The Land of Dreams (Part 1 in the Minnesota Trilogy) by Vidar Sundstøl is a crime novel that takes place on the shores of Lake Superior. It follows Eirik Nyland, a Norwegian homicide detective who was summoned to Minnesota to help solve the mystery of a murdered Norwegian, who was vacationing on in northern Minnesota with his […]
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry by Fredrik Backman is a heartbreaking and hilarious look at childhood, loss, grieving, family and community. Author of A Man Called Ove, this book has everything that was delightful about his most well-known work but is, arguably, more charming. Grandmother follows around Elsa, a seven-going-on-eight-year-old, over […]
The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown is everything you’d expect from a Robert Langdon adventure, only this time Brown brings the action state-side for a deep dive into the United States capital. It felt a little like National Treasure, though it was significantly darker. The villain in this book is also, possibly, the most disturbing (though […]
Inferno by Dan Brown is a fast-paced adventure through Florence, Venice and a couple other European cities. This time the book focuses on Dante Alighieri’s famous work, Dante’s Inferno, and the influences that 13th century Florence had on Dante’s work, and the influence that his work has had on culture since. The book follows Robert Langdon as […]
Lily and the Octopus was selected to be Girly Book Club’s assignment for March. We begin the book by meeting Ted, a single guy with a dachshund named Lily. Early on in the story, he comes to realize she has a tumor, also known as an Octopus, growing on her head. Before cracking this book […]
The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson is a quirky and delightful read. The book follows a man who, on his 100th birthday, literally climbs out of the window of his room at the nursing home and wanders off, avoiding both the evil director, Alice, who won’t let him […]
Technological advances of our time can be captured through reading Dan Brown’s work over the past 20 years. He always seems to catch things that are on the cutting edge. In Inferno, their wild goose chase was brought to an abrupt end when they discovered that they could just Google something, instead of finding the […]
The DaVinci Code is easily Dan Brown’s best-known work, and probably the most controversial. It has stirred the conspiracy-theory pot and ignited international religious debate over the origins of Christianity. Whew. That sounds pretty heavy. And yet, the book is an easy, fun read. So, perhaps the reason for the international conspiracy theories is because […]
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