The Housekeeper and The Professor by Yoko Ogawa is my first read for Women in Translation Month 2020. It is the story of a single parent housekeeper and her relationship with a former mathematics professor that can not take care of himself after a serious accident a...
Best Book Ever Podcast: Episode 8
by MHill | Jul 20, 2020 | Best Book Ever Podcast, Charles De Lint, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
I was invited on the Best Book Ever Podcast hosted by Julie Strauss today. We had a discussion about one of my favorite novels, Memory & Dream by Charles de Lint. Also, Julie asked about my reading philosophy and where my love of reading came from. It was an...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 46: Latitudes of Longing by Shubhangi Swarup
by MHill | Jun 2, 2020 | 2020 Book Reviews, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Wisdom From Kammbia Column, Wisdom From Kammbia Novella Review
One of the joys of being a book review blogger is I get to read books I would have never come across in my normal book reading encounters. Latitudes of Longing by Mumbai-based writer Shubhangi Swarup is the latest book encounter outside of my normal reading...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 45: Eva Luna by Isabel Allende
by MHill | May 24, 2020 | 2020 Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Rereading Series, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
"Words are free, she used to say, and she appropriated them; they were all hers." That sentence from early in the novel, Eva Luna, by Isabel Allende captures the spirit of her protagonist. Eva Luna is a spinner of tales and the stories from growing up poor on the...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 42: Face of an Angel by Denise Chavez
by MHill | Apr 18, 2020 | 2020 Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Marion's All-Time Favorite Novels, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Rereading Series, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
Rereading a novel can bring different expectations from when you first read it over twenty-five years ago. This is the case with Face of An Angel by Denise Chavez. Face of an Angel tells the story of Soveida Dosamantes, a waitress at El Farol Restaurant in the...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 36: Binti Home by Nnedi Okorafor
by MHill | Jan 22, 2020 | 2020 Book Reviews, Book Reviews, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Wisdom From Kammbia Column, Wisdom From Kammbia Novella Review
Can you ever go home again? Binti Home by Nnedi Okorafor attempts to answer that question. Binti returns home after a year away on a spaceship at Oozma University. She brings her friend, Okwu, for support. However, the homecoming does not go as expected and the family...
Wisdom From Kammbia Book Review 26: The Pearl by John Steinbeck
by MHill | Oct 6, 2019 | 2019 Book Reviews, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Rereading Series, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
One of the most often quoted verses of biblical scripture is from the New Testament book of 1 Timothy 6:10: "The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil." Even if you are a non-religious person, I'm pretty sure you have heard that verse of scripture in a secular...
Wisdom From Kammbia Story Review 2: Timeskip by Charles de Lint
by MHill | Sep 1, 2019 | Charles De Lint, Marion's All-Time Favorite Short Stories, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Short Story Review, Wisdom From Kammbia Column, Wisdom of Kammbia Story Review
Charles de Lint is one of the few authors I have read for over twenty-five years. His novels and stories set in the fictional city of Newford have been delightful to read for a long time. Timeskip is one of de Lint's best and well-known stories about a ghost...
Wisdom From Kammbia Story Review 1: Haven by Alice Munro
by MHill | Aug 29, 2019 | Marion's All-Time Favorite Short Stories, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Short Story Review, Wisdom From Kammbia Column, Wisdom of Kammbia Story Review
For the past week, I have been in the mood to read short stories. I don't know why that mood for short stories came because I'm not a huge short story reader. However, I have decided not to dismiss it and go with this sudden feeling for short stories. I wrote a...
Book Review 147: Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay
by MHill | Nov 19, 2018 | 2018 Book Reviews, Guy Gavriel Kay, Marion's Favorite Books, Marion's Favorites, Marion's Reading Life Blog, Wisdom From Kammbia Column
Guy Gavriel Kay is becoming one of my favorite authors and joining a list that includes Jorge Amado, Jonathan Carroll, and Charles de Lint Sailing to Sarantium will be the second Kay novel I have read this year and the third one in the past couple of years. Sailing to...