EVERYONE HERE IS KINBOOK REVIEW 0:00 / 0:00 Everybody Here is Kin Using only thirty-eight words, the first sentence of Nash’s debut novel vividly describes two main characters, their behavior, beliefs, and financial status. Nash writes, “Naomi and I slogged through sand so hot it scalded our tender feet, lugging two rusted lounge chairs and […]
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MY DAD IS A DJBOOK REVIEW I always check out the dedication page in the books I read. The words can tell me volumes about authors and why they sent their creations into the world. This is the case with My Dad is a DJ, written by National Book Award winner Katherine Erskine and Keith
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WRONG PLACE, WRONG TIMEBOOK REVIEW The question on the book cover sums up this mystery beautifully: How do you stop a murder after it’s happened? The novel opens to a placid domestic scene, one that succinctly and deftly depicts the two main characters in the story, Jen, a lawyer, and her husband, Kelly, a
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THE SENTENCEBOOK REVIEW Many years ago, I lived in Hanover, NH as the same time as Louise Erdrich. We shared the same midwife, a fact I learned from her autobiographical book The Blue Jay’s Dance. I knew about her existence in the community because her early writing was already gaining attention and great acclaim. (She
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INTO THE MESSBOOK REVIEW Into the Mess by Debie Thomas is a well-written exploration of familiar Bible passages. Sometimes when I’m reading a book, I find myself automatically re-writing sentences as I go, adjusting for clarity or word order. The writing in this book is so lively, humorous, and engaging that I instantly shut off
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FOSTER CAREBOOK REVIEW Edna wastes no time drawing a hot bath for the child then scraping grime out from under nails, washing her hair, cleaning her ears. The girl describes the bath: “Then she makes me stand and soaps me all over with a cloth. Her hands are like my mother’s hand but there is
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MY MONTICELLOBOOK REVIEW Jocelyn Johnson’s novella, My Monticello, is a soul-nourishing story that begins on a spring night in the near-future after the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville in 2017. White nationalists have returned to town. They are burning down houses and brutally attacking people of color. Da’ Naisha Love, a descendant of Thomas
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LILY’S PROMISEBOOK REVIEW Lily’s Promise is a great read on so many levels. The book’s namesake, Lily, has just lost her beloved father to an illness that taxed family’s resources. She and her mother, an immigration lawyer, move to a smaller house in a different neighborhood. Lily had been home schooled, taught by her father.
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A MOST PECULIAR BOOKBOOK REVIEW As a child, when I thought about the origins of the Bible, I pictured an old, white-robed, balding guy sitting at a long wooden table with scrolls piled up around him. He is surrounded by fluffy clouds and a few helpful cherubs. His look is pensive. His quill pen is
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THE COLLAPSIBLE MANNEQUINBOOK REVIEW Written by Charlotte Matthews, The Collapsible Mannequin is a delightfully quirky novel. The chapters alternate between Clarence, a twelve-year-old child, and his mother, Sarah. They live over the Gateway Rent-to-Own Store in Rolla, Missouri. Clarence desperately wants to know the identity and location of his father. Sarah recoils the few times
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