Category Archives: Book Reviews

#bestreads2011 Blog Hop. Kindleriffic!

Posted on December 28, 2011 by Kirsten

Thanks to John Wiswell for hosting this blog hop! Please go visit his blog for more #bestreads2011. Here are mine :-) A Classic Portrait of a Lady. One of the great things about my Kindle is that there are so … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Books | Tagged , | 11 Comments

Friday Find. The Blessing, by Gregory Orr.

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Kirsten

I have my dad to thank for this one. He grew up in the same town as the author (Germantown, NY), bought the book, and lent it to me. The Blessing is a memoir about a tragic family that opens … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Writers like to believe they can change the world. This one actually did.

Posted on June 24, 2011 by Kirsten

In today’s Wall Street Journal, Fergus Bordewich reviews Mightier Than the Sword by David S. Reynolds: a book about Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Bordewich quotes from the book that in the first year after its release, … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Books | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off

Johnny Appleseed preached Swedenborg????

Posted on April 17, 2011 by Kirsten

That wasn’t in the Disney version! John Chapman (Appleseed’s real name) kept Swedenborg’s “Heaven and Hell” with the Bible in his cookpot hat. Arriving at a house on one of his walkabouts, he would greet the inhabitants: “Will you have … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Books, Metaphysics | Tagged , , | Comments Off

Would you join an ebook review exchange club?

Posted on February 23, 2011 by Kirsten

I have an idea to help new ebook writers (novelists, to start) get reviews on places like Amazon and B&N. Here’s how it would work. A writer with a published e-novel would submit a review copy to me. The writer … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, e-publishing, ebooks, Writing | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off

Vocabularious contrarionous

Posted on March 8, 2009 by Kirsten

So I finished reading Bright Young People: The Lost Generation of London’s Jazz Age by D.J. Taylor (part of an Evelyn Waugh thing I’ve taken on — g*d I’m such a lit nerd! lol). Some similarities between that generation & … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Books | Tagged , | 2 Comments

On “American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson”

Posted on January 18, 2009 by Kirsten

In the prologue to his biography of Thomas Jefferson, Joseph Ellis shares several anecdotes about people who, upon learning that he was writing the book, volunteered their input into how he should approach his subject. If you’ve spent any time … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | Tagged , , | Comments Off

A tale of two tragedies

Posted on December 5, 2008 by Kirsten

Having watched West Side Story a few weeks ago, I came down with a severe relapse of the Shakespeare bug and so last night sat down and re-read Romeo and Juliet. I wanted to see how closely the movie followed … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Books, Culture | Tagged , , , | Comments Off

Books that are really ideas

Posted on July 31, 2007 by Kirsten

Via a comment on Ann Althouse’s blog, I skipped over today to this review in the London Times of an essay titled Comment parler des livres que l’on n’a pas lus (“How to discuss books that one hasn’t read”), which … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews, Books, Writing | Tagged , | Comments Off

A disorder peculiar to our novels

Posted on January 29, 2007 by Kirsten

What I’ve been doing instead of blogging :-) (besides working of course! my day job has been pumping writing assignments to me like an out-of-control gadget in an I Love Lucy bit) is reading. One book I’ve just about finished … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Reviews | 2 Comments