“Lala Pettibone’s Act Two” by Heidi Mastrogiovanni

Lala Pettibone’s Act Two Lala Pettibone is a forty-something widow whose life is not on a good track right now. Forced to leave her beloved Manhattan and move back to Southern CA (oh, the horror!) when she loses her job following a cell-phone-related indiscretion, Lala and her menagerie of senior pets struggle with health problems, […]

“Suite Francaise” by Irene Nemirovsky

Suite Française “Suite Francaise” is an astounding book, but even more astounding is the story behind its composition. Born in 1903 to a well-to-do Jewish family in Kiev, then part of Russia, Irene Nemirovsky, the author, was forced to flee in 1917 first to Finland, and then finally to France, where, still in her 20s, […]

“I Am a Chechen!” by German Sadulaev

I Am a Chechen! In “I am a Chechen!” German Sadulaev pulls together a set of stories, based heavily on his own biographical experiences, about the Chechen conflicts. Fragmentary, lyrical, in turns desperate and magical, and often non-linear, this collection follows in the tradition of Russian writers such as Lermontov and Babel, taking bare biography […]

“Patchers of the Code” by CB Archer

Patchers of the Code (The Anders’ Quest Series Book 3) At last! The hotly anticipated (by me, at least) final book to the “Annals of Gentalia” series, “Patchers of the Code,” is finally here! Lovers of comic fantasy and very bizarre erotica, rejoice! If you haven’t read the first two installments in the series, then […]

“Monumental Propaganda” by Vladimir Voinovich

Monumental Propaganda Aglaya (“The Shining One”) Revkina (“The Zealous One”) may have never had an orgasm, but she does know what love is. All the passion her skinny body is capable of has been dedicated her entire life to Comrade Stalin. It’s unfortunate that the rest of the world is incapable of matching her ardor. […]

“Lilyth” by Tiyana Angel

Lilyth – Book 1 (The Shadow Spirits Paradox) Lilyth has lost her mother and is being raised by her grandparents, but she is haunted by dreams of the flood that took her mother away. Her village is now dwindling, and the men that are left are being drafted to fight a shadow that is menacing […]

“A Random Walk Down Wall Street” by Burton G. Malkiel

A Random Walk down Wall Street: The Time-tested Strategy for Successful Investing Do you want to get rich quickly? Then this is not the book for you! But if you really do want to get rich, albeit slowly, then this book has plenty of useful information. In “A Random Walk Down Wall Street,” Burton Malkiel […]

“Horse and Writer: The Definitive Guide to Accurately Depicting Horsemanship in Your Novel or Story,” by Victoria Rouch

Horse & Writer: The Definitive Guide to Accurately Depicting Horsemanship in Your Novel or Story Who hasn’t shaken their head in amused scorn at the silly mistakes in our own areas of expertise that so often creep into books and movies? Whether it’s an inedible apple pie recipe, a mechanic who can’t drive stick, or […]

“One Soldier’s War” by Arkady Babchenko

“It’s very frightening,” Babchenko tells us, “that the war is in color.” Not black-and-white, like the heroic WWII movies he and his fellow soldiers had grown up on, but in the brilliant colors of the beautiful Caucasus mountains, where not one but two appallingly brutal wars have been fought in the past two decades. In […]

“Zinky Boys” by Svetlana Alexievich

In “Zinky Boys,” Alexievich weaves together interviews with those who have been affected by the Soviet war in Afghanistan–soldiers, yes, but also doctors and nurses, civilian contractors, and, most tragically of all, the mothers and widows left behind–to create a document that is heartbreaking, harrowing, and utterly damning. Those who ended up in Afghanistan did […]

E. P. Clark: Author, Book Reviewer, and All-Around Literary Handiwoman

Book review