*** BOOK: A Journal of the Plague Year AUTHOR: Daniel Defoe YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 1722 REVIEW:  As I write this, we’ve been socially distancing for over a year.  And I’m not sure, honestly, whether it is now the best time or the worst time to read A Journal of the Plague Year, an account of … Continue reading On Our Bookshelves: A Journal of the Plague Year →

*** BOOK: The Sense of Style–the Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century AUTHOR: Steven Pinker YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 2014 REVIEW:  *** Steven Pinker is a cognitive psychologist, linguist, and author.  He’s occasionally controversial, but whatever his politics are, he’s a very good communicator, and this book about good writing, what it is, … Continue reading On Our Bookshelves: The Sense of Style →

*** BOOK: The Madwoman and the Roomba–My Year of Domestic Mayhem AUTHOR: Sandra Tsing Loh YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 2020 REVIEW:  *** Not everyone is going to love Sandra Tsing Loh’s specific brand of neurotic humor, and that’s okay.  If you like David Sedaris’ work, well…she’s something like that. Just imagine a divorced west coast female … Continue reading On Our Bookshelves: The Madwoman and the Roomba →

This book concerns Tully Truegood, a courtesan, imprisoned, pregnant, accused of murder, the year 1756, as she writes her life story, explaining her past and hoping to avoid being hanged. 

But back to Missed Connections, the show: it’s a really lovely combination of sleight of hand, mentalism, and storytelling, an interactive virtual performance.

I recently learned that Stacy Abrams, when not going above and beyond saving democracy, is an author of fiction, under the pen name Selena Montgomery.

Credit where credit is due.  During a time when I can’t go to a wedding celebration, this murder mystery concerning a destination wedding kept me rather entertained.

*** BOOK: The Billionaire’s Vinegar–The Mystery of the World’s Most Expensive Bottle of Wine AUTHOR: Benjamin Wallace YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 2008 REVIEW: *** If you are looking for an interesting story about an elaborate con job involving eccentrics, oenophiles, private investigators, billionaires, historians, lawyers, auctioneers, physicists, and wretched excess–The Billionaire’s Vinegar is for you.  *** … Continue reading On Our Bookshelves: The Billionaire’s Vinegar →

*** NOVEL: The Alienist AUTHOR: Caleb Carr YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 1994 REVIEW: *** Atmospheric, chilling, and tense, The Alienist is a good tale, well told, of the hunt to find a serial killer targeting boy prostitutes in 1896.  Narrated by John Schuyler Moore, a New York Times reporter, the team (secretly working for Theodore Roosevelt, … Continue reading On Our Bookshelves: The Alienist →

Set in Dublin, 1918, during the influenza pandemic, Emma Donoghue’s latest book concerns Julia Power, on the eve of her thirtieth birthday…