PODCAST-WITHOUT YOU HERE-BOOK REVIEW Strange, though, how joy rides on the back of sorrow. You have to feel both to feel either. And no amount of best intentions can keep you from hurting what you love. These sentences are an example of the beautiful, soul-nourishing prose one can expect to find in Jody Hobbs Hesler’s […]
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BOOK REVIEW-ALLEGIANCE Set in 2025, Erika Raskin’s novel, ALLEGIANCE, anticipates what would happen if a fascist wins the U.S. presidential election in November 2024. The story is told from two points of view. One is a prescient grandmother (Natalie) on the run with her two grandchildren. She’s hoping to find safe harbor for them. The
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PODCAST-THE CARETAKER-BOOK REVIEW 0:00 / 0:00 The Caretaker-Book Review Ron Rash’s lovely novel hooked me on the first page then kept me engaged straight through to the end. He accomplished this by portraying his main characters in close point of view, which made me care about them immediately. Also, his vivid descriptions of place and
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EVERYONE HERE IS KINBOOK REVIEW 0:00 / 0:00 Everybody Here is Kin Using only thirty-eight words, the first sentence of Nash’s debut novel vividly describes two main characters, their behavior, beliefs, and financial status. Nash writes, “Naomi and I slogged through sand so hot it scalded our tender feet, lugging two rusted lounge chairs and
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MY DAD IS A DJBOOK REVIEW I always check out the dedication page in the books I read. The words can tell me volumes about authors and why they sent their creations into the world. This is the case with My Dad is a DJ, written by National Book Award winner Katherine Erskine and Keith
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WRONG PLACE, WRONG TIMEBOOK REVIEW The question on the book cover sums up this mystery beautifully: How do you stop a murder after it’s happened? The novel opens to a placid domestic scene, one that succinctly and deftly depicts the two main characters in the story, Jen, a lawyer, and her husband, Kelly, a
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THE SENTENCEBOOK REVIEW Many years ago, I lived in Hanover, NH as the same time as Louise Erdrich. We shared the same midwife, a fact I learned from her autobiographical book The Blue Jay’s Dance. I knew about her existence in the community because her early writing was already gaining attention and great acclaim. (She
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INTO THE MESSBOOK REVIEW Into the Mess by Debie Thomas is a well-written exploration of familiar Bible passages. Sometimes when I’m reading a book, I find myself automatically re-writing sentences as I go, adjusting for clarity or word order. The writing in this book is so lively, humorous, and engaging that I instantly shut off
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FOSTER CAREBOOK REVIEW Edna wastes no time drawing a hot bath for the child then scraping grime out from under nails, washing her hair, cleaning her ears. The girl describes the bath: “Then she makes me stand and soaps me all over with a cloth. Her hands are like my mother’s hand but there is
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MY MONTICELLOBOOK REVIEW Jocelyn Johnson’s novella, My Monticello, is a soul-nourishing story that begins on a spring night in the near-future after the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville in 2017. White nationalists have returned to town. They are burning down houses and brutally attacking people of color. Da’ Naisha Love, a descendant of Thomas
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