Enchantress Of Numbers By Jennifer Chiaverini

Please join us in reading our Enchantress of Numbers by Jennifer Chiaverini for suggested monthly read!

We will be reviewing Enchantress of Numbers as well as our book club discussion questions for February 28, 2018.

The only legitimate child of Lord Byron, the most brilliant, revered, and scandalous of the Romantic poets, Ada was destined for fame long before her birth. But her mathematician mother, estranged from Ada’s infamous and destructively passionate father, is determined to save her only child from her perilous Byron heritage. Banishing fairy tales and make-believe from the nursery, Ada’s mother provides her daughter with a rigorous education grounded in mathematics and science. Any troubling spark of imagination—or worse yet, passion or poetry—is promptly extinguished. Or so her mother believes. Continue reading “Enchantress Of Numbers By Jennifer Chiaverini” →

Brooklyn Book Review

Brooklyn: Book Review By Dinh.
4 stars

Synopsis:

Eilis Lacey has come of age in small-town Ireland in the years following World War Two. Though skilled at bookkeeping, she cannot find a job in the miserable Irish economy. When an Irish priest from Brooklyn offers to sponsor Eilis in America–to live and work in a Brooklyn neighborhood “just like Ireland”–she decides she must go, leaving her fragile mother and her charismatic sister behind. Continue reading “Brooklyn Book Review” →

Brooklyn Book Club Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions:

1. What part did Eilis’ sister, Rose Lacey, play in the decision for Eilis to emigrate? Given that Eilis’ three brothers immigrated to Birmingham, England, there was no work in Ireland, and Rose was the surrogate father and breadwinner, was it inevitable that Eilis should emigrate?

2. Before Eilis set off to America from Enniscorthy, she had sensed that people who emigrated there could become rich and lived there happily. What are the reasons behind this preconception? What are Eilis first impressions of America? Continue reading “Brooklyn Book Club Discussion Questions” →

A Stranger In The House Book Review

A Stranger In The House: Book review by Dinh.
2.5 stars

Synopsis:

A present you can’t remember. A past that won’t let you go.

You’re home making dinner for your husband. You expect him any second. The phone rings- it’s the call you hoped you’d never get. You jump in your car and race to a neighborhood you thought you’d never visit. You peer into the dark, deserted building, and brace yourself for the worse.

After that, you remember nothing. Continue reading “A Stranger In The House Book Review” →

The Blackhouse Book Review

The Blackhouse: Book Review By Dinh.
5 out of 5 stars for The Black House

Synopsis:

When a grisly murder occurs on the Isle of Lewis that has the hallmarks of a killing he’s investigating on the mainland, Edinburgh detective and native islander Fin Macleod is dispatched to see if the two deaths are connected. His return after nearly two decades not only represents a police investigation, but a voyage into his own troubled past. Continue reading “The Blackhouse Book Review” →

Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín

Please join us in reading Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín for our suggested monthly read!


We will be reviewing Brooklyn along with our monthly book club discussion questions for January 31, 2018.

Summary of Brooklyn

Goodreads Summary:

Eilis Lacey has come of age in small-town Ireland in the years following World War Two. Though skilled at bookkeeping, she cannot find a job in the miserable Irish economy. When an Irish priest from Brooklyn offers to sponsor Eilis in America–to live and work in a Brooklyn neighborhood “just like Ireland”–she decides she must go, leaving her fragile mother and her charismatic sister behind. Continue reading “Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín” →

The Stars Are Fire Book Review

The Stars Are Fire: Book Review By Dinh.
3.5stars

Synopsis:

In October 1947, after a summer-long drought, fires break out all along the Maine Coast, racing out of control from village to village. Twenty-four-year-old Grace Holland is left alone to protect her two toddlers. After an unimaginable night in which the fire forces them to huddle together at sea, they emerge at dawn to find their lives forever changed.

Homeless, penniless, and left to face an uncertain future in a town that no longer exists, Grace must learn to drive and find a job, a place to live, and a way to care for her family. Continue reading “The Stars Are Fire Book Review” →

The Stars Are Fire Book Club Discussion Questions

Discover books by Anita Shreve.

Discussion Questions:

1. The epigraph is a quote from Shakespeare’s Hamlet: “Doubt thou the stars are fire; / Doubt thou the sun doth move; / Doubt truth to be a liar; / But never doubt I love.” What does it mean? What does it have to do with the novel it introduces?

2. “Containerize, her own mother once told Grace, as if imparting the secret of sanity. Her mother meant children as well as dry goods.” (pages 9–­10) In what ways does Grace follow this advice? When does she disregard it? Continue reading “The Stars Are Fire Book Club Discussion Questions” →

Happy Holidays!

Wishing our readers a Merry Christmas and for those that don’t celebrate Christmas, Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays 2017

We hope that you have a wonderful holiday.

This year we will be in our new home and hosting an Italian Christmas! I am looking forward to catching up with family and getting stuffed on antipasto, lasagna, meatballs and sausages, and some yummy desserts. 🙂 Continue reading “Happy Holidays!” →

Top Gifts For Christmas: Top 10 Best Selling Books of 2017

Christmas is rapidly approaching and what better way to share some joy than by giving the gift of books?

 

This year we are not personally choosing our favorite books to recommend to our readers, but will be relying on the New York Times Bestseller list for the best books to read for 2017. Don’t worry, you can still get our opinions and thoughts on the books in our reviews.  Continue reading “Top Gifts For Christmas: Top 10 Best Selling Books of 2017” →