Referred Pain and Other Stories (Lynne Sharon Schwartz)
3 out of 5 stars Cut to the Chase: Referred Pain introduces us to an eclectic group of protagonists and situations; some are surreal and fable-like. “Twisted Tales” and “The Stone Master” have unnamed...
View ArticleNoah’s Wife (TK Thorne)
5 out of 5 stars Cut to the Chase: This book is a wonderfully plotted, concisely written, enthralling blend of adventure, romance, fantasy and (lots-of-creative-license-taken) history. It begins a bit...
View ArticleThe Casual Vacancy (JK Rowling)
5 out of 5 stars Cut to the Chase: As others have pointed out, this is not Rowling’s first book for adults (she’s written seven others previously, and their titles all begin with Harry Potter and...
View ArticleWillful Creatures (Aimee Bender)
3 out of 5 stars Cut to the Chase: Bender’s writing is heavily stylized, and her situations make up a large part of the story’s effect – often they are metaphors for some more overriding emotion or...
View ArticleThe Yellow Birds (Kevin Powers)
3 out of 5 stars Cut to the Chase: The Yellow Birds is the debut novel of Kevin Powers, a veteran of the Iraq War with an MFA in Poetry. The book enjoyed billing this past season as the first great...
View ArticleYou Are Not a Stranger Here (Adam Haslett)
5 out of 5 stars Cut to the Chase: This is a beautifully written collection of short stories that explore mental illness, death, depression, homosexuality, and how we experience our own pain, as well...
View ArticleThe Piano Teacher (Elfriede Jelinek)
4 out of 5 stars Cut to the Chase: In 2004, the controversial Austrian author Elfriede Jelinek won the Nobel Prize for Literature for her novels and plays addressing violence against women, sexuality,...
View ArticleEmpire Falls (Richard Russo)
5 out of 5 stars Cut to the Chase: This is one of my favorite books — frighteningly believable characters who are flawed, layered, and so easy to relate to. These are characters who are middle aged...
View ArticleDifferent Seasons (Stephen King)
5 out of 5 stars Cut to the Chase: This is a collection of four different novellas, and I don’t think that they all deserve 5 out of 5 star ratings, but I think that the first, Hope Springs Eternal,...
View ArticleThe Sun Also Rises (Ernest Hemingway)
3.5 out of 5 stars Cut to the Chase: If you haven’t read this perennial Hemingway before, and are wondering if you should… well… I’m not sure what to tell you. I recently had an excuse to reread it,...
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