Three Summers by Margarita Liberaki | Book Review
Three Summers (originally The Straw Hats) by Margarita Liberaki, Translation by Karen Van Dyck Original Publication Date: Originally published in Greece in 1946 as The Straw Hats Genres: Fiction, Greek Literature Source: I purchased this book Goodreads Three Summers is the story of three sisters growing up in the countryside near Athens before the Second World War. Living in a big old house surrounded by a beautiful garden are Maria, the oldest sister, as sexually bold as she is eager to settle down and have a family of her own; beautiful but distant Infanta; and dreamy and rebellious Katerina, through whose eyes the story is mostly observed. Karen Van Dyck’s…
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson | Book Review
The Summer Book by Tove Jansson Original Publication Date: 1972 Genres: Fiction, Scandinavian Literature Source: I purchased this book Goodreads In The Summer Book, Tove Jansson distills the essence of the summer—its sunlight and storms—into twenty-two crystalline vignettes. This brief novel tells the story of Sophia, a six-year-old girl awakening to existence, and Sophia’s grandmother, nearing the end of hers, as they spend the summer on a tiny unspoiled island in the Gulf of Finland. The grandmother is unsentimental and wise if a little cranky; Sophia is impetuous and volatile, but she tends to her grandmother with the care of a new parent. In The Summer Book, Jansson creates her own complete world,…
How the Good Guys Finally Won: Notes From An Impeachment Summer by Jimmy Breslin | Book Review
How the Good Guys Finally Won: Notes from an Impeachment Summer by Jimmy Breslin Original Publication Date: 1975 Genres: History, Non-Fiction Source: I purchased this book Goodreads How The Good Guys Finally Won: Not long after burglars were caught raiding the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Hotel, Congressman Tip O’Neill noticed that Democratic fundraising efforts for the 1972 election had stalled. Major contributors were under IRS investigation, and Republican lackeys were threatening further trouble if those donors didn’t close their checkbooks. O’Neill sensed a conspiracy coming from the Nixon administration, but it wasn’t until the scandal broke that he connected the threatened donors with the Watergate burglary. But…
The Greengage Summer by Rumer Godden | Book Review
The Greengage Summer by Rumer Godden Original Publication Date: 1958 Genres: British Literature, Fiction Source: I purchased this book Goodreads Rumer Godden’s wonderfully evocative novel The Greengage Summer is set in the champagne country of France during that “hot French August” sometime during the 1920s. Mrs. Grey brings her five young children to a hotel in the French countryside for the summer. But when she is struck down by a sudden illness and hospitalized, the siblings are left to fend for themselves. They soon meet a charming Englishman, Eliot. Eliot’s interest becomes more and more focused on the eldest of the Grey children, sixteen-year-old daughter Joss. Summer in France The…
Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart | Book Review
Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart Original Publication Date: 2007 Genres: Memoir, Non-Fiction Source: I purchased this book Goodreads Summer at Tiffany by Marjorie Hart is the true story of two best friends experiencing the time of their lives in New York City during the summer of 1945. The Cleveland Plain Dealer raves, “Hart writes about that stylish summer with verve, recollecting with a touching purity a magical summer in Manhattan, seen through the eyes of two 21-year-olds, just as the end of World War II approached.” Marjorie and her best friend Marty are about to have the best summer of their lives. A Summer at Tiffany Do you remember…
