Reviews by Peggy A. (Morton Grove, IL)

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Do Tell
Do Tell: A Novel
by Lindsay Lynch
Sand on a Beach (7/2/2023)
I found "Do Tell", a debut book by Lindsay Lynch, to be light and fluffy just like sand on a beach. Summer is synonymous with a good beach read and if this is what you're craving, this book is for you. I am intrigued as many are of the Hollywood in its Golden days…the 1930s …more
Homestead
Homestead: A Novel
by Melinda Moustakis
For Those Who Wander….Blindly! (1/19/2023)
The author wrote this epigraph at the very beginning of her book…."for those who wander". I feel compelled to add the word "blindly" after it. The two characters, Lawrence and Marie, are engaged to marry the day after they met in a bar. Both are running from their traumatic …more
The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise
The Mostly True Story of Tanner & Louise
by Colleen Oakley
Thelma and Louise Mashup (10/20/2022)
This is a highly entertaining story of inter generational bonding in the tradition of Thelma and Louise. However, the hook here is that the main characters are about 60 years different in age which leads to a very different perspective on just about everything. At first …more
Fly Girl
Fly Girl: A Memoir
by Ann Hood
The best of times…and the worst! (4/11/2022)
Ann Hood chronicles the golden age of air travel in her latest memoir, Fly Girl. She traces the start of her journey in her years after finishing college in 1978 and ending eight years later as deregulation sent the industry into a tailspin. As such it could also be seen as …more
Free
Free: A Child and a Country at the End of History
by Lea Ypi
"We're so sorry, Uncle Enver" (11/20/2021)
A good book takes you out of the familiar and into an unknown world. This book did that for me. All I knew about Albania is that the comedian Jim Belushi came from there. Reading Lea Ypi's biography changed that. Her story is about a life bisected by the collapse of one …more
At the Chinese Table
At the Chinese Table: A Memoir with Recipes
by Carolyn Phillips
A Gutsy Life and a Gutsy Stomach (7/2/2021)
This did not seem like the book for me. Although I have traveled to China and thought this book would grab my attention, it failed to do so. Probably this is due to my lack of specialized, esoteric details of the 35 different cuisines in China.
I did however appreciate her …more
The Three Mothers
The Three Mothers: How the Mothers of Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and James Baldwin Shaped a Nation
by Anna Malaika Tubbs
Behind every great man is a mother! (12/5/2020)
Anna Tubbs not only highlights but celebrates the unique contributions of Berdis Baldwin, Alberta King, and Louise Little in making their sons so influential and powerful in shaping American society. This book is unique in its perspective of seeing how important these three …more
The Shadow King
The Shadow King: A Novel
by Maaza Mengiste
Me and my Shadow (9/1/2020)
I found this book to be very intense, absorbing, and provocative in its subject matter. I was definitely transported to another time, pre WW2, and a wholly different culture. While it took the author, Maaza Mengiste, a lot of time to set up the plot, the book gained much …more
The Smallest Lights in the Universe
The Smallest Lights in the Universe: A Memoir
by Sara Seager
Inner and Outer Space Probes (7/13/2020)
Sara Seager's memoir makes challenging reading because after all, it's about astrophysics, but it is about so much more!
The author openly and bravely probes her own inner vulnerabilities and losses as she mourns the death of her young husband from cancer. Meanwhile she must …more
Daughter of the Reich
Daughter of the Reich: A Novel
by Louise Fein
Ok for Young Adult Readers (3/11/2020)
I was quite excited to get this book but felt it was dumbed down for either younger readers or those who wanted a fluffy take on the Nazi regime. Just finished a scholarly book on WW2...The Splendor and the Vile. No comparison. I wish this debut author more success on her …more
The Splendid and the Vile
The Splendid and the Vile: A Saga of Churchill, Family, and Defiance During the Blitz
by Erik Larson
Words Do Matter! (1/22/2020)
Eric Larson is not capable of writing anything less than a gripping account of historical events as he has already demonstrated in his past books. This one is no exception. I found myself emptying the dishwasher and thinking, I can't wait to get back to WW2!

Larson manages …more
Red Letter Days
Red Letter Days
by Sarah-Jane Stratford
A Good Book, Not a Great One (10/25/2019)
I found this book to be very slow in its pacing for the first third of the story. Obviously the author, Sarah Stratford, needed to set up the context for the following chapters but the narrative lacked the driving momentum that would hook the reader...at least this reader.
I …more
Yale Needs Women
Yale Needs Women: How the First Group of Girls Rewrote the Rules of an Ivy League Giant
by Anne Gardiner Perkins
The Fight is Not Over! (7/15/2019)
Anne Perkins has written a scholarly narrative of Yale before and after women were admitted in 1969. Basically, their acceptance was a default position. No one really wanted them including the President, Kingman Brewster, and board members...all male, of course! Due to …more
The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls
The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls
by Anissa Gray
Mash up of a book (10/7/2018)
I found this book to be a rambling, confusing mash up of too many characters having way too many problems. As a reader, I felt I needed a scorecard to keep the four sisters and their numerous relationships straight in my head. Also, I felt no emotional connection to any of …more
Red, White, Blue
Red, White, Blue
by Lea Carpenter
A spy novel not made for TV (7/14/2018)
If you're looking to read a thrilling, page turning book about the CIA and it's exploits abroad, this is not your book! Instead, Lea Carpenter has written a provocative tome on life and loss and the choices one makes in life. The plot is secondary to the character …more
America for Beginners
America for Beginners
by Leah Franqui
Mash up: Lost in Translation and Road Trip (3/17/2018)
Reading this book was a fun and enlightening romp through cultural differences played out on a wide cross country landscape. Leah Franqui developed each of the three diverse characters into fully realized narrative individuals...each with their own backstory and evolving …more
Being Mortal
Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End
by Atul Gawande
Warning: Aging-Approach with Caution! (9/18/2017)
This book adds greatly to the conversation of aging, death, and quality of life issues. It goes further than most by flipping the discussion on its head by not defining a "good death" but rather the a "good life". One should always strive to define for themselves what they …more
The Heart's Invisible Furies
The Heart's Invisible Furies: A Novel
by John Boyne
Paths that cross will cross again (6/25/2017)
This book is a trajectory of one man's life spanning around 70 years. Cyril, born out of wedlock, in 1945, is an unwilling victim of a repressive and horribly judgmental Irish society. His teenage mother was booted out of her small community in the middle of a church …more
Home Sweet Home
Home Sweet Home
by April Smith
Home Sweet Home--Not! (1/6/2017)
I found this novel by April Smith to be quite engrossing. The narrative pulls you forward into reading "just one more chapter". Not an easy thing to do during the busy holidays. What was especially interesting were the amazing parallels both cultural and political between …more
Victoria
Victoria
by Daisy Goodwin
Coming of Age Tale (11/8/2016)
I was really looking forward to this book as I enjoy historical novels. Also, the importance of this young British monarch is legendary. Unfortunately, I was let down by a rather fluffy and light weight rendering of Victoria. I found the antics of "Dish", Victoria's dog, …more
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