Purity by Jonathan Franzen

Jonathan Franzen. JFranz. The Fran-Fran Man. Some people love to hate him. Others hate to love him. After reading his latest, Purity, I’m in the hate to love him camp. At worst his misogynistic, at best simply sexist, but his prose – the way he can string a sentence together – is bliss.

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The Hotel on Place Vendome by Tilar J Mazzeo

I was going to Paris and wanted to read something set there to get me in the mood, so what better book than The Hotel on Place Vendome? The hotel being referred to is, of course, The Ritz and the book focuses primarily on The Ritz during the German occupation of Paris in World War II.

The Blue Hour by Douglas Kennedy

I have really mixed feelings about The Blue Hour by Douglas Kennedy. Like, really mixed. It’s a kind of schizophrenic book for me, and perhaps for the publishers as well, as it is published in the UK as The Heat of Betrayal. And for the record, given the cover and title of the UK edition, i don’t think I ever would have picked it up.

Shakespeare and Company

I wasn’t going to post from Paris, but then this happened

Private Citizens by Tony Tulathimutte

I can tell you right now that Private Citizens by Tony Tulathimutte is going to be on my Best of 2016 list. I loved it. Tulathimutte could have so easily taken a great idea and made several missteps, but he doesn’t. The tone is perfect. The language is spot on. It’s brilliant.

The Photographer’s Wife by Suzanne Joinson

Suzanne Joinson first came onto my radar with A Lady Cyclist’s Guide to Kashgar, a book I’ve been meaning to read but haven’t gotten around to yet. So when The Photographer’s Wife, Joinson’s latest novel came across my desk, I couldn’t pass it up. Set in 1920s Jerusalem and filled with political intrigue, I knew I’d love it from the start.