Category: Book Reviews

August 18, 2013

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens *** (of 4)

Roughly sixty years after the event, Charles Dickens takes his hand to historical fiction, doing his best to recount the French Revolution. Simultaneously ambitious, and...

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August 6, 2013

Going Clear by Lawrence Wright **** (of 5)

It took great courage to write this book. Anyone that has ever crossed the Church of Scientology has, pursuant to church ideology, been hounded by...

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August 5, 2013

The Days of the French Revolution by Christopher Hibbert ** (of 4)

After attempting Simon Schama’s philosophical treatise on the French Revolution, I thought it best to turn to Christopher Hibbert to get the play-by-play. What a...

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July 23, 2013

Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution by Simon Schama *** (of 4)

OK, I didn’t finish the book. After more than 300 pages of fine print and exquisitely crafted sentences I perished of exhaustion before ever learning...

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July 23, 2013

Paris to the Pyranees by David Downie * (of 4)

So much promise, so little delivery. David Downie sets his mind to walking the old pilgrim trail of Saint James. He’s trying to recover from...

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July 14, 2013

The Missing File by D.A. Mishani *** (of 4)

Why are so many contemporary detectives so depressed? Here’s another: Detective Avraham Avraham, a lonely, single, self-doubting Israeli detective slogging into a job that utterly...

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June 21, 2013

Calico Joe by John Grisham *** (of 4)

Warren Tracy, a journeyman pitcher for the 1973 New York Mets, beans Joe Castle of the Chicago Cubs during the August run at the National...

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June 21, 2013

Sugar in the Blood by Andrea Stuart ** (of 4)

While investigating her genealogy, the author, Andrea Stuart, learns she is the descendent of both a slave owner and a slave. She gets all the...

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June 1, 2013

A Constellation of Vital Phenomena by Anthony Marra **** (of 4)

Half a dozen fully realized characters intertwine as the Russian empire disintegrates in the early 2000s and the Republic of Chechnya is obliterated by two...

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May 24, 2013