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Jay Atkinson’s Novel ‘Storrow Drive’ Is Getting Pulled Over by Readers I’m always glad to see a new book by my Merrimack Valley Conference literary comrade Jay Atkinson, in his case a former Ranger from Methuen High School who was a scholar-athlete in college in Nova Scotia. Jay is still…
Read More »The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. Whistler by Ann Patchett is another confirmation of the author’s elegant writing style, her adroitness at weaving narrative threads into a compelling tapestry, and acuity in probing the complexity of human character and emotion. Her stunning use of…
Read More »The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. Absolutely on Music: Conversations is a gift to classical music lovers and a perfect book to read as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, having successfully resolved its contract negotiations, prepares to start its 146th season. The book comprises the recordings of…
Read More »The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. The late Barney Frank’s book, The Hard Path to Unity: Why We Must Reform the Left to Rescue Democracy, to be published September 15 by Yale University Press, is a valedictory the former Massachusetts Fourth District Congressman wrote during…
Read More »The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang is a family history and autobiography of three generations of a Chinese family, spanning most of the 20th century in China. Published in 1991, the 650-page tome hadn’t come to my attention…
Read More »The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. Where the Serpent Lives by Daniyal Mueenuddin, is a totally captivating novel starting in 1950’s Pakistan, colored by the caste system that frames the past, present and even future for its people. The backdrop is the turbulence following Partition, the…
Read More »The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution: A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation by Scott Anderson is a spellbinding journalistic revelation of the innermost thinking and maneuvering of key players in Iran and the United States leading up…
Read More »The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron. The Director by Daniel Kehlmann is a challenging but intriguing work of fiction. Its surreal and expressionistic style focuses on its characters’ dreamlike experiences and emotional journeys. These stylistic elements mix with realism as the narrative develops, prompting this reader to appreciate…
Read More »The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout is the ninth book I have read by Strout. She raises many classic Strout themes: the lives of seemingly ordinary people, how people deal with each other and with their own feelings,…
Read More »The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog. London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth by Patrick Radden Keefe, published in April, displays once again the author’s investigative skills and journalistic talents manifest in his books Say Nothing (about “the troubles”…
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