Blog Category: Book Sketches
Posted by JGranatino on Mon, Jul 30
Baby Teeth updates the "evil child" trope of Rosemary's Baby, The Omen, and The Bad Seed with a truly frightening story of a seven-year-old girl who has all the hallmarks of a future serial killer. Hanna is an intentionally mute girl whose refusal to talk comes not from any physical or psychological disability, but from her feeling that most people are too stupid to bother talking to. The novel alternates from chapters told in Hanna's cool, calculating point of view as she develops her plan to...
Posted by JGranatino on Mon, Jul 09
Kim Brooks left her four-year-old son alone in the car in a Target parking lot for five minutes, and you probably think she’s a bad parent. You’re not alone. When she first wrote about her experience (and the two-year legal ordeal that followed) for Salon.com a few years ago, she received an onslaught of public comments from internet users eager to tear her apart for being a horrible mother. Her response, Small Animals: Parenthood in the Age of Fear, is a thought-provoking...
Posted by JGranatino on Mon, Jun 25
Leanne was a freshman when she narrowly survived the Virgil County High School Massacre, a school shooting that claimed nine lives. Now, as a senior, she’s determined to set the record straight about what happened that afternoon, and why what many people believe about the victims and the survivors is a combination of lies and rumors. In this YA novel, Kody Keplinger shares just how little control victims of catastrophic events have over their stories once they become part of the public eye. She...
Posted by JGranatino on Mon, Jun 25
An avid bird feeder himself, Jones explores the long history of wild bird feeding and the many controversies surrounding it. Does it hamper birds’ ability to forage for food themselves, spread avian diseases, attract predators or encourage pests? Should birds only be fed in the winter time or year round? Are the commonly used seeds appropriate for nestlings? Is the quality of the seed mix good and free of toxins? How does feeding affect various bird populations and does it encourage more...
Posted by JGranatino on Mon, Jun 18
Maggie is married to a widower, Dr. Noah Alderman, and lives with him and his young son Caleb in a comfortable suburb in outside Philadelphia. One day she receives a call from Anna, the daughter she had in her first marriage, having lost custody to her now ex-husband after Maggie was institutionalized for post-partum psychosis. Anna’s father, stepmother and stepbrothers were killed in a plane crash, and Maggie finally has a chance to reunite with her long-lost daughter who stands to inherit a...
Posted by JGranatino on Mon, Jun 11
They called themselves the May Mothers, and they met regularly in Prospect Park in Brooklyn, New York seeking comfort in the company of other new mothers while helping each other get through the new mother jitters. In Molloy’s debut psychological thriller, The Perfect Mothers, the women plan an evening out on the town on July 4 at a local bar to get a much needed break from the demands of motherhood. All are eager to attend except Winnie, but she relinquishes when one of the others arranges...
Posted by JGranatino on Fri, May 18
Carol Goodman has created a new psychological thriller in which two women, Daphne and Laurel, who are very different in style and sophistication, meet at a new mothers’ group and form an instant bond. Daphne is stressed and doubts her ability to take care of her daughter and her husband is unsupportive and critical, even threatening to take the child away at one point. Laurel is funny and disarming, all that Daphne wishes she could be. Both of their daughters are named Chloe (although Laurel...
Posted by JGranatino on Thu, May 17
Francisco Cantu’s mother, a National Parks ranger, introduced him to the beauty and nature of the Southwest. The daughter of a Mexican immigrant, she talked about the family’s struggle to find their place as citizens of the United States. Francisco went off to college and majored in International Relations but instead of entering the State Department, he found work with the Border Patrol, covering the borderline from Texas to San Diego. His knowledge of local geography and fluency in Spanish...
Posted by JGranatino on Wed, May 02
In 2015 at the age of 16, Emily Trunko created a submission based blog, "The Last Message Received" on the social media network,Tumblr. Her request to her followers was to submit a last message received within an exchange whether it be from a friend, parent, ex-lover or whatever the circumstance may be. What she received spans the human emotions all the way from joy, sorrow, heartbreak, to love and hate. Trunko compiled the submissions into her book, The Last Message Received...
Posted by JGranatino on Mon, Apr 30
In interviews about her role on Star Trek: The Next Generation, actress Whoopi Goldberg has often said that the original Star Trek series gave her hope, because it featured a black woman as a strong role model. While Star Trek imagined a future world where humans have outgrown race discrimination, An Unkindness of Ghosts posits a less hopeful future, one in which humanity travels the universe in a starship run by an elite few who enforce race and class...
