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Rhapsody in Books Weblog - Books & Literature
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Review of “What Cannot Be Said” by C.S. Harris | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
Note: There are necessarily spoilers for previous books in this series. Although this is the 19th book in this series, C.S. Harris does an outstanding job of providing enough background in every book - without making it seem tedious or out of place - so that any of the books could be read as standalones,…
Kid Lit Review of “The Dictionary Story” by Oliver Jeffers and Sam Winston | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
Oliver Jeffers, a master of thinking outside the box, teams up with Sam Winston for this amazingly creative story about a dictionary who “had ALL the words that had ever been read, which meant she could say All the things that could EVER BE SAID.” But she didn’t tell a story like all the other…
Review of “Death at the Sanatorium” by Ragnar Jónasson | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
This is a novel written in a style reminiscent of Ellery Queen and Agatha Christie from best-selling writer of Nordic Noir, Ragnar Jónasson. Moving mainly between 1983 and 2012, the story begins with a murder in the earlier time period in a sanatorium originally opened to treat tuberculosis. Protagonist Helgi Reykdal, like the author, is…
Review of “Out in the Cold” by Steve Urszenyi | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
This is the second in a series of international espionage thrillers featuring Special Agent Alex Martel. She was formerly with the FBI on loan to Interpol, and is now working as a CIA contractor on the elite team of Caleb Copeland, a paramilitary operations officer who heads CCT, the Advance Counterterrorism and Counterproliferation Team within…
Review of “The Wheel of the Infinite” by Martha Wells | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
This absorbing fantasy follows the journey of Maskelle, in her mid-forties, who is “the Voice of the Ancestors.” This meant she was a very high functionary of the Infinite, a religious order guided by ancestral spirits. She has been called back to the Capital by the Celestial One, the supreme head of the order, for…
Review of “An Insignificant Case: A Novel” by Phillip Margolin | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
This stand-alone crime novel features Charlie Webb, supposedly a “third-rate” lawyer in Portland, Oregon who gets by handling minor legal matters for friends along with some court-appointed cases, one of which he gets as the story opens. He was assigned to defend Lawrence Weiss, a.k.a. Guido Sabatini, who admitted to stealing back a painting he…
Kid Lit Review of “The People’s Painter: How Ben Shahn Fought for Justice with Art” by Cynthia Levinson | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
Ben Shahn, born in Lithuania, emigrated to America with his family when he was eight years old. He had began to draw from the time he was a young boy. But he didn’t want to make just “pretty” pictures; rather, he had important stories he wanted to tell through art. The author writes: “Justice had…
Review of “James” by Percival Everett | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
This Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist is a subversive retelling of Mark Twain’s classic book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from the perspective of the Black slave Jim rather than of the young white boy Huck. Like this new version, the original began in Missouri just before the outbreak of the Civil War.…
Review of “What Does It Feel Like? A Novel” by Sophie Kinsella | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
Although part of the title of this book is “A Novel”, as the author explains in an Afternote, it is mostly autobiographical, with some names and dates changed, but otherwise a reflection of the author’s recent experience. Sophie Kinsella was diagnosed with a glioblastoma brain tumor in 2022, and subsequently underwent surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and…
Kid Lit Review of “A Star Shines Through” by Anna Desnitskaya | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
In an Author’s Note at the end of the story, Desnitskaya relates her history that she distilled into a story for children. She and her family, who lived in Moscow, were vacationing in Cyprus when Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. She saw the news, and “at that moment, I realized that we would not…
Review of “The Man Who Died Twice” by Richard Osman | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
This is the second entry in the “Thursday Murder Club” series, cozy mysteries set in a luxury retirement community that are quick-paced and witty with any number of laugh-out-loud moments, depending, I suppose, if you have or have not ever been in a room with a number of septuagenarians all tuning their hearing aids at…
Kid Lit Review of “Amazing Architecture: Amazing Museums” by Anita Nahta Amin | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
This book, packed with full-color photos, begins with a picture of the Weisman Art Museum in Minneapolis, Minnesota (also on the cover of the book), which “looks like a sculpture. Cubes, cones, and cylinders pop out from its walls.” The author notes that “museums often look like what they feature on the inside.” She shows…
Review of “The Thursday Murder Club” by Richard Osman | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
This witty cozy mystery has many laugh-out-loud moments that will resonate particularly with those who live in retirement communities, as the main characters in this book do. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron reside in Coopers Chase Retirement Village, billed as “Britain’s First Luxury Retirement Village” (somewhat misleadingly, according to Ibrahim, who checked) when work began…
Review of “Decade of Disunion” by Robert Merry | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
