read Archives

Little Fires Everywhere

Mothers' Lies Author: Celeste Ng Everyone lies. Sometimes, the lies burn everything down. In the quite suburb of Shaker Heights, a place of copycat houses, strict rules, and well off families looking for regulated lives, class warfare is about to explode. The Richardson’s are your typical, well-off suburban family. The mom is a semi-successful reporter who is comfortable, even if she is certainly not living the rebellious dreams of her youth. The dad is a doctor. The teenage kids are all normal – well, except boot wearing, convention defying, semi-crazy Izzy that is. But, every family has to have a black [...]

Frances Carden2022-12-24T13:59:32-07:00December 24th, 2022|Tags: bestseller, book review, class, fiction, motherhood, read, reading, social issues|

Barchester Towers

Drawing Room Drama and Religious Reactions Author: Anthony Trollope In Trollope’s second installment in The Chronicles of Barsetshire, the little town of Barsetshire is alive with drawing room intrigue, this time set along the lines of respectable holy war. The long-lived Bishop of Barchester has recently vacated his post and this life, resulting in a scramble for primacy among the backstabbing candidates. This results in a brand-new bishop, the lamentable (and viciously hen-pecked) Dr. Proudie, who is disgustingly low church and comes with his sidekick and supporter, the Reverend Slope. As Slope fights Mrs. Proudie for the right to rule the [...]

Frances Carden2022-12-20T08:42:00-07:00December 12th, 2022|Tags: book review, Chronicles of Barsetshire, classic, read, reading, reviews, trollope|

Father’s Story, A

A Look at Jeffery Dahmer, Told By His Father Author: Lionel Dahmer Like almost everyone else, I recently became addicted to Netflix’s Dahmer series, binge-watching it, open mouthed, within a few days. Jeffery Dahmer is one of the most well-known and gruesome serial killers of our time, famous for the brutality of his murders and his grisly apartment, stocked with dead men, body parts, and partially eaten corpses. What, exactly, makes a person kill and eat someone else? Was it insanity or evil? Were Dahmer’s actions a result of nature or nurture? The Netflix series, wisely, does not attempt an answer, [...]

Frances Carden2022-12-11T22:13:40-07:00December 11th, 2022|Tags: book review, dahmer, jeffery dahmer, read, reading, true crime|