I’ve been reading a lot of tough stories lately: Lotus, Pachinko, Where the Crawdads Sing. Lots of women struggling against systemic sexism (and/or racism, classism, the works), lots of injustice. So when my digital library hold on The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides came up, I wasn’t sure at all I was ready for aContinue reading “An Enigmatic Mystery Drives ‘Silent Patient’”
Author Archives: Elisabeth Ring
‘Crawdads’ is as Lovely as its Marshland
For the last year or two, it seems like I’ve been seeing Where The Crawdads Sing EVERYWHERE. On all the best-of and bestseller lists. In the “popular” section of libraries (ah, remember libraries?) and in every airport gift shop (and airports!). Reading the short blurb about it, about a girl growing up on her ownContinue reading “‘Crawdads’ is as Lovely as its Marshland”
Wilderness, Human Nature Bring Danger in ‘Alone’
In the Alaskan wilderness, you can make one mistake, warn the residents of the fictional Alaskan town Kaneq. It’s the second mistake that will kill you. But that threat of the natural world is secondary to the danger the main characters face indoors in Kristin Hannah’s novel The Great Alone. And both sets of danger,Continue reading “Wilderness, Human Nature Bring Danger in ‘Alone’”
‘Maybe You Should Talk to Someone’ Brings Therapy to Your Bookshelf
I don’t often cry at books. Sure, there was Tuck Everlasting. And Bridge to Terabithia, of course. And then who could forget The Art of Racing in the Rain or The Fault in Our Stars or A Thousand Splendid Suns or A Man Called Ove or… Hmm. Maybe I cry at books a little moreContinue reading “‘Maybe You Should Talk to Someone’ Brings Therapy to Your Bookshelf”
Want Nightmares? Try ‘Infidel’
I love graphic novels. Love ‘em, love ‘em, love ‘em. When I was a kid, I’d look over the comics in the newspaper every day even though I didn’t yet know how to read. When I got older and inherited my uncle’s mouse-nibbled stash of superhero and Archie comic books from the 1970s, that loveContinue reading “Want Nightmares? Try ‘Infidel’”
All’s Fair in Love and ‘War’
I’m not usually one for romances (feelings are just so…touchy-feely) but I am one for science fiction and games of cat and mouse. This is How You Lose the Time War has both—and manages to write about time travel in a way that didn’t create massive plot holes or leave the reader hopelessly confused. HereContinue reading “All’s Fair in Love and ‘War’”
Don’t Look Away from ‘Nothing to See Here’
Okay, so. There are these kids, and when they get upset, they light on fire. Like, literal fire. And a woefully inadequate stand-in for Mary Poppins has to figure out how to control it. Also, it’s really funny and kind of touching. That’s it. That’s the book. I was pretty sure when I started Nothing toContinue reading “Don’t Look Away from ‘Nothing to See Here’”
‘Butchering Art’ Makes Gore Fun
I love a good medical history. There’s just something about the collision of history and gore and progress that is fascinating. Deborah Blum’s The Poisoner’s Handbook is one of my favorite nonfictions ever (the PBS doc was fascinating, too) and I am very excited for The Mystery of the Exploding Teeth by Thomas Morris, whichContinue reading “‘Butchering Art’ Makes Gore Fun”
Character, not Plot, Drives ‘Pachinko’
This one’s been on the list for a while, but I finally got to the tragic darling that I got on the digital library hold list for, like, seven months ago. (At a certain point, I probably should have just bought it, but I’ve been busy living in a global pandemic and all.) As itContinue reading “Character, not Plot, Drives ‘Pachinko’”
‘Spin’ Flies but Doesn’t Make the Cut
YA Fantasy has given us more teenage female warrior characters since Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and I am not complaining. Hunger Games deserves (much of) its hype. I tore through the Throne of Glass series like I was in the middle of a desert and it was a cool glass of water. But it’s alsoContinue reading “‘Spin’ Flies but Doesn’t Make the Cut”
Ring Reads 