Category Archives: Prose

The Black City, by George Sand

Posted on August 20, 2010 by Thistle

Étienne, nicknamed Sept-Epées for his expertise with metalwork, is a young man in mid-1800s France. He belongs to the lower class, but dreams of one day escaping poverty and the doldrums of daily work to live in the Upper Town … Continue reading →

Posted in 2010, Adult, Prose | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Rage: A Love Story, by Julie Anne Peters

Posted on August 17, 2010 by Thistle

Johanna’s life has been hard. Her father died when she was young, and she watched her mother slip away not long before she reached her senior year in high school. Now she lives on her sister’s mercy, and their relationship … Continue reading →

Posted in 2010, Prose, Young Adult | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Summing Up, by William Somerset Maugham

Posted on August 13, 2010 by Thistle

The Summing Up is a combination memoir and writer’s manual, similar to On Writing by Stephen King. Maugham wrote it in his mid-60s, fearing that he might be close to death and thus that he should complete this before he … Continue reading →

Posted in 2010, Adult, Prose | Tagged , | Leave a comment

A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway

Posted on August 10, 2010 by Thistle

Lieutenant Henry is an American. He’s in the Italian army. The time period is World War I. Henry drives ambulances. He drinks a lot. He eats a lot. He falls in love with a nurse named Catherine Barker. Or at … Continue reading →

Posted in 2010, Adult, Prose | Tagged | 1 Comment

The Patron Saint of Butterflies, by Cecilia Galante

Posted on August 9, 2010 by Thistle

Agnes and Honey live in a religious commune in Connecticut. The two girls grew up together and were always best friends, but the last couple years have driven them apart. Agnes has become obsessed with perfecting herself and living like … Continue reading →

Posted in 2010, Prose, Young Adult | Tagged | Leave a comment

The Lies We Told, by Diane Chamberlain

Posted on August 6, 2010 by Thistle

I’m honestly not sure how to summarize this book. The back of the book description gives away nearly everything from beginning to end, all but one secret, but I can’t think of any way to describe this other than by … Continue reading →

Posted in 2010, Adult, Prose | Leave a comment

Thérèse Raquin, by Émile Zola

Posted on August 3, 2010 by Thistle

Thérèse lives a miserable life in a small shop in Paris. She lives with her aunt and cousin Camille. Camille is a man with poor health and a fantastic amount of pride, and Thérèse is forced to succumb both to … Continue reading →

Posted in 2010, Adult, Prose | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Before I Fall, by Lauren Oliver

Posted on July 30, 2010 by Thistle

Sam has it easy in high school. She and her three best friends are part of the most popular circle. They can get away with pretty much anything, and they do. Then one night, on the way home from a … Continue reading →

Posted in 2010, Prose, Young Adult | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Interpreter of Maladies, by Jhumpa Lahiri

Posted on July 28, 2010 by Thistle

I had been told that Lahiri was a master of the short story, but I’d never read any of her work. When I picked up Interpreter after that long string of failed collections, I expected nothing more than to flip … Continue reading →

Posted in 2010, Adult, Prose | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Dewey, by Vicki Myron

Posted on July 27, 2010 by Thistle

Many people have heard of Dewey the library cat. If you haven’t, the story goes as follows: on a cold night in a small town in Iowa, someone pushed an 8-week old kitten into the drop box at the library. … Continue reading →

Posted in 2010, Adult, Prose | Tagged | Leave a comment