Catherine Asaro's works are often recommended when this question is raised amongst readers. (Amidst all the debate and kurfufflery, ruffled readers' feathers and bleeding hearts.) When a Harvard PhD writes a series of books commonly reviewed (and awarded gold medals) in Romantic Times, that's what you get. And
The stories in Birds of a Lesser Paradise are so consistently good that I almost didn't want to read them. Beginning Megan Mayhew Bergman's collection, I had no expectations. She's been much-anthologized, and has a nice list of publishing credits, but that doesn't guarantee a good match between
As with Week One, this introductory bit will be spoiler-free and let's continue to mark any spoilers in the comments below as other readers join us in mid-month. But next Monday, we'll edge up to spoiler-territory and settle in there firmly on the final Monday. Last week we chatted (on
Of course there are readers who gravitate towards fiction set in ancient times, with their battered Mary Renault and Robert Graves paperbacks, their beloved Rosemary Sutcliffe childhood favourites still lining their shelves. Harper Collins, 2012 But just as there were many readers who would never pick up a western but
What makes for a love letter during the Cultural Revolution in China would have Heathcliff and Catherine shaking their heads. Maybe two or three pages of discussing China's excellent international and domestic circumstances, then the fortunate conditions of provincial and city life, and those of friends and class-mates. These formalities
