Five-Star Reads of 2021

These were my five-star reads in 2021. I’m stingy with my stars, so these books really stood out for me among the 115+ books I read last year. I enjoyed them for a variety of reasons: Some inspired me, some taught me forgotten history, some were funny, some were creative, but one stands alone for extraordinary writing.   Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner Angle of Repose may be the best book I have ever read. Wallace Stegner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel traces the fortunes of four generations of one family as they attempt to build a life for themselves in the American West. Confined to a wheelchair, retired historian Lyman […]

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April Reads

A new month is upon us, fellow bibliophiles, which means it’s time to post what I read in April. There weren’t any 5-star winners, but there were no real duds either. In all the years I’ve been rating books, I’ve only given two 2-stars reviews—one because of grammatical errors and the other because of objectionable content. As an author I know how hard it is to write a book, and I think most books deserve at least three stars (unless a book is self-published, and then it’s no holds barred). April turned out to be a wonderful mix of genres: mystery, thriller, historical fiction, and memoir. I laughed out loud, […]

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