I recently gave a lesson to the youth in my church and to get their attention, I asked them if they liked a good mystery. I showed them a slide with some of my favorite mystery novels. However, when I created this slide, I realized that I haven't read many mysteries lately. I voraciously read... Continue Reading →
A Circle of Wives (2014) by Alice LaPlante has two critiques from me: 1) it is more of a murder mystery than it is a book about the marriage relationship, and 2) it is more about the husband than it is about the wive(s). This novel is this month’s pick for the Literary Wives Series.... Continue Reading →
I just finished reading The Girl on the Train (2015) by Paula Hawkins, and I have to say that I enjoyed the read. It wasn’t the best written book I’ve ever read, nor was it high literature, but it was fun, and just what I needed to take my mind off of dissertation writing and... Continue Reading →
In Mette Ivie Harrison’s The Bishop’s Wife (2014), Linda Wallheim is the wife in question. She’s the wife of a Mormon (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or LDS) bishop, and works to help him in his unpaid work as clergy for their church. She often calms down members of their ward (parish)... Continue Reading →
Possession (1990), number 80 on the BBC book list, by A. S. Byatt is a literary thriller about academics. White it has been highly acclaimed and even has status as a bestseller, I wondered if everybody could truly like or enjoy this book, or if only bibliophiles, English majors, and academics would be drawn to... Continue Reading →
I got a slow start on The Wife, The Maid, and The Mistress (2014) by Ariel Lawhon, which kept me from fully getting into the book until I had time to really sit down with it. I tried to read it a few minutes at a time before bed, but I was too tired and... Continue Reading →
I refused to read The Da Vinci Code (2003) by Dan Brown and number 42 on the BBC book list for a long time. It was a bestseller and everybody was talking about it. Some annoying celebrity on Oprah, when shown at her posh home lounging on a snow-white couch and reading a book, had... Continue Reading →
When I picked up a copy of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca (1938), number 15 on the BBC Book List, I couldn’t help but think, “Is this a romance novel?” You know, one of those with a picture of Fabio on the cover caressing a voluptuous woman? The paperback copy I have (pictured below) has some... Continue Reading →
The Bookshelf of Emily J. 