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Books to power the mind, feed the soul

The Thirst

The Thirst

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My father and sister have a strong affinity for Scandinavian authors, the darker the better. Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter ...

Child's Play

Child’s Play

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Child's Play is the 4th in a series of books by Darcia Helle. If you're new to the series, I think you can still enjoy the ...

Some Can Whistle

Some Can Whistle

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When I stumbled across Buffalo Girls on my to-read shelf, Some Can Whistle was stocked beside it—though I have no idea its ...

Oblivious

Oblivious

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This is a wonderful collection of short stories. I enjoyed the sparse prose, the evocative description, and the fact that ...

Commonwealth

Commonwealth, A Novel

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I’ve always remembered how much I liked Ann Patchett’s writing; Bel Canto and Truth & Beauty both touched me deeply and ...

Whistle

Whistle

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I just finished reading James Jones’ Whistle, the final novel of his World War II trilogy. A couple of months ago, I read the ...

Unexpected Gifts

Unexpected Gifts

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Unexpected Gifts by S. R. Mallery takes the reader on a journey through recent history: The Great Depression, Bulgarians’ ...

Eyewitness Blues

Eyewitness Blues

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Reading Eyewitness Blues by Rhode Island native Tim Baker is like sitting in a comfortable chair on your deck during a sunny ...

The Box that Jane Built

The Box that Jane Built

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“The Box That Jane Built” is the lead story in Julie Elizabeth Powell’s collection* of four short stories. A psychological ...

Seeing by Jose Saramago

Seeing

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Terrible voting weather, remarked the presiding officer of polling station fourteen as he snapped shut his soaked umbrella ...

Odin's Eye

Odin’s Eye

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Odin’s Eye, a collection of 12 short science-fiction stories by Maria Haskins, is a dive into unexpected “future” worlds of ...

Beneath the Shady Tree

Beneath the Shady Tree

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I am a fan of Piper Templeton’s short stories and Beneath the Shady Tree is her second novel, but it is the first of her ...

The Appointment

The Appointment

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Say you are a passenger on a bus you have ridden many times before. You are going to your appointment and it takes one hour ...

Loving Day by Mat Johnson

Loving Day

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“In the ghetto there is a mansion, and it is my father’s house.” As soon as I read this first sentence of Loving Day by Mat ...

The Woman in the Photo

The Woman in the Photo

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To communicate the tragic circumstances and the role that human flaw plays in the Johnstown flood of 1889, author Mary Hogan ...

Coming Home by Rosamund Pilcher

Coming Home

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There is something so comfortable and warm about settling in with this book. It’s the writing, the characters, the setting, ...

Pigeon-Blood Red book reviewed

Pigeon-Blood Red

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Ed Duncan, an attorney with expertise in insurance, is the author of five editions of Ohio Insurance Coverage. Pigeon-Blood ...

The Memory of Running

The Memory of Running

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Smithy Ide is an overweight 43-year-old alcoholic who smokes heavily, has no friends and no family. While growing up, he was ...

Eternity's Trap

Eternity’s Trap

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History is an amazing reality. We can learn so much just by looking back at what has come before, and how similar our lives ...

War Trash

War Trash

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As I was lying on the acupuncturist table, letting the needles do their magic, I listened to the music playing quietly in the ...

A Man Called Ove

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In Backman's novel A Man Called Ove, Ove is not your typical protagonist. He is very unhappy and lets those around him know ...

A Confederacy of Dunes

A Confederacy of Dunces

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I just finished reading A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole for the second time. The first time was 30 years ago ...

Jon Fixx

Jon Fixx

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Just when you think a genre has been plucked of unique characters and compelling plot lines, a new detective novel comes ...

Oil & Water

Oil and Water

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Oil and Water is described as “an environmental murder mystery,” but there is far more to this book than murder and ...

Dragonfish

Dragonfish by Vu Tran

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Oakland cop Robert’s days linger with memories of his Vietnamese ex-wife Suzy who left him two years ago.  Now Suzy has ...

Place of Many Birds

Place of Many Birds

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Place of Many Birds by Jan Merry is an exquisitely-written collection of short stories that take place in a span of time from ...

The Chocolate Assassin

The Chocolate Assassin

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The ghost of Dashiell Hammett floats between the pages of The Chocolate Assassin by Peter Durantine, a crime noir novel á la ...

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