What I’ve been reading
What have I been reading this year? Here’s a haphazard and incomplete list, leaving out those I didn’t enjoy, or didn’t finish. Life’s too short!
Book Review: Aftershocks by Michelle Tom
Memoirs are too often judged only by the power of the story. Tom’s story is powerful and moving all right, but also as beautifully written as any literary fiction. Aftershocks is Tom’s first book but she began her career as a print journalist, in New Zealand, and it shows – in a good way. Arresting imagery,…
Book Review: Sea People
I can’t even begin to tell you how good this book is, but let’s see how I go. Sea People: The Puzzle of Polynesia is, as author Christina Thompson admits in the prologue, as “much a story about what happened as a story about what we know.” In charting the story of Polynesian settlement in…
Updike – a review of a review
I read so many book reviews that I often feel far more well-read than I actually am. “Oh yes,” I say, affecting an air knowledgeable nonchalance when asked about a certain book. “I know it. It received great reviews.” Chances are I’ll never get around to reading it, though. And does that matter? A good…