Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood

Let me start out by saying that Margaret Atwood is one of my favorite authors. I really enjoyed The Blind Assassin and Alias Grace, and I would even go so far as to name The Handmaid’s Tale as one of my favorite books. That’s why I’m so disappointed in this one. Set in a post-apocalyptic [...]

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Mary Modern by Camille DeAngelis

 I just hate it when a book starts out so well and then ultimately disappoints.  Although I don’t consider myself a science fiction fan, I am attracted to time-travel themes (think Time Traveler’s Wife or The House on the Strand).  In this take on the theme, Lucy Morrigan, a young genetic researcher, successfully clones her grandmother, Mary, from genetic [...]

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Prisoner of Tehran: A Memoir by Marina Nemat

  Marina Nemat was born in Tehran, Iran and grew up enjoying school, friends and summers at her family’s cottage on the Caspian Sea.  That all changed in 1979 when the Shah of Iran was exiled and the Ayatollah Khomeini became the leader of Iran.   At the age of 16, fed up with an endless barrage of political propaganda, she [...]

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The Island by Victoria Hislop

On my nightstand at the moment is The Island by British novelist Victoria Hislop. Set in the years before WW2 on the island of Crete, it follows the lives and loves of the Petrakis family who live in the tiny village of Plaka. A stone’s throw away across the water is the island of Spinalonga, [...]

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