This book, subtitled “How Massachusetts and South Carolina Led the Way to Civil War, 1849-1861, provides a detailed account of the ideological and political fractures that split apart the country prior to the outbreak of actual war in 1861. At the center of the crisis was the issue of slavery, and how to deal with…
Kid Lit Review of “Kingdoms of Life” by Carly Allen-Fletcher | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
This colorful book introduces young readers to the broad classification system called taxonomy that scientists now use for the millions of forms of life on the planet. While there are estimated to be between 5 million to 100 million species of life on the planet, they have been sorted into six “kingdoms”: animals, plants, fungi,…
Review of “The Leadership Journey: How Four Kids Became President” by Doris Kearns Goodwin | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
Intended for a middle grade audience, this new book by Pulitzer Prize winner Doris Kearns Goodwin focuses on how four kids from very different backgrounds - Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Lyndon B. Johnson - grew up to lead the country. She has spent years researching these men and the fondness and…
Review of “Spirit Crossing” by William Kent Krueger | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
This is the 20th book in the series involving Cork O’Connor, the part-Irish, part-Anishinaabe Indian ex-sheriff of the small town of Aurora, Minnesota in Tamarack County. While no longer formally serving in law enforcement, Cork now occasionally works as a private investigator. This installment begins as the police are engaged in a manhunt to find…
Review of “Reykjavik: A Crime Story” by Ragnar Jónasson and Katrín Jakobsdóttir | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
The authors, best-selling writer of Nordic Noir Ragnar Jónasson and Iceland’s Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir, combine their expertise to lend an air of authenticity to this crime story that overlays a missing persons case with politics and national issues. It begins in 1956, when fifteen-year-old Lára Marteinsdóttir vanished from Videy Island, just off the coast…
Review of “Blue Graffiti” by Calahan Skogman | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
Calahan Skogman is a writer and poet who was raised in Wisconsin. He is perhaps best known for another skill he has, shown in his acting role as Matthias Helvar in “Shadow and Bone” (based on the best-selling series by Leigh Bardugo). Blue Graffiti is his debut novel. The novel is set in the fictional small town…
Review of “The Road to Roswell: A Novel” by Connie Willis | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
My favorite line in the book is probably the first of three epigraphs at the beginning, which reads, “The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us. - Bill Watterson” The premise of the story is simple. Francie Driscoll travels to Roswell, New Mexico…
Review of “Dog Day Afternoon” by David Rosenfelt | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
This is #29 in the Andy Carpenter crime/legal procedural series that always manages to get me laughing out loud in spite of featuring brutal and complex crimes. Andy thinks of himself as a retired lawyer, trying to spend his time in Paterson, New Jersey walking his three dogs, helping out at his dog rescue organization,…
Review of “How the Penguins Saved Veronica” by Hazel Prior | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
The story begins in May of 2012, when we meet Veronica McCreedy, an 85-year-old woman living on her own in Ayrshire, Scotland and described as “curmudgeonly,” with more than a trace, it sounds like, of Asperger’s Syndrome. She has a carer named Eileen (whom Veronica denies is a “carer”) and aside from Eileen and the…
Kid Lit Review of “Stars of the Night: The Courageous Children of the Czech Kindertransport” by Caren B. Stelson | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
This book is narrated in the voice of the Jewish children of Czechoslovakia in 1938 who were rescued from the Nazi invasion intent on destroying them. Their parents sent them on trains called “Kindertransport” out of occupied areas and into England. Most of them would never see their parents again. “When we were seven or…
Kid Lit Review of “Chef Edna” by Melvina Noel | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
The author begins by informing readers that Edna Lewis (born in 1916) grew up on a farm in Freetown, in Orange County, Virginia - a community founded by her grandfather and other freed slaves. She loved cooking with her mother, Mama Daisy, and sharing homemade meals in large gatherings. She quickly learned how to bake…
Review of “My Murder: A Novel” by Katie Williams | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
For those who like books with clever twists and turns, this rather unique murder mystery will prove most entertaining. Taking place in the near future, it follows five women who were victims of a serial killer and whose cells were then cloned by a government “Replication Commission” from their dead bodies so they could live…
Kid Lit Review of “Hidden Hope: How a Toy and a Hero Saved Lives During the Holocaust” by Elisa Boxer | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
The book begins by setting the mood of fear and desperation experienced by Jews in Europe during World War II: “Hearts pounding, breath quickening, feet scrambling, Down into damp basements, up into old attics, crammed into dark closets. During the Second World War, the first priority for Jewish people was staying out of sight. Because…
Review of “When Among Crows” by Veronica Roth | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
This urban fantasy novella is set in modern-day Chicago, but is infused with Polish folklore and paranormal elements. There are three types of creatures haunting the streets of Chicago - the zmora (night creatures, connected to sleep disturbances), the strzyga (a vampire-like creature), and the llorona (or banshee) - that feed off of fear and…
