This week’s featured picture book is a new title that’s sure to become a classic, Muon Van’s In a Village by the Sea. This circular tale set in a Vietnamese village is short, sweet and simple enough to read to the littlest of book lovers, but the absolutely beautiful illustrations by April Chu will keep all ages […]
Continue readingCategory Archives: Reviews and Recommendations
Etta and Otto and Russell and James
You know when you see something on Facebook that you really enjoy and you think you should mark in some way, but you don’t? Now I am sorry that I didn’t. A year or so ago a word floated around, a word to capture the feeling once you finish a book that you enjoyed so […]
Continue readingBook Review – Strangers and Beggars by James Van Pelt
Local author James Van Pelt is a man of many talents. He has written a variety of short story collections and novels in addition to teaching English in Mesa County schools and at Colorado Mesa University. His short story “The Last of the O-Forms” was a Nebula Award finalist in 2002. His works have been […]
Continue readingThe Mangle Street Murders
In 1882 London, a detective duo playfully reminiscent of Holmes and Watson debut in M.R.C. Kasasian’s The Mangle Street Murders. When March Middleton’s father dies, she agrees to live with her godfather, the eminent “personal” detective (private is for bedrooms, he says), Sidney Grice. Cold-blooded, vain and avaricious, Grice is approached when a beautiful young […]
Continue readingRoad Trip Reads
There’s nothing like a good audiobook to while away the hours on a long road trip or, for that matter, a short trip on a road under construction. A great audiobook requires two things to capture your attention and entertain you: a great book and a great reader. Here are some suggestions — For a […]
Continue readingBooks to Film: The Dovekeepers
I apologize that I did not think to share this news earlier! My friend and co-worker, Giselle, let me know a couple of weeks ago that there would be a mini-series based on Alice Hoffman’s historical novel, The Dovekeepers. The mini-series is produced by Roma Downey and Mark Burnett. My apology comes because Part 1 […]
Continue readingBook Review: Holy Cow
The review I initially read about Holy Cow by David Duchovny must have been a good one because it led me to the book. Allegory with animals usually irk me. My interest was sparked enough for me to place the hold and then to actually give the book a try once I had it home. […]
Continue readingThis is the Water
Annie watches her daughters at swim practice, while wondering why her husband doesn’t kiss her anymore. At the same time, a killer watches the girls and imagines seeing the life leaving their eyes. In This is the Water, by Yannick Murphy, we see Annie’s harried life as a swim mom in rural Vermont, driving her daughters […]
Continue readingOur Souls at Night
In this last novel before his death in 2014, acclaimed novelist Haruf (Benediction) captures small-town life to perfection in his signature spare style. Addie Moore and Louis Waters have been neighbors in the eastern Colorado farming town of Holt for over 40 years. Now, alone except for their grown children, Addie has asked Louis to […]
Continue readingBook Review: The Poisoner’s Handbook
Last night the Kiva Book Club discussed The Poisoner’s Handbook, a non-fiction book by Deborah Blum. All in all, it was a successful selection. Some people found parts of the book slow, a little heavy on the technical/science side, or “gruesome,” but almost all of us agreed that we were kept interested by the true […]
Continue reading