Archive for the ‘NE & New York’ Category
NEXT TO LOVE by Ellen Feldman
NEXT TO LOVE starts out very strong. We meet three childhood friends in Massachusetts – Babe, Millie, and Grace – whose men are on the cusp of going off to World War II. Ms. Feldman deftly juggles their stories and breathes life into their characters. Grace is the beauty who is married to the heir of one of the town’s most illustrious citizens and has a young daughter; Millie is married to Pete, the pharmacist’s son; and Babe is the feisty wrong-side-of-the-tracks gal who is in a committed relationship with an upstanding man who wants to become a teacher.
July 28, 2011
· 
Judi Clark · 
No Comments
Tags: 1940s, 1950s, 20th-Century, Friendship, Small Town, Time Period Fiction, War Story, WWII · Posted in: Facing History, NE & New York, Reading Guide
MOONLIGHT MILE by Dennis Lehane
In 1998, private investigators Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro were hired to find a missing four-year-old girl named Amanda McCready. Even though she was raised by an unfit mother, Amanda has miraculously grown into a self-possessed, mature, and highly intelligent sixteen-year-old. However, suddenly Amanda disappears, and her Aunt Beatrice begs Patrick to find her again. He does not jump at the offer, partly because he has enough on his plate. Patrick and Angie, who are married and the doting parents of a precocious little girl, are deeply in debt. Angie isn’t working and Patrick desperately needs full-time employment with health benefits. However, the one position he has a chance of landing is with a company whose executives value the bottom line above morality; Patrick has done jobs for them that left him feeling tarnished.
July 25, 2011
· Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: Boston · Posted in: NE & New York, Reading Guide, Sleuths Series, Thriller/Spy/Caper, y Award Winning Author
THE SILENT GIRL by Tess Gerritsen
Forensic pathologist Dr. Maura Isles angers the members of the Boston Police Department when she testifies against Officer Wayne Graff. Dr. Isles maintains that Graff’s savage beating of alleged cop killer Fabian Dixon led to the suspect’s death. Although Maura knows that she will be ostracized because of her testimony, she tells the truth as she sees it: “I only concern myself with the facts…wherever they may lead,” she says. Her attitude irritates her good friend, Homicide Detective Jane Rizzoli, who can understand why Graff “lost it.”
July 5, 2011
· Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: Boston, Forensic, Police, Revenge, Tess Gerritsen · Posted in: NE & New York, Sleuths Series
VACLAV & LENA by Haley Tanner
Once upon a time, in the exotic land of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, a young boy named Vaclav – an aspiring magician – falls in love with a thin, skittish girl named Lena. And, like any alchemy, the combustion is magical…and it endures.
There is a refreshing fairy tale quality about VACLAV & LENA, a lovely debut book by Haley Tanner. Slowly but surely, I fell under the spellbinding tale of this would-be magician and his girl. It’s an endearing tale that unfolds with gentle fireworks rather than major pyrotechnics – rather like the magic seen in the starlit sky on a summer’s night in Coney Island.
July 4, 2011
· Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: Brooklyn, Immigration-Diaspora, love, Magic · Posted in: Contemporary, Debut Novel, NE & New York, New York City
THE STORM AT THE DOOR by Stefan Merrill Block
Stefan Merrill Block has written a novel so irrepressibly beautiful and poetic that it left me stunned.THE STORM AT THE DOOR is based on the life of his grandparents, Frederick and Katharine. Partly imagined and partly based on fact, this is the story of a troubled family dealing with mental illness, secrets, and denial. It is also about the horror and the power of a psychiatric hospital, along with the myriad patients who have enacted their trust in this institution.
July 1, 2011
· Judi Clark · No Comments
Tags: Married Life, Mental Health/Illness, Real People Fiction, Secrets · Posted in: 2011 Favorites, Facing History, Family Matters, Literary, NE & New York, y Award Winning Author
THE DANTE CLUB by Matthew Pearl
You could classify THE DANTE CLUB loosely as historical fiction. Or perhaps, try historical-fantasy-fiction-literary-murder-mystery. It’s definitely a work to be enjoyed by “literary types,” but also by thrill-seekers, detective buffs, psychological and social analysts and in fact anyone who enjoys a good read.
June 30, 2011
· Judi Clark · One Comment
Tags: 19th-Century, Boston, Dante, Real People Fiction, Story Retold, Time Period Fiction · Posted in: Facing History, Literary, Mystery/Suspense, NE & New York
