Category Archives: Prize winner

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doer

Posted on April 8, 2022 by bseat

Stories that intertwine are always fascinating, but often encounter difficulties in their execution. Not only do the stories need to intertwine in a way that makes sense but they need to show that the intertwining has a purpose. Often authors … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Literary Fiction, Prize Winner, Prize winner | Tagged | 1 Comment

Matrix by Lauren Groff

Posted on November 19, 2021 by bseat

Titles of books can often be deceptive, but I have never encountered one quite as dissimilar to its content than Matrix by Groff. The title raises up images of that famous sci-fi movie starring Keanu Reeves or the coding process … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Prize winner | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

The Strange Case of the Alchemist’s Daughter by Theodora Goss (Books to Read During a Pandemic, Part 63)

Posted on June 11, 2021 by bseat

Mary Jekyl is strangely unaffected when her guardian dies. When her parents died when she was a child, she was left in the care of her guardian  for whom she felt very little affection. Now in her twenties, with her … Continue reading →

Posted in Books to Read During a Pandemic, Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery, Mystery/Detective, Prize winner, Series, Suspense, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Force of Nature by Jane Harper

Posted on September 20, 2019 by bseat

Jane Harper is quickly becoming one of my favorite writers. She has the uncanny ability to take the ordinary and create mystery and suspense seemingly out of thin air. An ordinary corporate retreat camping in the woods in her hands … Continue reading →

Posted in Detective novel, Fiction, Mystery, Prize Winner, Prize winner, Psychological Mystery, Suspense | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Garden of Evening Mists by Tan Twan Eng

Posted on August 30, 2019 by bseat

In 1951, Yun Ling Teoh makes her way to the Cameron Highlands of Malaya. Scarred and traumatized by her experiences during the war in a Japanese concentration camp, she needs time to heal and find a way to live again.  … Continue reading →

Posted in Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Mystery, Prize Winner, Prize winner, Romance | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Improvement by Joan Silber

Posted on July 5, 2019 by bseat

How do our decisions reverberate across space and time? What happens when we choose one course of action over another? Do our decisions even matter? Joan Silber explores these questions and more in her award winning book, Improvement, and her … Continue reading →

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3 Seconds by Roslund & Hellstrom, translated by Kari Dickson

Posted on May 31, 2019 by bseat

I have found that understanding how another country perceives crime and justice helps me understand their culture. One of the ways I do that is by reading crime novels set in other countries or cultures. In reading this book about … Continue reading →

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Manhattan Beach by Jennifer Egan

Posted on April 19, 2019 by bseat

Anna Kerrigan is twelve years old when she first meets Dexter Styles. At the time she was awed by his home by the sea, and felt the undercurrents of something unnamed but menacing between Dexter and her father. Years later … Continue reading →

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The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden

Posted on December 7, 2018 by bseat

Sometimes sequels lack the energy and magic of the original story, but not this time! In this sequel to The Bear and the Nightingale, Arden exceeds our expectations, making the magical world of medieval Russia come even more alive, while … Continue reading →

Posted in Fantasy, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Prize winner, Romance, Series, Suspense, YA | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Foreign Affairs by Alison Lurie

Posted on August 3, 2018 by bseat

Vinnie Milner is looking forward to her research trip to England. At 50 she is a professor at a prestigious university on the East Coast and a leading authority on children’s nursery rhymes, a rather esoteric subject not highly regarded … Continue reading →

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