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The last thing he told me a novel7/8/2023 ![]() ![]() Despite her confusion and fear, Hannah Hall knows exactly to whom the note refers-Owen’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Bailey. ![]() ![]() If you’re looking for a fast-paced, twisty thriller that packs an emotional punch, this is the book for you.īefore Owen Michaels disappears, he smuggles a note to his beloved wife of one year: Protect her. This is a novel about lying husbands and fake identities, but it’s also a moving testimony to the power of chosen family. I loved watching their awkward rapport evolve into a genuine bond as Hannah goes to ever greater lengths to protect her stepdaughter from Owen’s dark past. Spousal betrayal is a common theme in thrillers, to say the least, but what makes this book stand out in a crowded field is the relationship between Hannah and Bailey. She’s been married to the guy a whole year, and she doesn’t even know his real name. When Hannah tries to track him down, she learns that “Owen Michaels” has never existed. Owen Michaels is about to be arrested for securities fraud when he vanishes, leaving his new wife Hannah in charge of his teenage daughter, Bailey. Sure enough, I devoured The Last Thing He Told Me, a gripping thriller about a newlywed who discovers her husband’s entire identity is a lie. Maybe it’s all the spy shows I’ve been watching in quarantine, maybe it’s my longtime fondness for scam stories, but hand me a book about someone who’s stolen a dead person’s social security number and I’ll blister through those pages like the FBI is chasing me. ![]()
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![]() In their ongoing ∺line & Bob comics, the two artists have rendered their innermost thoughts, fears, and fantasies alongside the day-to-day realities of family life in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, each in their own distinctive style. Both pioneers of underground and alternative comics, Kominsky-Crumb and Crumb have created a groundbreaking portrait of their shared lives and creative collaborations over the past four decades. ![]() Crumb in its 525 West 19th Street location. David Zwirner presents the gallerys first exhibition of the collaborative work of Aline Kominsky-Crumb and R. ![]()
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Novel the paris library7/8/2023 ![]() ![]() As Lily uncovers more about her neighbor’s mysterious past, she finds that they share a love of language, the same longings, and the same intense jealousy, never suspecting that a dark secret from the past connects them. Her interest is piqued by her solitary, elderly neighbor. Montana, 1983: Lily is a lonely teenager looking for adventure in small-town Montana. ![]() But when the war finally ends, instead of freedom, Odile tastes the bitter sting of unspeakable betrayal. ![]() Together with her fellow librarians, Odile joins the Resistance with the best weapons she has: books. When the Nazis march into the city, Odile stands to lose everything she holds dear, including her beloved library. Paris, 1939: Young and ambitious Odile Souchet seems to have the perfect life with her handsome police officer beau and a dream job at the American Library in Paris. An instant New York Times, Washington Post, and USA TODAY bestseller-based on the true story of the heroic librarians at the American Library in Paris during World War II- The Paris Library is a moving and unforgettable “ ode to the importance of libraries, books, and the human connections we find within both” (Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author). ![]()
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Graphic novel road to perdition7/7/2023 ![]() Sacrificing the potential depth that was expected of the first (which was sorely lacking in the themery department) On the Road to Perdition could have been better titled On the Road to Filler. As above, so below, and Max learned well at evil Jorge’s alter of lucre and lust. Like SOTE’s ultimate unimportance to the (original) Star Wars Trilogy, as (just another) an avenue to sell more shit, it’s existence was. Seemingly catching a whiff of Lucas’ Shadows of the Empire franchise (the most (only?) recent interquel (that I’m aware of) in pop culture) Collins’ caught and inhaled deeply of those vapors and crafted a tale that is unremarkable in it’s unabashed commerciality. ![]() Smack dab in the middle of Collins’ Tommy-Gun toting era opus is this interquel that tells its own tale, quite literally in the middle of things (in media res for all you Latin scholars out there). ![]() Contrary to what one might expect, On the Road to Perdition is neither a sequel, nor is it a prequel. So, it was quite natural to dig up yet another offering in the series. ![]() In spite of all it’s flaws and underwhelming lack of complexity, I did generally find Road to Perdition to be a worthy read. ![]()
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Hide and Seek by Jack Ketchum7/7/2023 ![]() ![]() A novella to take your time with and not race through, but highly recommended. Ketchum’s approach only made the horror elements of this novel that much more shocking, which led to some great and/or tragic discoveries. But it’s also through their wounds that they become real.įor me, this was a story I didn’t want to end simply because I felt I knew these characters, and I could have spent more time with them. ![]() Often it’s through a character’s actions and/or reactions that we get to know them. This doesn’t mean I need lengthy back stories or - even worse - flashbacks quite the contrary. One of my biggest gripes with a lot of books / films in the horror genre is that I don’t care enough about the characters before the blood starts flying. Ketchum takes his time in this one, allowing the characters to drive the narrative rather than the other way around, and it works magnificently. ![]() ![]() This isn’t “Saw,” it’s not a haunted house tale (though you could make arguments that it incorporates some of the tropes of the genre), but I found it both moving and brilliant. I feel expectations play a big role in whether we enjoy a book, and the blurb for this one is quite deceiving … The “game” itself is only the last fourth of the novel. A lot of people passionate about either loving or hating this one, I clearly fall into the camp of the former. ![]()
