Category Archives: Books

The Ghost Writer by Robert Harris (Abridged Audio version, 2007: Encore. ISBN: 978-0-7435-8304-6) On my way to FinnGrand Fest in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, I stopped in at Book World in Ashland, Wisconsin to pick up an audio book to … Continue reading →

War in the Woods: Estonia’s Struggle for Survival by Mart Laar (1992; Compass. ISBN:0-929590-09-0) Laar has the credentials to write a thorough and insightful history of Estonia’s struggle for freedom from 1918 through the “Singing Revolution” in 1991, when, without … Continue reading →

Against the Wall by Jarkko Sipila (2009; Ice Cold Crime. ISBN 978-0-982449-0-0) Investigator Suhonen, aka Suikkanen, goes undercover as a small-time thug to catch a murderer in present-day Helsinki. There’s a dirty Finnish customs agent, the obligatory blonde with the … Continue reading →

  The Partisans by Fred Kraav (1952; Vantage Press. ISBN unknown) When I ordered this used copy of Fred Kraav’s 1952 novel set in the forests of Estonia, I was hoping for the Baltic version of A Farewell to Arms. … Continue reading →

Graves without Crosses by Arved Virrland (1972; Clarke, Irwin & Co. ISBN 0-7720-0525-7) To my people. This simple dedication by Estonian literary giant, Arved Virrlaid, says it all. Graves is the novel to read before reading the recently released Purge, … Continue reading →

A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick (2009; Algonquin. ISBN 978-1-56512-977-1) I picked up this slender novel at Reagan National in D.C. on my way home from a recent conference. Given that the topic of the conference was domestic violence, and … Continue reading →

  City of Joy by Dominque Lapierre (1985; Doubleday. ISBN 0-385-18952-4) Every once and awhile, a non-fiction book blows this novelist away. City of Joy is that kind of read: A compelling story; characters you care about; broad-shouldered issues; prose … Continue reading →

Loving Frank by Nancy Horan (2008; Ballatine Books. ISBN 978-0-345-49500-6) So my mom, who is the person most responsible for me being a writer and a reader (I remember her reading Pinocchio to me as a child) hands me this … Continue reading →

Conversations with Jon Hassler by Joseph Plut (2010: Nodin Press. ISBN 978-1-93472-97-4) I have “bumped into” the owners of Nodin Press a couple of dozen times over the years at various book venues. Nice people, Norton and his wife. This … Continue reading →

The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb (2008:Harper. ISBN 978-0-06-039349-6) $7.95? For a Wally Lamb novel in hardcover? How could I pass it up? I couldn’t. So when I saw remainder copies of Lamb’s latest book, The Hour I … Continue reading →