The First Actress is an absolutely wonderful (fictional) story about Sarah Bernhardt. I had first heard of her in my high school drama class, but aside from her sleeping in a coffin I didn’t remember anything about her. While many liberties have been taken, I think the reader still has a good idea of who Sarah Bernhardt was by the end of the book. From the beginning, I was hooked. The writing flows easily and while I may not agree…
Piranesi by Susanna Clarke 4/5I almost didn’t make it though Piranesi. I wanted to stop about halfway though, but when I reread the synopsis it made me want to keep going. The middle bits drag. I’m glad I did finish, and I really enjoyed the ending, though I wasn’t blown away by it. I had a general sense of Piranesi’s situation and was correct, though the details about characters at the end made it special. The Puma Years by Laura…
This book was a little slow to start for me but once it did… hold my baby and clear the calendar. I was suddenly and violently sucked into this book and it was so nice because I’ve had a difficult time getting really into books since the new year (March now). Most of the book takes place in Bombay in 1914 and 1915. I haven’t read a book set in India in a long, long time and I don’t think…
A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness 4/5 StarsThis book follows Diana Bishop, a witch with a long family history but one that she tries to shun due to the circumstances surrounding her parent’s death. She is an academic taking a sabbatical at Oxford when she encounters a spellbound book and can no longer avoid her use of magic. She also meets Matthew, a vampire, and fate keeps bringing them together no matter how much she tries to avoid him.Overall…
Migrations by Charlotte McConaghy 5/5 StarsThis book is about so many different things (climate change, love, relationships, birds, working on a ship, the ocean) and the story is told in such a beautiful way. A woman finds a boat to help her track the last migration of the Arctic tern and along the way we get the back story of how she met her husband and how she grew up. We see her growing as a pre-teen and teen and…
Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier 3/5 StarsI was excited to read this after reading this in the book summary: “Around the turn of the 19th century on the eastern coast of England, young Mary Anning is struck by lightning. Afterwards, she discovers she possesses a rare gift—the ability to “see” and locate fossils buried deep in the cliffs near her village.” I thought this would have a magical realism element but Mary does not actually have any special ability to…
I was so excited to find out that Samantha Vérant was coming out with a first-to-me fiction book. I loved her memoirs, Seven Letters From Paris and How to Make a French Family, and knew that a novel by her about cooking and France would be great. Sophie is a chef in NYC until her life falls apart: she loses her job at a Michelin-starred restaurant and just weeks later her grandmother in France has a stroke. She jumps on…
Paris On Air by Oliver Gee 4/5 StarsOverall, this is a great Paris memoir read that is funny and entertaining. Many parts are cheesy, especially in the audio book version, but if you’re a Francophile and enjoy stories about how expats make their way to Paris then I’d recommend this book. Gee brings a unique angle by giving a bit of background on his career in journalism and how he transitioned into doing The Earful Tower podcast full time, which…
The Boatman’s Daughter by Andy Davidson 4/5 StarsI’ve never before read a dark Southern magical realism book but that’s what this is and I like it. It takes place within a small area in a bayou which gives it a Gothic feel as well. The synopsis didn’t completely appeal to me but the plot is just a means to explore human nature in a handful of very different, messed-up-in-their-own-way people. This is one of the more unique books I’ve read…
The Cerulean Queen (The Nine Realms #4) by Sarah Kozloff 5/5 StarsWhat a great ending to the Nine Realms series! After I found the first book, A Queen in Hiding, and thought it sounded like a great book, I was so excited to find out that there would be only four books in the series and that they would be coming out in consecutive months. This makes for such a great reading experience; you don’t have a whole year in…