Posts
A Short Walk Through a Wide World by Douglas Westerbeke
Meet Aubrey, a somewhat spoiled young girl living in Paris in the late 1800s, who one day comes down with a mysterious, life-threatening illness. She speedily discovers that if she keeps moving location, the illness disappears. And so, she begins her adventurous life of endless travelling around the globe, trying to outrun her unique disease.
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros
The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros is a tremendous book that is an enjoyable read while having deep themes of racism, sexism, and pride.
Palace of the Drowned by Christine Mangan
When I read that Palace of the Drowned was set in Venice, Italy, off-season, and reminiscent of the novels of Patricia Highsmith, in that the prose is lush, the plot suspenseful in a kind of nagging, slow-burn way, I thought it sounded like my cup of proverbial tea.
Gone by Michael Grant
The Gone series, written by Michael Grant, is a very interesting yet intense read. The author designs a society where the parents are removed from a town and put outside of a bubble.
The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
In The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie (2009), author Alan Bradley introduces readers to the charming and precocious eleven-year-old protagonist, Flavia de Luce.
The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne is a difficult yet intriguing novel. The opinions may differ on this read, but I found it interesting. The author includes many uses of literary devices, one major one being symbolism that kept me reading the book.
The Vaster Wilds by Lauren Groff
Lauren Groff’s The Vaster Wilds (2023) transports the reader back to a horrifying and fascinating time in American colonial history known as the “starving time” at the Jamestown colony in 1609.
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Lord of the Flies is an exhilarating novel that demonstrates the reality of parts of human nature.
The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown
The ultimate fantasy – a book that can open a door to anywhere in the world. Oh, the places you could go! Obviously, it is also highly coveted, so when Cassie is gifted the book, she suddenly finds herself the target of unscrupulous, violent, book hunters who will do anything to get their hands on it. The Book of Doors (2024) takes you on a fast paced, magic-filled whirlwind of an adventure in a classic fight of good vs evil.