With the ending of the summer and the beginning of a new school year I’ve been busy reading but not writing so much about what I’ve been reading. So these are the books that I’ve finished, as best as I can recall. 2. Book of Night with Moon by Diane Duane The first in a […]
It seems to me now surprising that with so much else going on, I was also having lessons. Or more truthfully, sitting through lessons with practically nothing to show for them afterwards. That was not my mother’s fault. She tried so hard; she had begun trying when we first went to Sheerness, and had been […]
So, now that we’ve established that Busman’s Honeymoon is a love story with detective interruptions, let’s talk more about that love story. . . . Lord Peter Wimsey and Harriet Vane first meet in Strong Poison when Harriet is on trial for murder. She is suspected of poisoning her lover — ironic because she was […]
It has been said, by myself and others, that a love-interest is only an intrusion upon a detective story. But to the characters involved, the detective-interest might well seem an irritating intrusion upon their love-story. Dorothy Sayers, from the Dedication to Busman’s Honeymoon Last month I re-read Busman’s Honeymoon, the final Lord Peter mystery novel […]
I’m reading a beautiful picture book today that I picked up from the library: Infinite Hope: A Black Artist’s Journey from World War II to Peace, an autobiography by Ashley Bryan, Renowned Artist, Storyteller, Writer. It’s a memoir, but it’s also a beautiful multimedia layout with photographs, sketches, paintings, letters, journal entries. The pages […]
Finished in July 1. White Tears by Hari Kunzru A sort of murder-mystery ghost story that probes the deep wounds of race as played out in the appropriation and theft of African American music by white musicians and record companies. Two music-geek misfits became friends and partners in college and subsequently move to New York. […]
Book Review: If You Can Get It by Brendan Hodge. The man who only lives for making money Lives a life that isn’t necessarily sunny; Likewise the man who works for fame There’s no guarantee that time won’t erase his name The fact is The only work that really brings enjoyment Is the kind that […]
Invocation –for Kyra The open window admits the last light of a long summer day. No breath of breeze stirs the curtain’s gauze. All is still but sounds creep in, cars and children cicadas and leafblowers like roaring lions. Gold limns the curtain and the tree tops gilded and the sky’s golden glow gashes her […]
Three old favorites that I’ve recently read with Lucy. 1. Dahlia by Barbara McClintock This story about a girl who gets a new doll remains one of my all-time favorite picture books. I wrote about it in 2009, and still stand by every word of that review. But the more I think about it, the […]
What I’ve been reading. Well, my book notes posts pretty much dried up this year. Like so many things. I’m gonna blame the pandemic, because: why not? Anyway, a quick overview of what I’ve been reading and enjoying, as far as I can remember, in the second quarter of the year. Books I’ve Finished 1. […]