I just finished reading Half-Blood Blues written by Esi Edugyan. She lives in Victoria, British Columbia but was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta by Ghanaian immigrant parents. This is her second novel but it could be her twenty second or her first. It is a work of outstanding clarity and deep, unfathomable mystery. It …
Continue reading “Gregory Stowe, Library Circulation Assistant”
I have just finished Hans Fallada’s novel Alone in Berlin (also called Every Man Dies Alone), a book which I came across by chance at a flea market in the city. For once, judging a book by its cover (and the blurb) was the right decision! First published in 1947 and set in Berlin during …
Each summer I try to read something challenging along with a few other books on my list and a few I pick up for fun. This summer I chose Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy. It is set in the 1840’s during our expansion into the west. The Kid is the central character who joins up …
I initially started listening to the audiobook of The Immortial Life of Henrietta Lacks on my commute to work. But after just a couple of rides back and forth, I felt compelled to go to the Hatch Science Library to pick up the print copy so I could continue reading inside the house instead of …
In State of Wonder, a researcher for a Minnesota pharmaceutical company heads off to the Amazonian jungle to look into the death of another researcher. The book has mystery—why is the director of the research facility hiding the facts about the death, about what research is being done, and even the location of the jungle …
I am reading Herzog by Saul Bellow. The book follows Moses Herzog, a college professor, as he writes unsent letters to people in his life: friends, famous figures, colleagues…Much of the action of the novel is developed through these letters. Herzog’s romances, relationships, career, as well as his world view are revealed through his writings. …
Through the Door by Jodi McIsaac weaves Celtic mythology and urban fantasy. This tells the story of a mom trying to reconcile her daughter’s unusual abilities and her feelings for the man who abandoned her. The book is heart wrenching, surprising, and full of magical wonder. Nothing is what it seems. Jodi is an Indie …
Continue reading “Amy Dionne, Executive Assistant, Treasurers Office”
Published last year, Pym by Mat Johnson was recommended to me by a colleague who, like me, teaches African American literature. The novel, however, is adamantly not a work of African American literature though it is all about African American literature. The story revolves around the life of Christopher Jaynes who has recently been denied …
Published last year, Pym by Mat Johnson was recommended to me by a colleague who, like me, teaches African American literature. The novel, however, is adamantly not a work of African American literature though it is all about African American literature. The story revolves around the life of Christopher Jaynes who has recently been denied …
I am currently rereading The Lies of Locke Lamora, in preparation for the newest book of the Gentleman Bastard sequence by Scott Lynch. The Lies of Locke Lamora is an intelligently crafted fantasy novel that is endlessly amusing and surprising. It follows the adventures of a group of con artists known as the Gentlemen Bastards. …