On December 26, 1811, the Richmond Theatre in Virginia burned to the ground. The fire killed 72 people, including Virginia's governor George William Smith, former U.S. senator Abraham B. Venable, and other government officials in what was the worst urban disaster in U.S. history at the time.

The author creates a masterful tale around this incident featuring the stories of four people impacted by the fire. There is a distinct feminist perspective as most of the men in the story simply looked out for themselves whereas the true heroes were the women and one black slave in particular.

Well done and interesting. I highly recommend the book.

I liked this book for about the first 50 pages and after that it went straight downhill. One bad thing after another happens to the main character so much so that by the end of the book it's so over the top that the reader can't even care anymore. If I wanted to read a good tragedy, I'd turn to Shakespeare.

This book is the writer's first book and it's obvious. I had the feeling that the author was trying to throw every single thing she could think of into this book. It needed much tighter editing. On a number of occasions I'd be thinking now what just happened? Also, I'm not well versed in Japanese culture, but even I could tell there were obvious errors that the author should not have made. Sloppy.

3.5 stars rounded up to 4. Jesmyn Ward's writing is beautiful and for the first third of the book, I was captivated by the story. It is painful to read because of the descriptions of slaves and their brutal treatment. I was drawn into the pain and for that I am grateful to the writer. My issue with the later part of the book is that it is full of magical realism which made it muddled and confusing. I lost interest in the book, but did finish it. I wanted to like it more.

I enjoyed this book. It is a coming of age story with quirky and lovable characters.

Alfie and Me is the story of the rescue and rehabilitation of an eastern screech owl by Carl Safina and his wife. But this book is more than that. The Covid pandemic forced Carl and his wife to be at home the entire time that Alfie was in their care. This allowed Safina to observe much more about this owl and its place in the world. A great deal of the book is devoted to a review of humanity's relationship to the wild world. Safina examines other cultures' views of the natural world most of which are far more enlightened than our own.

Safina provides details about Alfie's progress and ultimate release back into the wild and this includes his own internal struggles about the timing of the release. He struggled because he knew the risks that face these magical creatures. I did think that he anthropomorphized a great deal onto this owl, but I understand how easy it is to do that. These creatures are special and we like to think we know what they might be "feeling" or "thinking". The job of a rehabilitator is to make sure that these animals remain wild and that they don't become tame, no matter the dangers that face them.

I am a bird wildlife rehabilitator so I was especially anxious to read this book. I enjoyed the book, although my major criticism is that he never fully explains that it is illegal to keep a wild bird unless you are a licensed rehabilitator. I worry that his book, without this detail, would encourage a person to take in and keep a bird (especially a cute owl). I have seen this happen time and time again. Someone finds an injured or orphaned animal, and takes it into his care, thinking they can look up on the internet how to do it. Then after some time when the animal is not thriving they finally bring it to a rehabilitation center so that they can "fix" it. Most often it is too late.

I enjoyed the book and recommend it.

I have read many books about mountain climbers on Everest and this is the first time I ever heard of Maurice Wilson who decided to try to fly a plane to Everest, land it somewhere on the mountain and then climb to the top. The Moth and the Mountain is an account of Wilson’s daring attempt.

The action takes place in the 1930s and after Mallory and Irvine’s attempt to reach the summit. Being the highest peak in the world, climbing Everest is an obsession for many mountain climbers and in the early part of this century it was especially so for British climbers. In fact, the mountain was named for a Brit, Sir George Everest.

Maurice Wilson was one of those people obsessed with climbing Everest, but his attempt might have been the craziest. He had no mountaineering experience and didn’t know how to fly an airplane. He was determined to climb solo and without oxygen. He wanted to promote his belief that fasting and faith in God would cure all the world’s ills.

He flew his airplane (known as the Moth) from Britain to India and all along the way the British establishment tried to prevent him from doing it. He ended up having to abandon the airplane idea when he was not allowed access to his airplane. After that he surreptitiously entered Tibet in disguise and finally got to Everest. He succeeded in climbing as high as 22,703 ft (amazing), but died in his attempt. His body was found the following year by a British expedition.

The author does a good job detailing Wilson’s attempt as well as his crazy personal life.

It is a fascinating story and the book is well written.

The book takes place in the 1960s. The main character, Elizabeth Zott, is not your average woman. She is strong, independent and a chemist and finds herself subjected to all manner of sexism and abuse by her male colleagues. One of her colleagues though is a brilliant and successful scientist and he and Elizabeth fall in love. Later on she has a child and her life takes a detour.

She becomes the host of a TV cooking show and to the producer’s dismay, she describes cooking in chemistry terms. They cringe, but her show turns out to be a huge success.

The book is laugh-out-loud funny. My favorite scene is when a male colleague tries to sexually harass Elizabeth and she pulls a chef’s knife out of her purse, waves it at him, and he keels over from a heart attack. Yes!!! I expect many women readers applauded that scene.

The book is full of great characters and a fabulous dog. The only criticism I have of it is that Elizabeth’s daughter Mad is not quite believable. Had she been described as a teenager and not a first-grader, I could have believed her vocabulary and wit.

