FFW

"Night at the Fiestas"

my take: I don’t always love/like short stories. They’re so … brief? Just as I get emotionally attached to characters …

The Cleaner of Chartres

my take: This is a quiet novel that runs deep. Agnes, the cleaner, appears to be a blank slate upon …

The Fishermen

my take: The upbeat cover of this book is deceptive … it is a colorful but oh-so-woe-full tale behind this …

"White Teeth"

my take: Every so often while reading I had to look back to the publishing date to double check that …

The Book of Jonah

my take:  In this is a modern re-telling of the Biblical book, Tarshish and Ninevah are replaced with New York …

"The Sojourn"

my take: This slim book was a great surprise. I saw it on my cousin Betsy’s TO READ pile and …

Ordinary Grace

my take: Apparently, William Kent Krueger writes mysteries … and this novel is a venture off his usual style … …

Frances and Bernard

my take: I can’t contain myself: this book is fabulous. Could end the review right here. Seriously. First of all, …

Stitches

my take: This is a necessary book…perhaps not today, not right now, but questions and situations will arise in life …

The Burgess Boys

my take: I love everything Elizabeth Strout has written. I pre-ordered this on Amazon and just bided my time. Worth …

"Flunking Sainthood"

my take: What’s not to love about a self-depricating woman? Jana Riess says in the preface, “I am going to …

Help Thanks Wow

my take: Anne Lamott is my soul-sister twin born from another mother. In her latest work she gives the shortcut …

"Marcelo in the Real World"

my take: First off, ignore the cover. Seriously. This book is for high school and above and the cover doesn’t …

"the illumination"

my take: file this one under the “different” category… i would classify as magical realism. there are two main threads …

Half a Yellow Sun

my take: Civil war, Nigeria. hmmm. That could be super depressing. As much as this is a story about the …

Purple Hibiscus

my take:This was on my pile of books to read before the Festival of Faith & Writing. as such, I …

A Grown up Kind of Pretty

my take: Thank you, Joshilyn. You’ve done it again! It was worth the wait. I work with women in addiction …

The Devil’s Highway

my take: I read this in preparation for the Festival of Faith and Writing. It’s a pretty serious book – …