Tag: books
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Book Review: My Friends by Fredrik Backman
My Friends (Atria Books, May 6, 2025) is the second book I’ve read by Swedish author Fredrik Backman (translated by Neil Smith). In its almost two months since publication it has garnered a solid average of 4.52 stars in Goodreads with over 45,000 ratings and over 9,800 reviews. At this point, does it really matter…
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Book Review: Death on the Marlow Belle by Robert Thorogood
In Death on the Marlow Belle (Poisoned Pen Press, September, 2025) this fourth installment of The Marlow Murder Club, a cozy murder mystery series, author Robert Thorogood has returned us to Marlow, a very real town located on the Thames River thirty miles from London. This is brilliant news for all of Thorogood’s fans, as…
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Book Review: Orbital by Samantha Harvey
I’m not really sure what I want to say about this book. I finished it last night, but it took me much longer to read it than most books I read these days. Clearly displayed on the cover is the notice that it won the 2024 Booker Prize, a British award given to the best…
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Book Review: Mayhem at the Museum by Hannah Bruckner
Thank you to NetGalley and NorthSouth Books for the ARC of Mayhem at the Museum (September, 2025), a soon-to-be published children’s picture book. This delightfully illustrated picture book is the story of young Yuri who is terrified of birds. Okay, that’s fine. The story goes on, however, that Yuri is at a museum observing a…
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Book Review: Little Alleluias by Mary Oliver
Reading Mary Oliver is sort of like feeling your heart pounding in your throat, threatening to break at any moment. I feel sadness at the very beauty of her words, and then I feel mad because I can’t replicate that same beauty with my own. I am trying very hard to be a writer. I…
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Book Review: Buzz! Boom! Bang! By Benjamin Gottwald
This delightful children’s picture book has no words, just beautiful and colorful illustrations. It is a master class in the literary device onomatopoeia. If I were still teaching middle school language arts, I would bring this book into my 7th and 8th grade literature classroom and have students sit in small groups to “read” it…
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Book Review: The Great Gatsby
This “Cook the Book” edition (Chronicle Books) is a republishing of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby, complete with a set of 15 recipes at the end of the book, recipes of the food and drink mentioned throughout the novel. This edition is beautifully done, with an authentic Art Deco feel to it thanks…
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Book Review: Overdue by Stephanie Perkins
When perusing available titles in NetGalley, the beginning of the description of this one really jumped out at me: Ingrid Dahl, a cheerful twenty-nine-year-old librarian in the cozy mountain town of Ridgetop, North Carolina… The description finishes with “Overdue is a beautiful, slow-burn romance full of lust and longing about new beginnings and finding your way.”…
Michelle Blanchard Ardillo 