Author Archives: Teresa

Mansfield Park

Posted on May 12, 2021 by Teresa

Mansfield Park seems to be the Jane Austen novel that people don’t like much, and its heroine, Fanny Price, the heroine people don’t care much about (if they don’t actively dislike her). I have never considered it a favorite (that would … Continue reading →

Posted in Classics, Fiction | 6 Comments

Missing, Presumed

Posted on May 6, 2021 by Teresa

I do love a really good, meaty crime novel, but there’s so much crime fiction that just doesn’t work for me. I think I want it all to have the perverse darkness of Ruth Rendell or Tana French or the … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Mysteries/Crime | 4 Comments

Libertie

Posted on May 2, 2021 by Teresa

This novel by Kaitlyn Greenidge provides a glimpse into a bit of history that I was entirely unfamiliar with. It begins in Brooklyn at the time of the Civil War, where the title character, Libertie, is being raised by her … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Historical Fiction | 4 Comments

Hamnet

Posted on April 30, 2021 by Teresa

Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet is, to me, the ideal kind of historical fiction. It fills in the gaps of what we know in a reasonably plausible way. It gives us characters who feel of their time but also not so very distant … Continue reading →

Posted in Food, Historical Fiction | 2 Comments

Love

Posted on April 24, 2021 by Teresa

When I read classic novels, I often find myself having to put myself in the mindset of a different time, reminding myself that attitudes commonly understood to be wrong today were less well understood then. In a lot of cases … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

Lonesome Dove

Posted on April 18, 2021 by Teresa

Larry McMurtry’s 1985 western is beloved by many readers, as we were reminded in the many stories written about his recent death. It had been on my radar to read for many years, and prior to McMurtry’s death, Dorian’s praise … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction | 10 Comments

The Witch’s Heart

Posted on April 14, 2021 by Teresa

I know very little about Norse mythology. In fact, to an embarrassing degree what I do know comes as much from Marvel movies as anything else. But that gave me enough to know that a witch in a long relationship … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction | 2 Comments

Mexican Gothic

Posted on April 12, 2021 by Teresa

I was recently chatting with a friend about how I was bored with books that are all atmosphere and pretty writing, without much actual story. (This was in relation to a book I gave up on that had the premise … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction | 4 Comments

The Autobiography of Malcolm X

Posted on April 9, 2021 by Teresa

In this autobiography (as told to Alex Haley), Malcolm X says “My whole life had been a chronology of changes.” Yet, too often, he, like so many historical figures, gets frozen in amber, depicted in a single moment in time, when, … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Nonfiction | 10 Comments

The Kindest Lie

Posted on April 3, 2021 by Teresa

This debut novel by Nancy Johnson is a thoughtful exploration of issues related to race and class in the early Obama years, but it’s also pretty frustrating and ultimately not especially rewarding.  The book’s main character, Ruth Tuttle, is a … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments