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Reviews by Margaret S. (Palo Alto, CA)

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The Devil Finds Work: An Essay
by James Baldwin

(4/7/2025)

"After fifty years it's interesting." (Yoko Ono, GRAPEFRUIT. )

Films, books-the portrayal of corruption really do not do much good when faced with betrayals in the moral climate of the times. "They convey, without confronting, the anguish of a people caught in a legend."(p. 5 …more

Daughters of Shandong
by Eve J. Chung

Compassionate empathy for humans caught in unfathomable chaos (4/7/2025)

I have often wondered how it is that people know to leave. Where would a story teller be without a journey? Hai tells this story, with the help of her grandmother. A stranger's gift is part of a chain of cultural transmissions through the Chinese Civil war, the Cultural …more

Girl Falling: A Novel
by Hayley Scrivenor

"You must not let yourself think the bad thought (9/8/2024)

A triangle is a meticulous structure. 1st person Narration requires a fixed focus and this suspenseful novel is very specific in clues and a distinct sense of place. The Blue Mountains play a part in the Back and Forth narration of three people "having something kind of …more

Do Tell: A Novel
by Lindsay Lynch

"It's like something they make up for the pictures" (6/15/2023)

Gossip is really sticking your nose into somebody else's business and this is a book that tells what happens next. A mediocre actress becomes a successful gossip columnist in Hollywood's "golden" time of pictures. There's a lot of space where not much happens but it's …more

Two Storm Wood: A Novel
by Philip Gray

How should a War End? (12/7/2021)

From the seriously fine opening to the tense unraveling and binding up, TWO STORM WOOD by Philip Gray is a thriller, a love story, and a history.
World War One is over. The parades have been run. But they turn the corner and the marching soldiers disappear. And that is why …more

When Two Feathers Fell from the Sky
by Margaret Verble

You. have never read anything like it! (11/4/2021)

If leaping into a pool on horseback is what you do then when you can't do it your job possibilities are less shining than you might like. But "....had never been inactive in her life...Forced into it she recognized that the world inside her and the world unseen were every …more

The Personal Librarian
by Marie Benedict, Victoria Christopher Murray

Secrets in Public (2/10/2021)

It takes very courageous writers of deep experience to take on Belle da Costa Greene, a vibrantly authentic woman. Choosing a first person post of view and placing it in a historical context in the present tense, while creating a fictional text is certainly ambitious. The …more

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Lessons in Chemistry
by Bonnie Garmus

Praised by Parade and The New York Times Book Review, this debut features a 1960s scientist turned TV cooking star.

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