Reviews by Peggy H. (North East, PA)

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Jane and Dan at the End of the World
Jane and Dan at the End of the World
by Colleen Oakley
A Fun Romp with a Few Twists (11/30/2024)
I wasn't sure what to expect with this novel, but it ended up being a warm twisty romp. There are insights about marriage, parenting, climate change, and even crypto currency. Nothing ends the way you think it is going to, which is just the way I like my fiction. It's a …more
The Seven O'Clock Club
The Seven O'Clock Club
by Amelia Ireland
Could Not Put This One Down (11/13/2024)
Four strangers come together with a therapist to work on an experimental technique to help each recover from a personal trauma. Over the course of the novel, each character unravels. We learn about them, without learning about their actual trauma throughout the novel. Each …more
We'll Prescribe You a Cat
We'll Prescribe You a Cat
by Syou Ishida
Cute Stories for Feline Lovers (6/6/2024)
I wasn't sure what to expect when I started this book, but I was delighted and hooked after the first twenty pages. There is just the right mix of supernatural, morality play, and cuteness to make it a lovely and uncomplicated read. It doesn't hurt if you happen to be a …more
The September House
The September House
by Carissa Orlando
A Dandy and Thought-Provoking Read (5/28/2023)
I must begin by admitting that I am a fan of the horror genre, so this is a book that I would normally gravitate towards. The September House, however, intrigues and titillates while fulfilling two criteria of a superior horror read. First, the characters have believable …more
The Critic's Daughter
The Critic's Daughter: A Memoir
by Priscilla Gilman
Homage to a Father (1/18/2023)
When I started this book, I knew nothing about the critic Richard Gilman or his works. The world that the author, his daughter, describes--New York City intelligentsia, artists, and writers is equally unknown. Yet I reveled in the vivid descriptions, and the touching …more
The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise
The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise
by Colleen Oakley
Rollicking Good Read (10/25/2022)
How many books have crossed my path recently with a feisty and funny older person as the protagonist? Sadly, very few, with this exception! This was a great fast read, with some fun twists and turns. We get to take a road trip with an octagenarian, a 20-something, and a …more
Natural History
Natural History: Stories
by Andrea Barrett
Interesting View of an Extraordinary Woman (8/16/2022)
Natural History appears to follow, in some ways, the path of the author's previous book. It contains a number of short stories/novelas that ultimately are connected via a family tree. Each of the stories has a connection to Henrietta Atkins, an extraordinary woman, whose …more
One's Company
One's Company: A Novel
by Ashley Hutson
Spinning Out of Control (5/11/2022)
Although I enjoyed reading this book, I found I had to totally disconnect from any feelings of reality to become immersed in its world. And that is the point. Our heroine is seriously damaged goods and never gets the help that she so desperately needs to be able to function …more
Heartbreak
Heartbreak: A Personal and Scientific Journey
by Florence Williams
The Science Behind Heartbreak (11/14/2021)
Just as Nora Ephron dissects a breakup from an emotional (and funny) point of view, Florence Williams in "Heartbreak" tries to give meaning to her personal pain by scientific explanations. We follow her journey from learning that her 25-year marriage is in peril with all of …more
Take My Hand
Take My Hand
by Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Covers all the bases (9/11/2021)
This book hits many topical issues...control over a woman's body, mental health issues, abortion, eugenics, drug testing on poor uneducated people. Based on a real court case in Alabama. It is an upsetting story told in the form of a road trip with flashbacks. I would have …more
The Sunset Route
The Sunset Route: Freight Trains, Forgiveness, and Freedom on the Rails in the American West
by Carrot Quinn
A Harrowing Read (7/15/2021)
If I didn't know that this book is written as a memoir vs fiction, I would have found it hard to believe. I still find it upsetting that a child could live like this in our country--where so many have so much. All of it is described in a very matter of fact tone; there is …more
Everybody
Everybody: A Book about Freedom
by Olivia Laing
Thought Provoking and Ingenious (5/22/2021)
When I started this book, there is no way I thought that I would be rating it as highly as I have. It is a bit dense, and it includes lots of information on figures that I knew nothing about, such as Wilhelm Reich and Amanda Martin. Laing ties together such disparate …more
Appleseed
Appleseed
by Matt Bell
A Depressing View of the Future (2/12/2021)
As a rule, I enjoy a well written sci-fi book--this one is a bit more complicated. It follows three separate threads: 2 brothers sowing apple seeds in colonial Ohio, a futuristic freedom fighter in a world that climate has destroyed, and a quasi-robotic being traveling in …more
Piranesi
Piranesi
by Susanna Clarke
An Interesting Journey for our Times (9/2/2020)
I must admit, this book took a while for me to get into...I kept wondering,,what is the point? But like any good mystery, things are revealed meticulously. Once I was half way through, I found that I could not put it down.

In a world of stay at home, it seems fitting for the …more
Ruthie Fear
Ruthie Fear: A Novel
by Maxim Loskutoff
Tough Read (6/25/2020)
I found this a difficult book to get into. I started it and put it down and put it off, maybe because I have never been to Montana. The land and environment is as much a character of this book as Ruth herself.

Once I did get into the book (about a quarter way through), I …more
The Prisoner's Wife
The Prisoner's Wife
by Maggie Brookes
Unbelievable Story (2/13/2020)
At least once a year, a member of my bookclub suggests a WW2 or Holocaust novel, and, I must admit, we all groan...not another one. The premise of the novel, which is supposedly based on fact is indeed different. I will say that the first third of the book was tepid, and I …more
Creatures
Creatures
by Crissy Van Meter
Murky but enjoyable read (10/23/2019)
The story has been told before, mother leaves child with drifter father, child raises father. But the real characters here are the island and the sea which give the soul to the story.
The plot can be a bit confusing as we go back and forth in time in the life of the narrator. …more
House of Stone
House of Stone
by Novuyo Rosa Tshuma
Slow start...good finish (1/15/2019)
I admit...it took me a while to get into this book. I was not as aware of the politics and history covered in Zimbabwe/Rhodesia but it begs me to learn more. The characters unfold slowly and thoughtfully as we learn the genesis of their current beings...all scarred and …more
The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls
The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls
by Anissa Gray
Family Mosaic (10/15/2018)
I truly enjoyed the subject matter of the book; many times I see charity functions for things and wonder...where does the money go; so this was an interesting premise.
But beyond that, it is really the story of family consequences and how we really don't see beyond what we …more
Vox
Vox
by Christina Dalcher
A Scary Future Vision (5/23/2018)
When I started the book, I sniffed a bit and thought, "Hmmph, a twisted future takeoff on Handmaiden's Tale," because I wasn't buying into the premise. The further into the book I read, however, as the history and the background of the status of the country was revealed...I …more
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