Fiction
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Wide Sargasso Sea
I was making supper one night last week when I heard a review of this novel on NPR. I’m not sure how I could have missed Wide Sargasso Sea till now. Written by…
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The Senator’s Wife
I picked up The Senator’s Wife because of Ruth’s review. She said, “All the characters are vividly drawn, and all are deeply flawed. Even though I knew something dreadful was ahead, I couldn’t…
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Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
I can’t remember when I’ve enjoyed a book this much. This novel is an unusual animal: a Victorian novel published in 2004. It has the scope, cast of characters, and wit of Dickens,…
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The Children of Hurin
A deadly peril has come upon us, which only great hardihood shall turn aside. But in this matter numbers will avail little; we must use cunning, and hope for good fortune… For I…
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I Lock My Door Upon Myself
This novella is my first Joyce Carol Oates tale. Only 98 pages long, it was completable in an afternoon, and it leaves an afterglow in my mind. It’s lyrical, melancholy, compulsively readable, and…
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Davita’s Harp
Stories by Chaim Potok just… get to me. My Name Is Asher Lev. The Gift of Asher Lev. The Chosen. The Book of Lights. Now this one. Davita’s Harp is about a young…
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Phantastes
This is the book that C.S. Lewis read one day on a train and felt his imagination had been “baptized.” I read it back when I was in college and it didn’t capture…
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War and Peace
This novel spans roughly 15 years, from 1805-1820, centering on Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812 and Russia’s resistance. More than 500 characters populate its pages, all of them well developed, and several…
