Lady Eva Hyde is as passionate about architecture as her father, the world renowned EM Hyde. What she's kept hidden from the world is that for nearly two years she's been the one behind EM Hyde's creations as her father has fallen ill. Being a woman, Eva knows there are many men who wouldn't deign to work with her, so she passes the work off as her father's. This time around, Eva has designed a state of the art hotel in New York for Phillip Mansfield.
What she doesn't know, however, is that Eva met Phillip on the boat on the way to America. And they hit is off quite spectacularly. Once they are aware that they've got a certain chemistry between them, Eva is determined to remain professional. To not let her feelings for Phillip get ahead of doing her job. For her, it would ruin her reputation and immediately put people off from wanting to work with her again. However, as Phillip and Eva interact, keeping their distance proves to be almost impossible.
Joanna Shupe really makes clear the power divide between men and women, and the idea that women have less opportunities afforded to them than men. I was truly surprised by how relevant the situation(s) felt in this day and age, despite taking place in the late 19th century. I loved that throughout, Eva staunchly defends her right to work in a field that many consider for a man. And even though she's falling in love with Phillip she doesn't let that cloud her judgement of the situation. It clearly and concisely handles women's issues while also delivering a more than satisfying steamy romance.
I absolutely loved this historical workplace romance. Taking place in New York City’s Gilded Age – an oft ignored time period of historical romance – sets this one even further apart from the crowd.
Beatrice and Virgil by Yann Martel
(2010) is a fantastic, remarkable, gut-wrenching novel by the author of the
great success Life of Pi. This novel is better but perhaps too powerful
for the taste of many readers. The protagonist Henry, a stand-in for Martel, has
published two successful novels, but finds his third book, a combination novel
and essay about the Holocaust, rejected by his publisher. The publisher flies
Henry to London for lunch and proceeds to excoriate him: his book is "too
confusing"; for every successful Holocaust book "there are crates of
others that end up being pulped"; and "Where do you see the book
being displayed...fiction or nonfiction?" ; "What's your book
about?" Henry gives up on the book and moves to a major unidentified city
where he proceeds to study the clarinet and participate in community theater
productions. He receives a note seeking help in the writing of a play. The note was written by an elderly
taxidermist whose play, incomplete, features lengthy dialog between Beatrice, a
donkey, and Virgil, a howler monkey. Henry undertakes to assist the taxidermist
in completion of the play.
The novel is postmodern, heavily metaphorical, and cleanly written. It is
actually a novella, but not a quick read. Fans of the movie "Schindler's
List" will appreciate it. I can't imagine it as a movie but who thought
that there could be a movie of a boy adrift in a rowboat with a tiger? 
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Review by: Amy M.
For as long as they've known each other, it's always been Jon and Chloe. Even when the pressures of growing up and fitting in get in the way, Jon and Chloe remain the best of friends. The type of friendship that could one day be something more. That is, until Jon is kidnapped.
Four years later Jon returns, changed in ways he has yet to understand. The only thing he does understand is that he's a danger to those around him, especially those he loves. So Jon leaves again on a quest for the person who took / changed him, and to protect Chloe.
Heartbroken, Chloe delves into her art, the only place she can truly express the waiting and wanting and love. Neither Jon nor Chloe ever fully gives up on the other or their bond, but with Jon a danger to those around him, how can they ever be together?
I felt like Providence was a pretty easy read. Early on, right after Jon is kidnapped, I thought this book would turn down a dark path and be one of those that I couldn't read for long stretches of time. I was surprised then that, while not what I would call "light", it certainly maintained a somewhat neutral tone. Never verging too far into darkness or lightness, hovering somewhere in the middle. I liked that the story doesn't fit neatly into one specific genre. On one hand it's a love story, with elements of sci-fi, yet also a mystery. I think Caroline Kepnes does a great job juggling these different aspects and making them work together without fully committing to any of them.
Unfortunately, that neutral tone also worked a little against the book as I felt like Jon and Chloe remained a little underdeveloped as characters. They both felt like they were in that stasis. Unable to move forward from Jon's disappearance / reappearance / re-disappearance. The ending paves the road for the possibility of more, and I wonder if that "more" means we’ll get another book with these characters, or if we're only supposed to be left with that feeling of forward momentum.
Review by: Irv S.
The Undoing Project, A Friendship that Changed our Minds, by Michael Lewis (2017) is about two brilliant Israeli psychologists, Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky; their lives independently; their work collectively; their relationship professionally; and their fondness platonically. Lewis, author of some perceptive and illuminating nonfiction, including the groundbreaking Moneyball, Flash Boys, and The Big Short, upon discovering that the theory underlying Moneyball had been explicated by Tversky and Kahneman, undertook to write a book about it and them. The biographical aspect is bare bones; the reader wants more. The explanation of their work and theories is sketchy; this reader would like more but is afraid that the work is so arcane and esoteric that it might be unintelligible.
The material warrants much more than the time and space
allotted to it. Perhaps Lewis was eager to capitalize on the success of his
prior work and get another book into the market ASAP. I wish that he had taken more time and perhaps
divided the material into two or more books. His remarkable skills as a
researcher and storyteller shine through but are not realized fully.
I look forward to his next effort and hope that he will recapture his former skill and thoroughness.
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