at all times or get out of the way. I have been …more
The Sisterhood
The Sisterhood
by Helen Bryan
Sisters through the ages (5/27/2013)
Sisterhood by Helen Bryan was an entertaining and informative read, especially if one is interested in the history of convents and those who dwell within. The most intriguing aspect of this book was the notion that there were/are non-nuns behind the secure doors and the …more
The Bloodletter's Daughter
The Bloodletter's Daughter: A Novel of Old Bohemia
by Linda Lafferty
Old World Chicanery (10/1/2012)
The title of Linda Lafferty's book Bloodletter's Daughter gives a clear picture of what will be found in its pages. Early 1600 in Bohemia, using leeches to suck the bloody bad humors from the human body, a barber doctor attempts to treat a "mad" prince. With his young …more
The Woman at the Light
The Woman at the Light: A Novel
by Joanna Brady
Summer's Perfect Storm... (7/1/2012)
What is sitting on the beach, time on your hands, reading glasses in place, lathered up with sunscreen and a good book to read? Ah summer! It is the best of times when all of these things, especially the good book, come together at once…a perfect storm scenario without the …more
The Sometimes Daughter
The Sometimes Daughter
by Sherri Wood Emmons
Didn't Deliver (3/6/2012)
The sixties and seventies were turbulent, dangerous yet exciting times. Much of what we see on the news today is contrived and sensational, as if trying to recapture the wonder and awe of the once nightly news casts of forty years ago. There is much from that time that …more
Arcadia
Arcadia: A Novel
by Lauren Groff
Not Quite Ready... (12/25/2011)
This book could have been fascinating-and some of it is: creating and building a communal life in the sixties, kids of view of that life, some well defined characters. Groff's prose is brilliant in some places yet tedious and mundane in most. The book feels like a first or …more
The Homecoming of Samuel Lake
The Homecoming of Samuel Lake: A Novel
by Jenny Wingfield
Homecoming of Samuel Lake (7/11/2011)
Jenny Wingfield author of The Homecoming of Samuel Lake chronicles a farm family dealing with the everyday challenges of raising children while circumstances with the adults go awry. Wingfield has deftly woven the story through her characters. Swan Lake, the pre-teen …more
The Tenth Song
The Tenth Song
by Naomi Ragen
Tedious Tenth Song (11/6/2010)
The Tenth Song by Naomi Ragen is a mediocre and predictable story about a rich New York Jewish family in turmoil. The father is accused of laundering money that eventually funds terrorist activities in the Mideast. The young daughter renounces her potential career as a …more
Your Republic Is Calling You
Your Republic Is Calling You
by Young-ha Kim
Your Republic is Calling You...will you go? (7/21/2010)
Remember the movie Crash…all the characters dealing with their separate issues while rushing towards one final ‘crash’? Your Republic is Calling You by Young-Ha Kim has that same kind of feeling. Ki-yong, a Korean importer of films, has just received an email message that …more
The Lovers
The Lovers: A Novel
by Vendela Vida
No Love for The Lovers (3/31/2010)
A good novel will move the reader to marvel at an intricate and meaningful plot and/or reread clever and thought provoking phrases. There was little to savor and less to ponder in The Lovers by Vendela Vida. Yvonne, a 50 something widow travels to Turkey searching for some …more
The Lovers
The Lovers: A Novel
by Vendela Vida
No Love for The Lovers (3/31/2010)
A good novel will move the reader to marvel at an intricate and meaningful plot and/or reread clever and thought provoking phrases. There was little to savor and less to ponder in The Lovers by Vendela Vida. Yvonne, a 50 something widow travels to Turkey searching for some …more
Serena
Serena: A Novel
by Ron Rash
Serena Sleeps (9/11/2009)
The Depression is looming as rich Mr. Pemberton travels to his North Carolina lumber camp with his new bride, Serena. Both are fully aware that upon arrival they will encounter the father of a young, sixteen year old who is carrying Pemberton's child. A fight ensues after …more
A Girl Made of Dust
A Girl Made of Dust
by Nathalie Abi-Ezzi
Family in a Futile War (5/18/2009)
Although told by an eight year old, A Girl Made of Dust by Nathalie Abi-Ezzi is not a children’s book. Set in a small village outside of Beirut during the long years of conflict the story reveals the life of a city under siege as experienced by a young girl and her family. …more
How Far Is the Ocean from Here
How Far Is the Ocean from Here: A Novel
by Amy Shearn
Congratulations, you're pregnant! (6/24/2008)
The awe factor of a pregnant woman is high. Onlookers can only guess at the circumstances and decisions that created the child, hypothesize the outcome. How Far is the Ocean from Here deals with a common, albeit contemporary, set of circumstances: couple tries numerous …more
Life Class
Life Class: A Novel
by Pat Barker
Life Class by Pat Barker (12/30/2007)
Woodrow Wilson’s “war to end all wars” certainly did not. At best, WWI set the stage for introspection into the consequences of unbridled cruelty in the name of peace. As Pat Barker illustrates in Life Class, artists can reflect this anomaly through their passion. Yet what …more
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    The Devil Finds Work
    by James Baldwin
    A book-length essay on racism in American films, by "the best essayist in this country" (The New York Times Book Review).
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