Monthly Archives: April 2018

While visiting family in New Haven, we stopped by the Bienecke Rare Book Library at Yale.  In this library’s unique design, the collection is always on display (click on the link for a dramatic view of the stacks, an original … Continue reading →

These thrillers come with something extra:atmosphere, character and conflict resolution.  In “The Other Mother” by Carol Goodman, a woman assumes best friend’s identity and flees home and husband, infant daughter in tow, to take a job as a live-in archivist … Continue reading →

“Varina” by Charles Frazier’s (“Cold Mountain”) is based on the life of Varina Davis, wife of Confederate President.   Told in flashbacks, it recounts her marriage as a teen to an older widower, his alarming involvement in the secessionist  movement, and … Continue reading →

In “The House of Broken Angels” by Luis Alberto Urrea (“The Hummingbird”), a family gathers for its dying patriarch last birthday party.  What better occasion to explore regrets, recriminations and possibilities? This “kaleidoscopic fable of family life” (Washington Post) takes … Continue reading →