Announcement: The IRB is Here!

The December issue of the Internet Review of Books is posted now and is packed full of worthwhile reviews.  In addition to 11 other non-fiction reviews, I am pleased that my review of The Age of Reagan by Steve Hayward is included this month. And my short review of Massacred for Gold by Gregory Nokes tops off the Brief Reviews section.

There are also several full-length fiction reviews, including a review of Nick Hornby's new novel. I am going to read that one first.

The reviews in the December IRB may inspire some Christmas gifts, as will the IRB Holiday Gift Guide that is also posted now.

Happy holiday reading!

9 Days to Christmas

Teaser Tuesday: How to Save Your Own Life

"We deserve the blame for not picking ourselves up and walking away.  We think we are buying security with our slavery -- and then, a decade later, we leave and let them keep the furniture, realizing that it is a blessing to be rid of their tyranny at any material cost and that there is no such thing as security anyway."

-- How to Save Your Own Life by Erica Jong.

All right, "slavery" is a little histrionic, but it rings true for anyone who has been in her situation.

I am savoring this book. It is as full of insight and spot-on commentary about the human condition as the best of Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, Jim Harrison, or any of my other favorite male authors.  But it hits so much closer to home, coming from a woman's perspective. I love it.


Teaser Tuesdays is hosted by Should Be Reading, where you can find the official rules for this weekly event.

10 Days to Christmas

Mailbox Monday

Since I posted several reviews of Early Reviewer books, I am apparently out of the LibraryThing dog house. At least enough to get a book from the November batch. So I have one book for Mailbox Monday.

The Wall in My Head: Words and Images from the Fall of the Iron Curtain, published by Words Without Borders Anthologies.



This looked really good to me. Ever since I read Steve Hayward's Age of Reagan recently, I've been interested in reading more about post-Cold War life in the former Soviet Union. This looks like just the book to scratch that itch.

Of course, this means that another book got added to my LibraryThing list. The guilt will start piling up again.