Monthly Archives: February 2013

Alexandra Fuller, “Cocktail Hour under the Tree of Forgetfulness”

Posted on February 26, 2013 by carolwallace

After the brilliance of the title Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight for Alexandra Fuller’s earlier memoir, you might find Cocktail Hour under the Tree of Forgetfulness  a little clunky. In the same way, I began Cocktail Hour… with some skepticism. Was … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, memoir | Leave a comment

Norman Rush, “Mating”

Posted on February 25, 2013 by carolwallace

Well, this was ambitious. A friend, hearing that I was headed to Africa, suggested Norman Rush’s Mating with the caveat, “It’s not everybody’s cup of tea.” I was completely won over by the narrative voice and the premise, though. It’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, contemporary fiction | Tagged | Leave a comment

Deborah Crombie, “The Sound of Breaking Glass”

Posted on February 24, 2013 by carolwallace

There are few things I love more than abandoning myself to fully satisfying escape reading. It’s pretty harmless — relatively cheap, no calories involved, I respect myself in the morning — yet carries a tinge of the illicit. Is there … Continue reading →

Posted in anglophilia, mystery | Leave a comment

Helen MacInnes, “Assignment in Brittany”

Posted on February 16, 2013 by carolwallace

Oh, so retro! These Helen MacInnes thrillers were everywhere when I was a teenager — she might even be comparable to the Lee Child of the era, which says a lot about cultural changes in the last 50 years. I … Continue reading →

Posted in historical fiction, thriller | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Beryl Markham, “West with the Night”

Posted on February 14, 2013 by carolwallace

How you read affects what you read. So the fact that I began West with the Night in bed in a tent in Kenya both gave it great relevance, and made my reading distracted and scattered. Because of course you … Continue reading →

Posted in classic, memoir | 4 Comments