Category Archives: Books

Alexandra Fuller writes a sad tough story about a real-life hyper-active, big-hearted young Western roughneck tragically killed in an all-too-common gas rig accident. She brings to life the folks who make their meager perilous livings in the fuel mining industry, … Continue reading →

If you have not already read it, hie thee to a library or the Amazon website and get hold of Barbara Kingsolver’s latest novel, The Lacuna. Wonderful Mexican characters (don’t know how she gets into their heads and styles of … Continue reading →

Isabel Allendes’ tale of a powerful woman in Spain’s exploration and settlement of Chile is of necessity mythical but it is grounded in historical, often brutal and shocking, detail.  Ines becomes the mistress of Pedro de Valdivia, indefatigable conquistador, who … Continue reading →

The Swedish writer Marianne Fredriksson helps us experience the problems and prejudices both toward and by immigrants in this story of an unlikely friendship between Swedish born Inge and Chilean emigre Mira. What brings them together is a common love … Continue reading →

The Swedish writer Marianne Fredriksson helps us experience the problems and prejudices both toward and by immigrants in this story of an unlikely friendship between Swedish born Inge and Chilean emigre Mira. What brings them together is a common love … Continue reading →

Marianne Friedriksson Continue reading →

Harriet Doerr has certainly lived in Mexica, and as I have visited San Miguel and lived in Lima, Peru, I found this little gem of a novel particularly appealing.  Painting with a spare brush she  brings to life the tiny … Continue reading →

Ray Bradbury’s new, for the most part, small book of short stories is perhaps all too reminiscent of Dandelion Wine and other early favorites. Many are focussed on death (The Graveyard, I Got Something you Ain’t Got)  The language is … Continue reading →

Lewis Robinson has written an appropriately enigmatic novel about a coastal Maine family: young Bennie eventually comes to understand his intensely guarded older brother, who comes under suspicion following  the  mysterious disappearance in a blizzard of  one of the contestants … Continue reading →