I loved this book!

Because I live in the Southwest and have spent lots of time in the areas described in this book, I enjoyed it immensely. McLaughlin’s descriptions of place are wonderful. I also loved the main characters in the book, especially Bowman who has a close connection with animals and who can be a shapeshifter.

My main criticism of the book is the multiple timelines which are often hard to follow and toward the end of the book the cast of characters gets really confusing—-are some of the good guys bad buys or what? On the whole, a good thriller!

This book details the incredible story of the art thief, Stephane Breitwieser, who along with his girlfriend, stole more than 200 art works across Europe. His thefts took place in broad daylight and his only tool was his Swiss Army knife. (Ironically he finally gets arrested in Switzerland.)

The most fascinating part of this true story is that Breitwieser isn’t your run of the mill art thief who steals art to make money. He steals art and then stores it in the attic of his mother’s house where he and his girlfriend live. He loves the art works and just dotes on them. The cumulative value of the art is in the millions, but Breitwieser never steals any individual art work that is hugely valuable or especially famous. He especially loves Renaissance paintings.

It’s a fascinating story about the psychology of this particular art thief, his arrests and his inability to stop stealing, even after having been caught and spending time in jail. After his arrests and the discovery of the art works, most of which were returned unharmed or restored if damaged, a number of them were destroyed and that is part of this fascinating story.

I enjoy reading Jane Smiley’s work, but this book was a miss for me. The first half was interesting, but then when it got to the “mystery” part, it just fell off a cliff.

The story is set in Monterey California in the 1850s. The main character, Eliza, finds work as a prostitute after the death of her abusive husband. Apparently she finds being in the company of semi-pleasant men more enjoyable than her marriage. She works for Mrs. Parks who vets the men so Eliza feels safe and makes good money. She befriends a cross-dressing lesbian, Jean, who works in a brothel for women. The two of them use their detective skills to figure out why women are disappearing and some end up being murdered. Apparently the local sheriff doesn’t care so Eliza and Jean try to figure out the disappearances. Jean and Eliza discuss Edgar Allan Poe and the detective (DuPin)in Poe’s work which leads them, apparently, to find some of the women who had been murdered. (This stretched my imagination—-why were the two of them the only people to discover dead bodies?) Eliza and Jean often refer to Dupin, the Poe detective, but when they refer to him they call him DuPANN (the correct pronunciation of that name). Smiley keeps spelling the name as DuPANN throughout the rest of the book and I found that highly annoying—-once was enough. The other thing that I didn’t enjoy was reading the word “prick” unlimited times. I’m not a prude, but did we really have to read the details of every one of Eliza’s encounters with men and their pricks. Boring and tiring!

The latter part of the book was supposedly about solving the murders and it was totally uncompelling.

Clearly life at the time was a dangerous business especially for women, but the book just fell flat.

But I’ll keep reading Jane Smiley’s books because she is a wonderful writer.

This book was gifted to me and I am ashamed to admit that it is the first book by Salman Rushdie that I have read and now I want to read everything he has ever written. I was stunned by Rushdie’s intellect. The writing is beautiful and the story was complex. It has everything—-political satire, humor, sadness, great characters, intrigue, family drama, irony and more. I am ready for more Rushdie. He deserves every accolade that has been given to him.

This book is perfect if you need something lighter and quick to read. The characters are wonderful and gave me some much needed laughs (especially when the narrator was Peggy). Sweet and charming. I loved it.

I have a profound respect for this author who took on researching her family’s Holocaust story. There are so many books written about the Holocaust, but when the story is about a family or just one or two people, it becomes so much more powerful and moving.

An anonymous postcard is delivered to the author’s mother’s home. On the front is photo of an opera house in France and on the backside of the card are the names of four of the author’s relatives who died at Auschwitz in 1942. There is nothing more on the card. The postage stamp is upside down. This card leads the author to start a search for her family’s history as well as to try to find out who sent the card. So there is a bit of mystery in the book.

What was remarkable for me was Anne Berest’s self-discovery about being a Jew and how her family’s trauma was part of her own DNA.

The book is poignant, sad and very moving. I recommend it highly.

This book was selected by my book club which is the only reason I felt I had to finish it. Otherwise I would have quit halfway through. I would give it one star, but I think the author is a pretty good writer. The characters were unappealing and the whole time I was reading it I wanted to yell: Get some family therapy! Too many contrivances for me. I can’t imagine a group of sisters like that. Here’s poor William who is severely depressed and on the verge of suicide and his wife is clueless. Maybe it’s because she sleeps with her sister with their arms entwined around each other most of the time. Really? No wonder William wanted out of there. And then let’s throw a lesbian plot line in there. There is more but I’ll stop there. If you like a group of completely dysfunctional people, this book is for you. Sorry, ugh.

