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Reviews by Patricia L. (Seward, AK)

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Songs of Summer
Songs of Summer
by Jane L. Rosen
Songs of Summer by Jane Rosen (12/28/2024)
Yes, Maggie May Wheeler is named after Rod Stewart's hit song. No wonder: her hippy parents were proprietors of a record store in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. Maggie, practically 30 years old, has had a classic upbringing. Her now deceased parents were eccentric yet loving and …more
One Death at a Time
One Death at a Time
by Abbi Waxman
One Death at a Time (11/20/2024)
Natalie Mason is described as "an unusually pretty woman of twenty-five with extremely short hair and striking features that might have been overwhelming had they been paired with a more elaborate hairstyle…" In Hollywood everyone is judged first by their looks and second …more
The Bog Wife
The Bog Wife
by Kay Chronister
Dysfunction and more (8/7/2024)
Weena has been summoned to come home because her father is dying. Not an unusual circumstance for most people, yet consequential for the Haddesley family and their ancestral cranberry bog.
The impending death means an ancient ritual must be performed that will insure …more
This Strange Eventful History
This Strange Eventful History: A Novel
by Claire Messud
More strange than eventful (4/17/2024)
Messud's novel follows the Cassars, a family of Pied-Noir, from 1940 to the 2000's. Wikipedia describes Pied-Noirs as "…an ethno-cultural group of people of French and other European descent who were born in Algeria during the period of French rule from 1830 to 1962." Most …more
The Funeral Cryer
The Funeral Cryer: A Novel
by Wenyan Lu
Save your tears... (2/5/2024)
A funeral cryer is paid to cry at funerals, and/or teaches the bereaved to show the proper sorrow regardless of how they feel about the dead. The profession of funeral crying is unique and interesting and the book describes a social emotional culture of China that is not …more
The House on Biscayne Bay
The House on Biscayne Bay
by Chanel Cleeton
House on Biscayne Bay (1/1/2024)
The House on Biscayne Bay is a mixture of mystery, murder and historic fiction. Marbrisa, an extremely large and elegant estate is the house on Biscayne Bay in South Florida. Built after WWI on a remote site facing the water with the dual intentions of developing luxury …more
Leaving
Leaving: A Novel
by Roxana Robinson
Leaving by Roxana Robinson (11/21/2023)
Sarah, divorced, with grown children, unexpectedly meets a former beau at the opera. "They had been close at one time." Sarah and Warren decide to "continue" their relationship, even though Warren is married. Eventually, Warren decides to leave his wife of thirty-seven …more
Devil Makes Three
Devil Makes Three: A Novel
by Ben Fountain
Haitian Lowdown (9/5/2023)
"…Haiti Travel Advisory July 27, 2023 Do not travel to Haiti due to kidnapping, crime, civil unrest, and poor health care infrastructure."
Haiti,1991. American Matt Amaker is finally making a little profit from ScubaRave his diving business. His Haitian partner Alix Variel's …more
Mrs. Plansky's Revenge
Mrs. Plansky's Revenge
by Spencer Quinn
Mrs. Plansky's Revenge (4/10/2023)
"…Loretta Plansky, is a seventy-one-year-old widow of solid build and the only member of the whole club with a one-handed backhand." The club being the New Sunshine Golf and Tennis Club close to her new, rather posh apartment in the Sunshine State. Mrs. Plansky is a widow, …more
Moonrise Over New Jessup
Moonrise Over New Jessup
by Jamila Minnicks
Moon Over New Jessup by Jamila Minnicks (12/18/2022)
In 1957 in rural Alabama, after a "misunderstanding" with her landlord, Alice Young flees the only home she's known, boarding a bus with a ticket that would only go as far as Birmingham. Chicago and her sister are out of reach. Fate intervenes as she steps off the bus in …more
River Sing Me Home
River Sing Me Home
by Eleanor Shearer
Story that needs to be told (8/25/2022)
Rachel has birthed children, many children. Yet she is alone. Some of her children were stillborn, others died as a result of the harsh conditions on the plantations. Those who survived into their teens were stolen from her to do the owners bidding or sold to do the bidding …more
One's Company
One's Company: A Novel
by Ashley Hutson
No-one's Company (5/9/2022)
Meet Bonnie Lincoln. She has a thing for the 80's TV sitcom Three's Company. To say she is obsessed is an understatement. The only bedroom in her tiny trailer is reserved for multiples of 3C DVD collections and all the bling she can afford on her warehouse stockperson …more
Free
Free: A Child and a Country at the End of History
by Lea Ypi
Search for Utopia (11/18/2021)
Some time ago, during an extended stay on a remote beach, a few friends and I tried to imagine the perfect society. We were different ages, and came from opposite ends of the earth. After a few drinks and multiple attempts at creating this ideal nation, ultimately someone …more
How to Find Your Way Home
How to Find Your Way Home
by Katy Regan
Not a map to finding a home... (10/6/2021)
Finding the way home when homeless is, for many, hard to understand. Regan's book is a story about Emily Nelson and her big brother, Stephen and the rather selfish adults responsible for them. The actions of all culminate in a very unfortunate event producing catastrophic …more
Flesh & Blood
Flesh & Blood: Reflections on Infertility, Family, and Creating a Bountiful Life: A Memoir
by N. West Moss
What matters? (8/6/2021)
As a mother of three with a rather textbook experience with childbirth and women's health, it was humbling to read of Moss's adverse experiences and their emotional toll. Her descriptions of each part of the journey were open, vivid and introspective.

Moss not only details …more
Everybody
Everybody: A Book about Freedom
by Olivia Laing
Freedom's Struggle (5/26/2021)
Everybody: A book about freedom by Olivia Laing, while difficult to define, is a fascinating read.

Laing states her book is about "...bodies in peril and bodies as a force for change." She uses Wilhelm Reich, "...one of the strangest and most prescient thinkers of the …more
The Personal Librarian
The Personal Librarian
by Marie Benedict, Victoria Christopher Murray
Personal Librarian (1/31/2021)
As a retired public librarian, I was drawn to this title for obvious reasons. Yet I was unprepared for the non-stereotypic, incredible story of Belle de Costa Greene, personal librarian to J.P. Morgan. This fictional account of Belle Marion Greener, who became de Costa …more
The Woman Before Wallis
The Woman Before Wallis: A Novel of Windsors, Vanderbilts, and Royal Scandal
by Bryn Turnbull
A Royal Backstory (7/15/2020)
Consuming the tabloid headlines and pictures of the British Royals is an indulgent pastime for many. The pomp and circumstance, designer clothes and fantastic hats create images of beautiful people in their beautiful world while the stories are rife with indiscretion, …more
Migrations
Migrations: A Novel
by Charlotte McConaghy
Uncomfortable yet satisfying... (4/13/2020)
Early on in Migrations, Franny, trying to find a commercial fishing boat captain thinks: "The thought of being aboard one of these merciless vessels with people who lay waste to the ocean makes my skin crawl…." As the member of a family who has fished commercially for the …more
Remembrance
Remembrance
by Rita Woods
Remembrance: place and time (11/6/2019)
Remembrance is both a place and a remembrance of time passed. Bouncing between the mid 1800's to the present, Remembrance, the book, is the voice of slaves and their heirs, as they live their lives within the confines of slavery and what has become for many a similarly …more
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    Dream Count
    by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
    A searing new novel from the bestselling author of Americanah and We Should All Be Feminists, exploring four women's desires.
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