fiction Archives

Raptor Red

“Survival is the only true measure of success.” Author: Robert T. Bakker Getting involved in the excitement of Jurassic Park: Rebirth reminded me of my undying love of all things dinosaurs, which started in my childhood when I saw the first Jurassic Park movie on a rainy night in a drive-in in Memphis. With equal parts nostalgia and continued obsession, I started to go through my library, looking at books that I’d bought with extreme excitement and just never gotten around to reading. I finally read and adored Footprints of Thunder and then, there it was, the discarded library book copy [...]

Frances Carden2025-12-01T11:57:08-07:00December 1st, 2025|Tags: book review, dinosaurs, fiction, raptor, read, reading, utah raptor, velociraptor|

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|

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|