Perhaps you missed The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson.  I know that I did.   It was published in 2003 and seemed to me to be of no great interest despite the fact that it was a finalist for the National Book Award.  After all what could possibly be so interesting about...
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Wisdom of the Last Farmer: Harvesting Legacies By David Mas Masumoto This book opens with the depiction of a stroke the author’s father suffered while working on their farm.  It transitions into a meditation on the growing of food and expands to include Masumoto’s awareness of the traditions passed down within his family.  Masumoto...
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If you have not yet tried The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson, ‘tis the season for a well written and engaging mystery.  It is the first of three connected books written by a Swedish journalist who passed away in 2004.  Embarking on the trilogy is a formidable undertaking since in total...
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Having finally visited the Innisfree Garden in Millbrook, NY last month, I was sufficiently intrigued by the beautiful garden to do some research on its history.  Built on a large property owned by Marion and Walter Beck, it began in 1922 as a formal English garden and was transmuted into an American version of a...
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The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan C. Bradley is a debut mystery set in England, written by a Canadian, and published by an American publisher. It features an intelligent, eleven-year-old narrator who is an amateur chemist with a particular passion for poisons. Early one morning in 1950 she sees a...
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If you are a mystery fan and open to trying a contemporary writer, you might like Robert Crais.  He started as a Hollywood script writer and since 1988 has written a series of mysteries featuring Elvis Cole and his partner, Joe Pike.   Cole is a smart aleck private investigator whose mouth and attitude...
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There are not many writers who excel in both fiction and non-fiction. There are even fewer authors who write successfully for adults, young adults and children. Jane Yolen is a notable exception. History Mysteries: Four of her non-fiction children’s picture books are reviewed here. They are readable by children from Third Grade upward. For...
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