The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman

The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman I listened to the audio version of this book, which I didn’t like much. This was…

Ghost Image by Ellen Crosby

Ghost Image by Ellen Crosby Scribner, 2015 I had heard of Ellen Crosby’s Wine Country Mysteries (The Merlot Murders, The Chardonnay Charade, etc.) but had…

Dreams of the Red Phoenix by Virginia Pye

Dreams of the Red Phoenix by Virginia Pye. Unbridled Books, 2015 My friend Virginia Pye’s first published novel, River of Dust, centered on a group…

Becoming Madison by Michael Signer

Becoming Madison by Michael Signer Public Affairs, 2015 This book is the March 2016 selection of my book club, Reading Liberally, chosen in part…

The Children Act by Ian McEwan

The Children Act by Ian McEwan. Nan A. Talese, September 2014 It’s been awhile since I read a McEwan novel (and I confess that…

The Lower Quarter by Elise Blackwell

The Lower Quarter by Elise Blackwell Unbridled Books, 2015 This book was originally part of one of the panels I’m moderating at the Virginia…

The Changing Room by Zhai Yongming

The Changing Room by Zhai Yongming (翟 永明) Zephyr Press, 2011 I have been dabbling with Chinese characters for almost 40 years since my…

And West is West by Ron Childress

And West is West by Ron Childress Winner of the Pen/Bellweather Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, this novel tells the story of two Americans who…

The Tears of Dark Water by Corban Addison

The Tears of Dark Water by Corban Addison Thomas Nelson, 2015 Having read Addison’s first novel, A Walk Across the Sun, I had an idea of…

Why the Right Went Wrong by E.J. Dionne Jr.

Why the Right Went Wrong: Conservatism-From Goldwater to the Tea Party and Beyond by E.J. Dionne Jr. Simon & Schuster, January 2016 This book is…