*** 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…

If you’re a fan of old stories reimagined, you’ll likely enjoy this romp through centuries of literature.

Some years ago, I had occasion to stay at the Hotel Giraffe in New York City, and in my room was a copy of Tall Blondes: A Book About Giraffes.

Since I’ve been mostly at home since mid-March, I’ve had time to read an awful lot, and one of the authors I’ve been reading lately is Gilbert K. Chesterton. 

*** NOVEL: Once on a Time AUTHOR: A.A. Milne YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 1917 REVIEW: *** Trying to avoid US election and COVID-19 anxiety, I pulled Once on a Time off the shelf.  I only dimly remembered it (and in fact, had conflated it in my mind with The Ugly Duckling, a play by Milne along … Continue reading On Our Bookshelves: Once on a Time →

You’ve read (or seen) this story before.  In Maeve Binchy’s Evening Class (or the movie loosely based on it, Italian for Beginners), what does that collection of people need? 

For fans of Downton Abbey…Carols and Chaos is set in the same rose-tinted alternative time frame (albeit a hundred or so years earlier).

*** BOOK: This Organic Life–Confessions of a Suburban Homesteader AUTHOR: Joan Dye Gussow YEAR OF PUBLICATION: 2001 REVIEW: *** This book was given to me by a dear friend recently.  She praised it highly, and as she is rather smart and has good taste, I had high expectations.  I wasn’t disappointed.   *** It’s not really … Continue reading On Our Bookshelves: This Organic Life — Confessions of a Suburban Homesteader →