A mother lets her 8-year-old girl walk three blocks home from school by herself. A neighbour sees, calls the police and she taken away to the School for Good Mothers. If, after 12 months of correctional training, she hasn’t met the state’s standards of what makes a good mother, she will lose her parenting rights […]
Category Archives: Grab it Now
September
26
The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell
posted by Ms A
I feel like I’ve just spent the last 10 days wrapped in a priceless Italian tapestry. A heavy but lavish carpet of Dukes, Duchesses, frescos and treachery. Set in Italy the mid 1500’s, the story is based on Robert Browning’s poem about the short life and marriage of the 16-year-old Duchess of Ferrara. Married […]
July
04
Horse by Geraldine Brooks
posted by Ms A
Geraldine Brooks’ first novel, Year of Wonders, remains one of my favourite books of all time. She has written plenty of other rippers too, including March and People of The Book. Horse is her latest, and I’ve just finished it at warp speed with the smile of a happy reader on my face from beginning […]
March
05
The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller
posted by Ms A
No one else is awake when Elle goes for a swim in the pond below her family’s holiday cabin in Cape Cod. As she swims, she reflects on the night before, when she had hot sex with her childhood crush against the back wall, while her husband, mother and children chatted away inside. A pretty […]
August
12
Redhead By The Side of The Road by Anne Tyler
posted by Ms K
Sometimes size does matter Readheads. This gem of a book is only 178 pages but it packs a punch. Anne Tyler is the master of minutiae and writes about the most mundane, repetitive aspects of our lives and drizzles them in honey and sunshine. Redhead By the Side of The Road doesn’t disappoint. It delivers […]
August
11
Nothing But Blue Sky by Kathleen MacMahon
posted by Ms K
I try to resist new books wallpapered with glowing reviews written by people I’ve never heard of. I’ve been burnt badly by this promotional hi-jinx so I judge these review-laden titles with skeptical side-eyes and immediately get a whiff of impending disappointment and regret. Not this time. I am happy (and damn relieved) to report […]
August
08
Hidden Valley Road: Inside the Mind of an American Family by Robert Kolker
posted by Ms A
Another day, another must-read for Readheads. This one is the true story of a family of twelve children, six of whom develop schizophrenia. Yep. True Story. Written by US Author Robert Kolker (think Lost Girls in 2013) and published in 2020, Hidden Valley Road was listed by the New York Times Book Review as one […]
August
06
Animal by Lisa Taddeo
posted by Ms K
When I finished reading Animal I felt like I had been mauled by a dog. Not that I have ever been mauled by a dog mind you, so don’t know for sure, but I imagine you feel pretty shaken, raw, roughed up. Not quite yourself. Bits of you hanging off. That was me. If you […]
July
02
The Hour of the Witch by Chris Bohjalian
posted by Ms A
There are many ways to break a reading drought. It could be a week of woolly weather, a break from work or a raging pandemic with government enforced lockdowns. Or it could just be the timeless allure of a great book. Like a hot bag of Uber Eats at the end of a long week, […]
January
26
The Lying Life of Adults by Elena Ferrante
posted by Ms K
Ok, 2020 was a year of complete you-can’t-make-this-sh*t-up crazy, but for me – truth be told – it wasn’t that bad. Actually it was pretty nice. There was alot to be happy about and then, ta da, I scored a cherry on the cake moment because I beat Ms A to this beauty so hoorah […]
