Author Archives: bseat

The Children Act by Ian McEwan

Posted on March 20, 2015 by bseat

Fiona Mayes is a British High Court Judge in London’s Family Division. There she hears cases dealing with families; mostly child custody but also some divorce.  She is committed to her work and “…belonged to the law as some women … Continue reading →

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Lila by Marilynne Robinson

Posted on March 13, 2015 by bseat

In Lilla, Lila Dahl, a character we met in Robinson’s previous books Gilead and Home, tells the story of how she was found and raised by Doll, became a part of group of itinerant farm workers who wandered together, broke … Continue reading →

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The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan

Posted on March 6, 2015 by bseat

“Disturbingly fabulous” is what one reader said about this book and I have to agree.  There is the lyrical prose that Flanagan uses while describing the horrors of how the Japanese used POWs to build the Thai-Burma railway, the deep … Continue reading →

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The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Posted on February 27, 2015 by bseat

Rachel is living a lie. Every day she leaves her friend’s home where she has been staying “until she can get back on her feet,”and takes the train into London.  Ostensibly she is going to work, but she lost her … Continue reading →

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The Martian by Andy Weir

Posted on February 20, 2015 by bseat

This book was recommended to me by my daughter so I should have known it would be good, but I am notoriously leery of books that are recommended to me!  So it was very gratifying to find that the story … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Science Fiction, Thriller | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton

Posted on February 13, 2015 by bseat

What a stunning surprise to open a recently written book whose style is reminiscent of of a great 19th century novel by Dickens or Wilkie Collins!  With an intricate plot of grave misunderstandings, murder, a missing person, a great love, … Continue reading →

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All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Posted on February 6, 2015 by bseat

In a small town in Germany a young boy and his sister, find a radio. The boy, Werner, is remarkably adept at figuring out how to repair it and soon he and his sister and the other orphans who live with … Continue reading →

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A Map of Betrayal: A Novel by Ha Jin

Posted on January 30, 2015 by bseat

One of my favorite TV shows is The Americans on FX.  The story is about deep cover Soviet agents who infiltrated and operated in the US during the end of the Cold War. What is fascinating to me is how … Continue reading →

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The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

Posted on January 23, 2015 by bseat

Our narrator is a repulsive man. A self obsessed pornagrapher and drug user, he is driving on a lonely stretch of wilderness road with an open bottle of bourbon in his lap. As he reaches for it the bottle it … Continue reading →

Posted in Fantasy, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Romance | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

The Accident by Chris Pavone

Posted on January 16, 2015 by bseat

New York literary agent, Isabel Reed has just stayed up all night reading a manuscript that appeared anonymously in her office.  It was so explosive and good that she couldn’t put it down, and she is no convinced that this … Continue reading →

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