Watermark Books

Book Review: The Other Typist

Beth Golay — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 10:00:00 +0000

Set in New York City in the 1920s, The Other Typist by Suzanne Rindell is told from the viewpoint of Rose Baker, an unremarkable woman raised in an orphanage by nuns.

Book Review: Y

Beth Golay — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 11:00:00 +0000

In the preface of her novel Y, Marjorie Celona writes about that perfect letter. "The wishbone, fork in the road, empty wineglass. The question we ask over and over... Coupled with an L, let's make an adverb... a Greek letter (that) joined the Latin alphabet after the Romans conquered Greece in the first century--a double agent: consonant and vowel. No one used adverbs before then, and no one was happy."

Book Review: Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore

Beth Golay — Mon, 17 Dec 2012 11:00:00 +0000

A friend saw me reading Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore and asked what I thought about the magical realism in the novel. I don't read dust jackets before beginning books, so I have to admit that I was a little disappointed to learn I had selected a title with any enchantment attached.

Book Review: The News From Spain

Beth Golay — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 10:00:00 +0000

While you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, the illustration on the cover of the The News from Spain by Joan Wickersham is somewhat telling of what's inside. A single red ribbon on a black background ties each of the stories together through theme and repeated phrases. The ribbon flows with no bows or knots, bleeding off the page. Similar in design, these stories are not wrapped in tidy packages. Sometimes they begin with no introduction and end abruptly, leaving the reader to speculate about what will happen next.

Book Review: Gold

Beth Golay — Mon, 16 Jul 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Book Review: Beautiful Ruins

Todd Robins — Mon, 02 Jul 2012 10:00:00 +0000

Book Review: An Uncommon Education

Beth Golay — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 16:17:21 +0000

I’m a sucker for a good prep school story. I’m not sure if it’s the promise of knowledge there for the taking, secret societies, or general student angst that usually leads me to those books, but there was something unique about Elizabeth Percer’s debut novel, An Uncommon Education. The education of Percer’s brilliant protagonist, Naomi Feinstein, was not provided by private boarding schools. Her “preparatory” education came from her father, who recognized early that his daughter could remember everything she ever read.