The ministry is a unique and difficult occupation. Laypersons expect preachers to be closer to God and live on a higher plain of morality. Reverend John Ames, third in a generation of preachers, lives in a small, unexceptional Iowa town. He loves the ministry but admits to shortcomings everyone possesses.…

Suppose your government leased your property to an oil company. That it did so without your permission. That the company’s drilling poisoned your children, your pets, your trees, and your garden. What would you do? Fortunately, we Westerners have laws to protect us from such outrages. The people of Kosawa,…

What makes this one of John Grisham’s better novels is the way he works the Bataan Death March into a murder mystery. A year after surviving the horror and returning to his farm, Pete Banning walks into his hometown church and shoots the preacher to death. He refuses to explain…

I love the deft way Anne Tyler draws you into the lives of her characters. A few pages go by, and suddenly you feel you’ve known them for years. Then the story is over, and you wish they’d have stayed around longer. There’s so much to like about French Braid,…

If you’re into nostalgia, I’d like to recommend a collection by a founding father of science fiction. The Best of Clifford D. Simak, 1939-1971, harkens back to a time before World War II, when science fiction was in its infancy, the dark side of the moon was a mystery, and…

“When it happens, you must find a way to remember.” That admonition is the theme of Salt Houses, Hala Alyan’s tale of a Palestinian family spanning the years 1963 to 2014. The words come from Salma, the family matriarch. Her daughter doesn’t understand what she means, but we get a…

I found myself attracted to this history because of its stellar reputation and my own murky knowledge of post-World War II Japan. I’m pleased to state that it was well worth my time. Drawing from numerous sources, author John Dower depicts a culture humbled and devastated by war, its people…

For those who haven’t already heard, The Seven-Day Resurrection is about a failed novelist who awakens one morning to find that his mother has come back to life, seven years after her funeral. I’ve been giving readers a taste of this story during a four-week blog tour hosted by GoddessFish…

In recent years, series novels have developed their own literary niche. Independent authors especially seem bent on writing one book, then using sequels to milk its characters and scenarios for all they’re worth. Most of the book marketing advice I’ve read lately assumes and encourages this trend. Evan S. Connell…

What an imaginative scenario! A Chinese teenager who designs hats, writes a newspaper column, and lives in the remnants of an underground railroad tunnel in 1890 Atlanta. And that’s just the setting. The Downstairs Girl is rich in atmosphere, deftly-sketched characters, and ubiquitous perils for a young woman in the…