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Peter Hessler's account of his 2-year stint with the Peace Corps in Fulong, a city of 200,000 in Sichuan China is a gem. Thanks to him, we catch a glimpse of a China rarely studied. Far from the coast, near the 3-Gorge Dam, Fulong seldom sees a waiguoren, a foreigner. Hessler is as curious of the Chinese as...

Carol Anshaw's novel Carry the One explores the ramifications of a tragic car accident on the lives of the friends who experience it.  She shows how tangled their experiences become because of this event--but she also shows how it leaves many of the characters floundering, unsure, and moored or alone, which lends a...

I debated about how to rate this book, but decided it was worth 2 stars.

The entire book was almost lyrical in the writing, but at times I found it distracting and almost "too flowery". The author was so descriptive of the environment and buildings that I could visualize the settings. For this alone I gave...

Goldstone stunningly pairs two women unlikely to ever meet in the same period or at court: Joan of Arc, the simple farm girl from Domremy and Yolande of Aragon, Charles VII's mother-in-law. The first woman is as iconic as the second is unknown to the general public and yet their collaboration may well have...

Writing a novel that touches on any aspect of the Romanovs' story must be a daunting challenge for an author.  Nicholas and Alexandra and Anastasia offer such entrancing glimpses into a lost world.  With ornate settings, tragedy of such unfathomable intensity, and real characters more...