On (mis)reading Brideshead Revisited Note: This post contains spoilers. I’ve belonged to various book clubs over the years, but I’ve generally fallen away after being asked to read a few things I didn’t enjoy. Well Read Moms is refreshingly different. There’s a yearly theme and a guide, and I love the idea that spiritual bookContinue reading “Recent Reads – April 2024”
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Recent Reads – March 2024
Poems and Vignettes Memory’s Abacus by Anna Lewis (Wiseblood Books, 2024) The title poem of Anna Lewis’s debut collection waxes and wanes on the page. A grandmother with “swollen knuckles” recites the names of her cousins, some of whom are long dead; and as she speaks, she taps on the Christmas tablecloth as if thereContinue reading “Recent Reads – March 2024”
Recent Reads – February 2024
Showcasing Catholic writers with ties to Milwaukee, Part Three: Letting in Air and Light by Teresa Tumminello Brader Belle Point Press, 2023 Teresa Tumminello Brader lives and writes in New Orleans. But she attended Marquette University, so I hereby claim her for the city of Milwaukee as well. Letting in Air and Light, Brader’s lovelyContinue reading “Recent Reads – February 2024”
Recent Reads – January 2024
Literary Historical Fiction The Dead of Winter, by Paul David Bauer Vol. 4 in The Coldest Winter in a Century One of the great privileges of my life is to serve as the first reader for my husband Paul, who has just published The Dead of Winter, the fourth of seven planned volumes in hisContinue reading “Recent Reads – January 2024”
Recent Reads – December
This Month: Celebrating Small Presses Doing Great Things In the Morning, The City is the Prairie by Rob Roensch (Belle Point Press, 2023) One of many things to admire about this novel is that there are almost no flashbacks. In the course of a single week, we travel swiftly over a narrative surface that’s almostContinue reading “Recent Reads – December”
Recent Reads – November
It’s Thirty Seconds to Midnight. Where is God? The Bee Sting by Paul Murray (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2023) The shadow of doomsday hangs over Paul Murray’s new novel, The Bee Sting, which has been shortlisted for the Booker Prize. In the aftermath of a financial crash, Ireland is getting hotter and hotter; there areContinue reading “Recent Reads – November”
Recent Reads – October
Prizewinners Time Shelter by Georgi Gospodinov (Liveright Publishing Corp., 2022). Translated by Angela Rodel. This year’s International Booker Prize winner, Time Shelter, recalls the work of W.G. Sebald, who often wrote from the point of view of a traveler receiving the stories of enigmatic and suffering post-war characters. Sebald’s great novel Austerlitz was reportedly inspiredContinue reading “Recent Reads – October”
Recent Reads – September
Independent Bookseller Edition Half a Lifelong Romance by Eileen Chang, translated by Karen S. Kingsbury (Anchor Books, 2016) As the summer of our thirtieth wedding anniversary comes to an end, I can frame my experience with visits to three independent bookstores in three different states—one old favorite, and two that are new to us. WheneverContinue reading “Recent Reads – September”
Recent Reads – August
Showcasing Catholic writers with ties to Milwaukee, Part Two: Infinite Regress by Joshua Hren (Angelico Press, 2022) In last month’s post, we left the heroine of Liam Callanan’s When in Rome at the bottom of a hole on the grounds of the fictional Convento di Santi Gertrudis. Oddly enough, Infinite Regress also involves two charactersContinue reading “Recent Reads – August”
Recent Reads – July
Showcasing Catholic writers with ties to Milwaukee, Part One: When in Rome by Liam Callanan Liam Callanan is a professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Liam Callanan’s fourth novel, When in Rome (Dutton, 2023), takes place at a crossroads. For years, Claire and her best friend Monica have helped religious orders sell orContinue reading “Recent Reads – July”
Joan Elizabeth Bauer 