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Nightflyers goodreads7/7/2023 ![]() Stephen King once wrote a book about a mysterious traveler who flew a private plane and killed his victims-he was known as the Nightflyer, don't know if that was a factor in the naming of this tale. On a side note- I thought it rather interesting that the ship is called the Nightflyer. Jhril tries to work with the Captain to solve the mystery of the killings and what exactly is going on with the Nightflyer. The main heroine of this tale is Melantha Jhril, a human born on Prometheus- she is an "improved" version of humanity- faster, stronger and highly intelligent. The Nightflyer seems to be haunted.įrom the mysterious Captain Royd-who never appears in person and only via hologram to the odd things that seem to be happening on the Nightflyer, to finally when, one by one, the crew members are being killed off. ![]() A team of human scientists charter the space ship- Nightflyer to take them on a rendezvous with the Volcryn. ![]() Nightflyers continues this excellent trend.Ī mysterious phenomena is traveling through space. ![]() My only previous experience with his sci-fi stories were the Tuf Voyaging series and the Wild Cards stories. Martin is best known for his fantasy tales- but his sci-fi tales are also quite excellent. ![]()
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The Storm Crow by Kalyn Josephson7/6/2023 ![]() So instead of haters-to-lovers, we’ve got haters-to-friends, and that was a surprising subversion of expectations. ⚠️ SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD ⚠️ But the thing that was refreshing here was how the heroine did not, in fact, end up falling in love with her betrothed.
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![]() ![]() Is she pretending to disdain him now, or has he truly lost his chance at a lady who is turning out to be far more lovely and interesting than he ever imagined? But the more determined she seems to be to prove that she has no need to fawn after a Scottish, kilt-wearing rogue who couldn't even be bothered to write her a single letter while she was away, the more interested he is in Winnie. ![]() Lach doesn't quite know what to make of this witty, sophisticated beauty who now has better things to do than follow him to a fishing pond. She's smothered her Scottish brogue, become an arbiter of the latest Paris and London fashions, and is in the company of several handsome young English aristocrats all vying for her favors. When she returns three months later to prepare for her oldest brother's lavish Highlands wedding, Rowena is a changed woman. But then Winnie runs off to London, determined to forget Lachlan in the swirl of her debutante Season. ![]() After years of having Rowena MacLawry, the youngest sister of his closest friend, tagging after him, all Lachlan MacTier wants to do is escape. ![]()
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![]() ![]() Upon he parents announcing their divorce to her, Bea received a green notebook and a green pen from them (her favourite colour). ![]() My parents divorced when I was four, I’ve been in Bea’s shoes before. After the divorce, young Bea has to bounce from one parent’s home to the next, alternating each day. ![]() Bea parents are divorce because they love each other differently. What is a list of things that will not change in our ever-changing lives? In “The List of Things that will not Change”, we follow Beatrice or Bea as she is to her friends and family in this short story of growth, family, mental health and love. Even though she’s never met Jesse’s daughter, Sonia, Bea is sure that they’ll be “just like sisters anywhere.”Īs the wedding day approaches, Bea will learn that making a new family brings questions, surprises, and joy. Bea loves Jesse, and when he and Dad get married, she’ll finally (finally!) have what she’s always wanted–a sister. When Dad tells Bea that he and his boyfriend, Jesse, are getting married, Bea is thrilled. The first and most important: Mom and Dad will always love Bea, and each other. ![]() But she can always look back at the list she keeps in her green notebook to remember the things that will stay the same. After her parents’ divorce, Bea’s life became different in many ways. ![]()
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![]() Lee, her mother, and her brother are safe in South Korea, but her extended family remains in North Korea. ![]() After she returns from this ordeal, she enrolls in Hankuk University of Foreign Studies and further improves her status. Lee escorts her mother and brother across hostile China and arranges their safe passage to South Korea after they were arrested at the Laotian border. By the time Lee returns to China to help her mother and brother defect, she’s a certified tax accountant. Most North Koreans in South Korea are relegated to menial work, but Lee is too strong to resign herself to that. She flees an arranged marriage and a sex trafficker, escapes a police deportation interrogation, survives a brutal assault, is taken hostage by a Chinese gang, and on multiple occasions loses all her possessions and savings, while simultaneously becoming increasingly educated and upwardly-mobile in a system foreign to her, and in which she is ill-equipped to survive.Īfter several years in China, Lee arrives in South Korea and claims asylum. ![]() ![]() Now an illegal immigrant in China-one of the only countries that returns fugitive North Koreans to their homeland, to be punished in gulags-Lee relies on her resourcefulness, intelligence, and strength to survive. ![]() |