Tag: books
-
Book review: The Innocents by C.A. Asbrey
The Innocents by C.A. Asbrey My rating: 4 of 5 stars This isn’t the normal setting for my preferred historical mystery books as the book takes place in the U.S. in the late 1860s, but I couldn’t resist the premise of a female Pinkerton detective. Abigail McKay is one of the few female detectives working…
-
Book review: The Black Company by Glen Cook
The Black Company by Glen Cook My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book is a departure from what I often read. It’s fantasy, yes, but it’s a gritty, mercenary fantasy–all sharp edges and plot-driven. I liked it a lot–it’s a little magical, a lot gory, generally unsentimental, and a tad dystopian. For some reason,…
-
Book review: Boards That Make a Difference by John Carver
Boards That Make a Difference: A New Design for Leadership in Nonprofit and Public Organizations by John Carver My rating: 4 of 5 stars I am in the process of learning more about board governance and how to be a better board member and chair. (This is in hopes of turning these experiences into a…
-
Book review: The Art of Theft by Sherry Thomas
The Art of Theft by Sherry Thomas My rating: 4 of 5 stars This is the 4th in the Lady Sherlock series, a clever re-imagining of the Sherlock Holmes character as a woman, with all of the societal constraints implied therein. Each book in the series has been excellent, and this one is no exception.…
-
Book review: The Murder of Mary Russell by Laurie King
The Murder of Mary Russell by Laurie R. King My rating: 4 of 5 stars This book is the 14th in the series of Mary Russell (wife of Sherlock Holmes). This installment is particularly enchanting as it deals with Mrs. Hudson, Sherlock Holmes’s famous landlady. It turns out that Mrs. Hudson has a backstory and…
-
Book review: Ty Cobb by Charles Leerhsen
Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty by Charles Leerhsen My rating: 3 of 5 stars Ty Cobb has a horrible reputation as a racist, mean, and disreputable human being. The author’s premise in this biography is that much of the mythology surrounding Ty Cobb is erroneous, based on a biography by an author who took a…
-
Book review: Self-Portrait in Black and White by Thomas Chatterton Williams
Self-Portrait in Black and White: Unlearning Race by Thomas Chatterton Williams My rating: 4 of 5 stars The author is the son of an African-American father and a Caucasian mother who married a (Caucasian) Frenchwoman and has two children. This book consists of his musings on race and identity and family.It’s a well-written book that…
-
Book review: Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World
Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World by Jack Weatherford My rating: 4 of 5 stars Ask a normal person what their first impressions are when you say “Genghis Khan,” and chances are you’ll hear words like “savage,” “barbaric,” and “ruthless.” If the person is a bit of a know-it-all and smart aleck,…
-
Book review: The British Are Coming by Rick Atkinson
The British Are Coming: The War for America, Lexington to Princeton, 1775-1777 by Rick Atkinson My rating: 4 of 5 stars A friend gave this book to my husband, but I borrowed it (temporarily, of course) because it looked so interesting. There are generally two types of history books–a narrative history or an agenda-driven history.…
-
Book review: Deadly Engagement by Lucinda Brant
Deadly Engagement by Lucinda Brant My rating: 4 of 5 stars In this current period of “social distancing,” it’s best to have large amounts of reading material on hand. (Not that my to-be-read pile has done anything but grow over the years.) Enter a Georgian historical mystery series!This is the first in a series featuring…