Homer and Langley Collyer were brothers that were infamous for being reclusive and being hoarders. They lived in New York City in the decades after WWI. E.L. Doctorow’s new novel picks up the story and gives it new life as a sort of memoir written by Homer Collyer. Homer and Langley: A Novel (2009) is well-written and hard to put down, both because
A Separate Country (2009) by Robert Hicks is another of his Civil War epics. Well written in a narrative form, through three main characters, the novel unfolds a complicated story. The novel revolves around John Bell Hood; it is a fictional account of the Confederate general’s life after the Civil War. Hood was famous to some for his aggressive
I have been trying to go back and read a literature classic once a month, for October I chose to read The Age of Innocence (1920) by Edith Wharton. I have watched the Scorcese film with Daniel Day Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Winona Ryder several times, but I have never read the book. I also did not know that it won the 1921 Pulitzer Prize. Wharton’s
Recently while I was on a vacation trip I started reading Pat Conroy’s latest novel, South of Broad (2009). I was staying with friends and they had both just finished reading it. They were both disappointed because it was “just so unbelievable.” I love Conroy’s writing; I think that he could write the text on the back of a cereal
Originally published in Sweden as Män Som Hatar Kvinnor , which means “men who hate women” in Swedish, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2005) by Stieg Larsson is a very dark mystery. Stieg Larsoon died in 2004 leaving three related novels called the “Millennium Trilogy” unpublished. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the
The Little Stranger (2009) by Sarah Waters is set in rural England shortly after World War II and is narrated by the local middle aged bachelor doctor. Dr. Faraday is called to Hundreds Hall to see to a sick servant and soon falls under the spell of the crumbling mansion and the faded gentry that still lives there. Faraday’s mother was a nursery
Oh My Stars (2005) is the first novel by Lorna Landvik that I have read. It was touching and funny. In this novel set during the depression, 18-year-old Violet Mathers has decided to take the bus from her hometown in Kentucky to San Francisco so she can be the second person ever to jump off the Golden Gate Bridge. Violet’s had it rough…she
Duchess of Death: The Unauthorized Biography of Agatha Christie (2009) by Richard Hack is a fairly good biography. Agatha Christie was so prolific and successful that her books have sold into the billions, having been translated into over 100 languages. Virtually all of her books are still in print – and she died in 1976. Agatha Christie is the
I listened to the download of Darling Jim (2009) and think it is the best way to read this book. What better way to be told the story of séanachai or Irish storyteller then to listen to an Irish reader? The story begins when a postman discovers Moira Hegarty and her two nieces, Fiona and Róisín Walsh dead. It soon becomes evident
Long Island's Sag Harbor in 1985 is the setting for this novel. Skillfully written, Sag Harbor (2009) by Colson Whitehead is largely based on his own childhood. Benji Cooper has been brought up in a privileged private school environment where he is one of the few African-American students. His family has a summer house in Sag Harbor in a small conclave