I absolutely loved this book and I'll never eat octopus sushi again! A few years ago I read Sy Montgomery's book The Soul of an Octopus and learned what intelligent creatures octopuses are. Van Pelt builds a story around Marcellus, a Pacific Giant Octopus; Tova, who is the night cleaner at the aquarium where Marcellus is housed and Cameron, a young man who sets out to find his father. Marcellus is one of the narrators and he and Tova form a special bond. The writing is beautiful and the story is well-told. It is a poignant and touching book. I recommend it highly.

If someone had told me that I would fall in love with a book that was about gaming and gamers, I wouldn't have believed them. But this is exactly what happened when I read this book. At the beginning of the book, when Sam sees his friend Sadie and finally gets her attention by yelling "Sadie you died of dysentery" (referring to the old Oregon Trail game), I was hooked. I'm not a gamer, but I did play the Oregon Trail back in the 80s. It was a fabulous game.

The main characters, Sam and Sadie become friends when Sam is in the hospital recovering from a car accident that left his foot mangled and Sadie is at the hospital with her ill sister. Sam and Sadie play games together and discover that they complement each other. Over time they become partners in developing computer games.

The book follows Sam and Sadie as partners and friends. There are huge chunks of time where they don't speak to each other. There are storylines with other characters who are important in their lives and these characters too are fascinating.

I cared deeply for Sam and Sadie and the author does a wonderful job of making them seem like real people, mainly because they are lovable and flawed.

The book blends reality and gaming together and at times the action takes place inside a game.

It's just brilliant and funny too. I loved this book.

It would be hard not to write a good book based on the myth of Clytemnestra and this book definitely delivers. All the themes are there---love, lust, jealousy, vengeance and murder. This book tells the myth from the perspective of Clytemnestra. The author begins with Clytemnestra's childhood and we learn much about her siblings and how Clytemnestra protects them, especially her sister Helen (of Troy).

Clytemnestra falls in love with and marries Tantalus and they have a child. Clytemnestra is happy and joyful, but this all changes when her father, Tyndarus schemes with Agamemnon and Menaleus resulting in Agamemnon murdering Tantalus and the child. Clytemnestra is then forced to marry Agamemnon. Thereafter Clytemnestra is angry and thinks only of revenge. Agamemnon and Clytemnestra have children, but when Agamemnon sets off for Troy, he gets stuck in the harbor because there was no wind. He then sacrifices their daughter Iphigenia to appease Artemis and by the time Clytemnestra learns of this, her daughter is dead and Agamemnon has set sail. Once Agamemnon returns, Clytemnestra carries out her revenge.

Casati creates a sympathetic character who is fierce and bold. Simply put Clytemnestra is a badass.

I think the book could have used more editing. Some of the transitions between chapters were clumsy and overall the book could have been tighter. But the writing is wonderful.

I enjoyed the book and recommend it.

Maggie O'Farrell has written another great historical novel. In this book she writes about Lucrezia de' Medici, who was married at a young age to Alfonso, Duke of Ferrara in the 1500s. She lived only two more years after the marriage and died when she was 17. The circumstances surrounding her death were mysterious and some accounts say she died of tuberculosis, but others think she might have been poisoned.

O'Farrell brings us into this world and creates a fascinating character in Lucrezia. We care deeply for this girl who is fierce and independent, yet so young and unable to be in control of her own destiny.

The story begins with Lucrezia knowing that her husband is plotting to kill her. The story goes back in forth in time as Lucrezia is near death and then back to her childhood and marriage.

The book is absolutely compelling and O'Farrell has turned Lucrezia's story into a page-turner.

I loved it!

i really wanted to like this book because it was billed as being a good mystery/thriller with a theme based upon a myth. Too bad it wasn't a mystery/thriller at all. It could have been so much better.

I think the author is a good writer, but I wondered if he was being paid by the word and got extra if he threw in words constantly that the reader has to look up in the dictionary. It was incredibly dense and the few parts that moved the story along were few and far between. Reading it felt like trying to wade through concrete.

The other main problem I had was with the main character. She was quite unlikable (selfish and self-centered) and I wondered why her mentor was obsessed with her. She was also supposed to be brilliant and I never figured out that either. We learn early on in the book that her boyfriend has dumped her and we never are told why. I understand totally why he dumped her even if the author doesn't let us know.

Sorry I can't give a better review, but if you like a bunch of $100 words, this is the book for you. Hard to read and easy to forget.

I read a number of Anita Shrive books years ago, but hadn't read anything of hers recently. A friend lent me this book and now I want to read more of Shreve's work.

I thought this book was brilliant. The story takes place at a private school in New England and begins with the school master being given a videotape of some boys having sex with an underage girl. Alcohol was involved on the part of everyone involved.

After that the story is told by a chorus of characters, each of whom was affected by the event. It is an absolutely gripping read. As the story unfolds we learn more about how the event occurred and how lapses in judgment, on the part of the adults and the teenagers creates a ripple effect of tragedy and unforeseen results. What was especially thought-provoking for me was thinking about what was the actual cause of the events that took place.

I know some readers find the multiple characters' stories a bit confusing but I didn't find it that hard to follow.

Highly recommend!