Review of “The Education of Henry Adams: An Autobiography” by Henry Adams | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
Note: This review is by my husband Jim. The Education of Henry Adams is an autobiography by (you guessed it) Henry Adams (1838-1918), who was the great grandson of President John Adams, the grandson of John Quincy Adams, and the son of Charles Francis Adams, the American Ambassador to England during the American Civil War.…
Kid Lit Review of “Home” by Isabelle Simler | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
The author/illustrator begins by explaining she wanted to put herself in the place of animals that occupy homes so different from those of humans, yet fulfilling many of the same functions. She tells us: “To explore these unique places, I've had to bend, and shrink, and squeeze, and let myself be transformed in weird and …
Kid Lit Review of “This Book Will Make You an Artist” by Ruth Millington | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
This book draws upon the works of 25 of the world’s best-known artists, and for each one the author provides a little history, and a lot of explanation about how to employ their styles in creating a work of art. The suggestions are so imaginative and fun to do - parents and teachers will appreciate…
Review of “The Getaway List” by Emma Lord | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
As this story begins, Riley Larson is just graduating high school. Her BFF Tom no longer lives in the area, but he can watch the ceremony being live-streamed, so she does their secret handshake on the stage. We understand right away that Tom is still the most important person in Riley’s life, even though their…
Kid Lit Review of “How Do You Spell Unfair? MacNolia Cox and the National Spelling Bee” by Carole Boston Weatherford | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
In a Foreword, Weatherford relates that spelling bees have not always been open to Blacks in segregated areas in the US. In 1908, a 14-year-old Black girl from Ohio led her team to victory in a nationwide spelling bee, and whites were angry. Thereafter, Blacks were barred from many local spelling bees, even in the…
Kid Lit Review of “The Tree and the River” by Aaron Becker | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
Aaron Becker is known for his work on films like "The Polar Express," and you can see the influence of his cinematic background in his books. His newest is a time-lapse wordless story about the evolution of a civilization that arises and metamorphoses around an enduring tree alongside a river. The imagined cityscapes are wondrous:…
Kid Lit Review of “Dasher Can’t Wait for Christmas” by Matt Tavares | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
In Dasher Can’t Wait for Christmas, Matt Tavares continues the endearing story line he began with Dasher, telling kids about Santa’s Christmas deliveries from the perspectives of Santa’s reindeer. Dasher is the youngest of the reindeer helping Santa, and shares the same impatience and excitement for the holidays that many young children feel. As Tavares…
Kid Lit Review of “The Hanukkah Magic of Nate Gadol” by Arthur A. Levine | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
Hanukkah, also called the Festival of Lights, is a Jewish holiday that celebrates a miracle from the second century BCE. King Antiochus, ruler of Judea (in present-day Israel) forbade the people there from practicing Judaism. He tried to force the Jews to follow Greek beliefs and to assimilate into Greek culture. When they resisted, he…
Review of “System Collapse” by Martha Wells | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
I’m not sure you’d want to read this 7th book in the series without having read the previous installments, but then, why would you want to *miss* the previous books? The protagonist, who is part robot with organic parts, calls itself Murderbot, because of an incident now somewhat far in its past for which it…
Review of “Caesar’s Last Breath: Decoding the Secrets of the Air Around Us” by Sam Kean | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
Sam Kean is a writer of books that discuss scientific discoveries in a relatable and entertaining style. Four of his books, The Violinist’s Thumb, The Disappearing Spoon, The Tale of The Dueling Neurosurgeons, and this one: Caesar’s Last Breath, were all named as Amazon's top science book of the year. Caesar’s Last Breath tackles the…
Kid Lit Review of “Goddess: 50 Goddesses, Spirits, Saints, and Other Female Figures Who Have Shaped Belief” by Dr. Janina Ramire | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
Cultural historian Dr. Janina Ramirez has put together a collection of stories about female goddesses, spirits, saints, and other female figures who have shaped belief over millennia, and whose stories, she avers, deserve to be told. She adds that these women were not perfect, but were complex: sometimes peaceful, sometimes loving, and sometimes vengeful, but…
Review of “Babel: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution” by R. F. Kuang | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
There are so many ways we are separated from others: class, race, gender, gender orientation, and expanding the lens yet wider, culture, history, and language. The poet Adrienne Rich, in her book The Dream of a Common Language, expressed frustration in her efforts to overcome the barriers just between two people in an intimate relationship.…
Review of “Periodic Tales: A Cultural History of the Elements, from Arsenic to Zinc” by Hugh Aldersey-Williams | Rhapsody in Books Weblog
Each distinct atom (differentiated by the number of protons in their nuclei) makes up an element, one of the “elemental” aspects of life on earth. Elements create bonds to form molecules, which in turn combine to form all matter. Atoms, or elements, were organized into a “periodic table” by Russian chemist Dmitrii Mendeleev in 1869.…