Category: From My Bookshelf – Lynn Willoughby

  • From My Bookshelf: Sarah Dunant

    From My Bookshelf: Sarah Dunant

    By Lynn Willoughby Transgressions ~ Sarah Dunant I have read other novels by by this author that I enjoyed more. Nevertheless, this is a riveting, scary tale until you turn the very last page. Elizabeth’s story, as well as the story of Jake and Mirka, which she is translating from Czechoslovakian, run parallel and are equally…

  • From My Bookshelf: Anna Solomon

    From My Bookshelf: Anna Solomon

    By Lynn Willoughby Leaving Lucy Pear ~ Anna Solomon In 1917 Beatrice Haven leaves her newborn baby at the foot of a pear tree on her uncle’s property in Cape Ann, Massachusetts.  This sets off a chain of events involving a very diverse group of characters on a collision course. Beatrice is the unwed daughter…

  • From My Bookshelf: Isabel Allende

    From My Bookshelf: Isabel Allende

    By Lynn Willoughby The Japanese Lover ~ Isabel Allende When Alma’s parents understand the danger looming in Poland in 1939, they send the twelve year old to live with her aunt in San Francisco.  The food, the mansion, the clothes, the servants – all are new and overwhelming for Alma.  Her only friend is the…

  • From My Bookshelf: Sara Baume

    From My Bookshelf: Sara Baume

    By Lynn Willoughby spill simmer falter whither ~ Sara Baume This is a debut novel that is unsettling to say the least.  The writing is beautiful and imaginative, the subject is funny and sad and horrifying. Ray, the narrator, lives in a small coastal village in Ireland.  He has never been out of his village…

  • From My Bookshelf: Kristine Barnett

    From My Bookshelf: Kristine Barnett

    By Lynn Willoughby The Spark: A Mother’s Story of Nurturing ~ Kristine Barnett What an incredible true story of a mother’s love and commitment to her autistic on who was almost lost to the family. When Jake was diagnosed at about age two – he was already reading, but his parents were told he would…

  • From My Bookshelf: Margot Lee Shetterly

    From My Bookshelf: Margot Lee Shetterly

    By Lynn Willoughby Hidden Figures ~ Margot Lee Shetterly “Before John Glenn orbited the earth or Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, a group of dedicated female mathematicians known as “human computers” used pencils, slide rulers and adding machines to calculate the numbers that would launch rockets and astronauts into space.” So – why didn’t…

  • From My Bookshelf: Paulette Jiles

    From My Bookshelf: Paulette Jiles

    By Lynn Willoughby News of the World ~ Paulette Jiles I found this book interesting on many levels. It takes place some time after the civil war in the US and the main character is Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd. He makes a living by travelling a circuit reading the news of the the world at…

  • From My Bookshelf: Rick Bass

    From My Bookshelf: Rick Bass

    By Lynn Willoughby For a Little While ~ Rick Bass “Bass hasn’t been writing just to save our wild places, but to save what’s wild and humane and the best withing us.” Smith Henderson, New York Times This is a selection of short stories from a well known environmentalist.  He is a master at showing…

  • From My Bookshelf: Yuval Noah Harari

    From My Bookshelf: Yuval Noah Harari

    By Lynn Willoughby Sapiens ~ Yuval Noah Harari A friend loaned me this book of non-fiction and I had to tackle it after Christmas. The sub-title is “A Brief History of Humankind” so it seemed fairly daunting.  However turns out it is very readable. I especially liked the author’s breakdown and timeline – beginning with…

  • From My Bookshelf: Gregory David Roberts

    From My Bookshelf: Gregory David Roberts

    By Lynn Willoughby Shantaram ~ Gregory David Roberts I have been on a streak of reading so-so novels, but then a friend recommended this one. And what a book it is!! I hardly know where to start as there seemed to me to be three stories here with Lin as the protagonist in all of…

  • From My Bookshelf: Steven Price

    From My Bookshelf: Steven Price

    By Lynn Willoughby By Gaslight – Steven Price Historical fiction is my favourite genre. This novel has lots of both – lots of history and too much fiction. With that said, Price’s descriptions of the muck and filth in 1800s London, actually made me feel grimy. This is the story of William Pinkerton, son of…

  • From My Bookshelf – Jane Johnson

    From My Bookshelf – Jane Johnson

    By Lynn Willoughby Pillars of Light – Jane Johnson This novel is the story of Richard the Lionheart and his drive to untie the leader’s of the “Latin Kingdom”. He plans to take back the city of Akka from the infidel Muslims and it all hits very close to home. It begins in 1189. The…

  • From My Bookshelf: Gail Anderson-Dargatz

    From My Bookshelf: Gail Anderson-Dargatz

    By Lynn Willoughby The Spawning Grounds ~ Gail Anderson-Dargatz I really liked this author’s early books but the last two have turned into environmental issues; Indigenous peoples struggles are thrown in as well. This novel takes place in south-central BC in the Thompson-Shushwap region. It seems very formulaic to say it is a book about…

  • From My Bookshelf: Ann Wentz Garvin

    From My Bookshelf: Ann Wentz Garvin

    By Lynn Willoughby The Dog Year ~ Ann Wentz Garvin After finishing this book it has taken me a couple of days to write a review. I find I don’t remember much about it at all. That should give you a clue as to what my comments will be. Other reviewers have treated it more…

  • From My Bookshelf: Ralph Heffer

    From My Bookshelf: Ralph Heffer

    By Lynn Willoughby Modoc: The True Story of the Greatest Elephant That Ever Lived ~ Ralph Heffer This is one amazing true animal story. It begins in a small German circus town where a boy and an elephant are born the same day. The boy’s father is in charge of the elephants for a circus…