book review Archives

The Last Chronicle of Barset

“Money is worth thinking of, but it is not worth very much thought.” Author: Anthony Trollope In The Last Chronicle of Barset Anthony Trollope brings the Barsetshire Chronicles to a close with a stimulating scandal, an unexpected death, a forbidden romance, and a failed romance. What better way to close out a rousing Victorian drama? This time, Barsetshire is consumed with the case of a supposedly stolen check. The proud but impoverished Reverend Josiah Crawley has cashed a note for 20 pounds to pay his butcher bill. He believes this money was given to him by his friend, Dean Arabin, but [...]

Frances Carden2025-11-26T16:16:01-07:00November 26th, 2025|Tags: Anthony Trollope, Barset, Barsetshire, book review, classic, drama, fiction, read, reading, victorian|

Ghost Camera

“That’s what we always fear the most: the things we can’t see, and the things we don’t yet understand.” Author: Darcy Coates I’m a novel girly, so usually I don’t find myself attracted to short story collections, even those by a favorite author. I came to Ghost Camera more through false advertising than anything else. It’s not clear that Ghost Camera is a novella followed by seven other short stories and one other novella. Normally, I’d be mad, but I actually loved this collection and all of the stories. The signature tale from which the collection derives its name concerns two [...]

Frances Carden2025-11-24T19:05:07-07:00November 24th, 2025|Tags: book review, Darcy Coates, ghosts, horror, read, reading, Short Stories|

One Beautiful Year of Normal

“We do not remember days; we remember moments.” – Pavese Author: Sandra K. Griffith August Caine is an escape artist. Her mother’s silent, steady paranoia, her insistence that August’s father’s killer was after them, kept them moving from place to place, living as ghosts with no connection, no normalcy, and nothing but fear and secrecy. Now, as an adult residing in Paris under a fake name, caring for her mother at an institution, August reflects on the only normal year of her life, the year when she stayed with her Aunt Helen. When there was love. When there were voices, and [...]

Frances Carden2025-11-24T15:50:28-07:00November 24th, 2025|Tags: book review, fiction, One Beautiful Year of Normal, read, reading, reviews|