Review of “Quantum Man: Richard Feynman’s Life in Science,” by Lawrence M. Krauss

Note: This review is by my husband Jim. Richard Feynman (May 11, 1918 – February 15, 1988) was a colorful, eccentric (some might even say wacky), brilliant thinker who is generally considered one of the two or three leading physicists of the latter half of the twentieth century. His varied interests and delightful sense of [...]

Review of “Sean Griswold’s Head” by Lindsey Leavitt

Fifteen-year-old Payton Gritas finds out her father has multiple sclerosis six months after the rest of the family already knows. She is hurt and angry and stops speaking to the rest of her family, especially shunning her dad with whom she was close: The truth, I know, is that it’s not my dad I’m really [...]

Review of “By a Spider’s Thread” by Laura Lippman

This is the eighth book in the Tess Monaghan detective series, and rather anomalous. The emphasis in this book is not on Tess, now 33, although she of course plays a (minor) role. Rather, it is on her client, Mark Rubin, and his life as an Orthodox Jew: what does it mean to live in [...]

Review of “XVI” by Julia Karr

In this Young Adult dystopia, it is the year 2150, and life has gotten much worse for women. When a girl turns sixteen (or “sex-teen” as it is known), she gets an XVI tattooed on her wrist. This means she is now legal sex bait for anyone who can get to her. As the protagonist [...]

National Poetry Month: Eleanor Swanson and The Radium Girls

April April is National Poetry Month and to celebrate this year, Serena from Savvy Verse and Wit has called on fellow bloggers to participate by volunteering to profile a poet or poem. I have chosen to celebrate the poetry of Eleanor Swanson, an award-winning poet and fiction writer, who has written a memorable poem about [...]

Review of “Law of Attraction” by Allison Leotta

This is a legal procedural set in Washington, D.C., about Anna Curtis, an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the US. Attorney’s Office, a job the author has done in real life. Also like Anna, the author worked for a while in the misdemeanor domestic violence division. According to her interviews, the stories she encountered at work [...]

Review of “First Degree” by David Rosenfelt

This is the second book in the Andy Carpenter legal procedural series. Like Rosenfelt’s other books in this series, it’s part crime novel and part stand-up comedy. Andy’s girlfriend and researcher, Laurie Collins, is framed for the murder of a corrupt policeman, Alex Dorsey. But why? No one is sure. In fact, they’re not even [...]

TLC Book Tour Review of “Pox: An American History” by Michael Willrich

Note: This book is reviewed as part of TLC Tours. Michael Willrich’s Pox is a history of the fight against smallpox near the end of the 19th century in the United States. In particular, it emphasizes the resistance to vaccination by a large segment of the American public, and the redefinition of liberty that ensued [...]

Review of “The Last Place” by Laura Lippman

This is the seventh book in the Tess Monaghan detective series. Tess, 31, is a private detective in Baltimore with a younger boyfriend named Crow, a best friend named Whitney, and two dogs, Esskay and Miata. Whitney asks Tess to do some investigative work for a consortium her family’s foundation has joined. The task they [...]

Review of “WWW: Watch” by Robert J. Sawyer

Robert Sawyer is one of my favorite sci fi authors. He’s Canadian, has a great sense of humor, especially about Americans; he’s smart; he understands females; and he’s pretty darn good on the subject of love – so much so, in fact, that I copied our wedding vows from his book Hybrids. And he’s just [...]