Category Archives: books

3 more books

Posted on August 8, 2025 by forstegrupp

The Cloisters by Katy Hays A murder mystery set in the 21st century. Narrated in the first person by an ambitious art historian of the Renaissance. Quite a twist at the end. Reminds me of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca. Trouble … Continue reading →

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Svalbard — a world onto itself

Posted on June 3, 2025 by forstegrupp

Today sitting in the sunshine with my dog curled up beside me, I finished Cecilia Blomdahl’s book Life on Svalbard, in which she documents with photography and words her experience living in the northernmost human town. Svalbard belongs to Norway, … Continue reading →

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Another Greek Mythology Fanbook

Posted on May 23, 2025 by forstegrupp

Atalanta is told from the point of view of the woman in Greek mythology famed for her fleetness of foot and her archery prowess. Jennifer Saint wrote this one in 2023. A fast, enjoyable read which sneers at the overly … Continue reading →

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2 more modern novels based on Greeek Myths

Posted on April 7, 2025 by forstegrupp

Stone Blind (2022) by Natalie Haynes: tells the story of Medusa, the human Gorgon whom Perseus slays to save his mother. Multiple voices and cynical feminism. Medusa and her two immortal Gorgon sisters live apart from all human and divine … Continue reading →

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Bird’s Eye View of History

Posted on February 6, 2019 by forstegrupp

Yuval Noah Harari wrote his book Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind in 2015. The book provides an expansive overview of 202,000 years human pre-history and history in under 450 pages (including index). His most provocative tenet is that the … Continue reading →

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A book uniting two passions: fairy tales and knitting

Posted on January 30, 2019 by forstegrupp

Yesterday on the new non-fiction shelf of our local public library, I found a book with a pebbled blue cover and gold gilded lettering and design. It was clearly a knitting book as you can see from the front cover … Continue reading →

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Sometimes you forgot you already read a particular book

Posted on January 28, 2019 by forstegrupp

Leigh Bardugo‘s book The Language of Thorns: Midnight Tales and Dangerous Magic (2017) contains her six modern fairy tales with twists on old storylines to shake up the staid perspectives and assumptions of traditional fairy tales. I read this book on … Continue reading →

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Women are allowed to want.

Posted on January 18, 2019 by forstegrupp

Recently I just finished the third book in Katherine Arden’s Winternight trilogy about a woman in medieval Russia who takes on the responsibility of trying to save her people of Rus from human depredations and supernatural threats and negotiate a … Continue reading →

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Annotations Galore!

Posted on January 14, 2019 by forstegrupp

Once upon a time, I took so many notes and underlined so much in my textbooks that when I got done, the books looked like a very neat second-grader had been let loose with colored pencils. My old college edition … Continue reading →

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The Girl in the Tower

Posted on September 20, 2018 by forstegrupp

Last week I finished the second book in Katherine Arden’s series about Vasilisa and her quest for freedom from medieval Russian norms for girls. The second book picks up exactly where the first book ends. But for those wanting to … Continue reading →

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