BVC authors review books they’ve read
Táin by Gregory Frost An epic fantasy of the legendary Irish champion, Cú Chulainn Eighteen years old and the only warrior left standing in Ulster, Cú Chulainn faces the combined armies of the King and Queen of Connacht. In a ring of standing stones the ghost of an Ulster warrior retells the adventures of the …
Originally published April 2020 I have a thing for fiction about nuns. And a quiet admiration mixed with puzzlement. I can only imagine the shape of what drives a woman to devote her life to God. A caveat before I wander off into convent sisterhood fiction: I know next to nothing about the catholic faith, …
Code of Conduct First Book in the Jani Kilian Chronicles by Kristine Smith The aliens called her Kièrshia. Toxin.
Originally published January 2010 Mystery writer Christy Evans is launching her own cozy mystery series about a lady plumber. They are enormous fun. The first book “Sink Trap” is available at all major bookstores. Reading Science Fiction or fantasy is work – part of my day job as a novelist who deals with dragons¸ magicians, demons, …
I used to think I was a jinx. If I loved a series of books, it would go out of print and the author would disappear. If I loved a TV show, it would be taken off the air (I still miss Brisco County Jr. and Pushing Daisies) when we are finished with our tivoed …
You may remember me writing about last year’s read and the tradition that led to that – but this year there it was, another Walt Longmire book waiting for January to be dived into. And so I did. I don’t know how long Craig Johnson will keep writing these books but as long as he …
Used bookstores. Is there anything better than an afternoon spent hunting through the shelves and stacks in one? As delightful as a new bookstore is, visiting a used bookstore is a trip into unknown, mysterious waters: who knows what treasures might be found on the shelves? One treasure I found in a used bookstore (and …
I’m not sure when I first ran across The Arrangement. The book (picture from here) was written by Elia Kazan in 1967 so it could not have been before that. That would have put me in high school, either in Alabama or Washington depending on when it percolated down to me. I was certainly familiar …
This book got me kicked out of a reading club.
Originally published October, 2017 by Jill Zeller I’m watching my favorite Halloween movie as I write this. Directed by Robert Wise, Claire Bloom’s clothes by Mary Quant, and starring the incomparable Julie Harris. Black and white. 1963. And the novel this movie is adapted from is one my favorite books by one of my favorite …
Originally published July 2017 by Jill Zeller We’re talking about Rebecca and Jane Eyre. Two naïve young women come to live in huge, lavish English houses owned by older men with secrets. One,a dead wife, and one a living wife who is insane. It’s the same story. Jane and du Maurier’s never-named heroine are both …
I was a little late to the party – I found mention of Peter Wohlleben’s “The Heartbeat of Trees”, published in German in 2019 and in English only last year, and being the treehugger that I am the title sang to me, of course. Just a little poking around revealed that Wohlleben had written …
The mysteries of nature – “it’s a small world, isn’t it?” Read More »
Originally published May, 2018 What do an environmental consultant, a wildlife scientist and a physicist have in common? They all have written books. And good books, too, with the help of science writers and their own writing experience. I love reading about wildlife. I skip over the sad parts, though, even though when one is …
