I have very specific, if subjective, meanings for book ratings.
⭐: I did not finish this, or wouldn't start it. ⭐⭐: I finished this, but I sort of regret it. ⭐⭐⭐: I don't regret finishing this, but I'll probably never read it again. ⭐⭐⭐⭐: It's likely I will reread this. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐: I want to own this to read whenever the mood strikes, because I'll definitely reread it.
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March Violets is a historical detective novel and the first written by Philip Kerr featuring detective Bernhard "Bernie" Gunther. March …
Man tends to see time as a factor in life that needs no explanation, and thinks that he knows what …
"The secret war among the Shadows of the Name is escalating, and there are hints that it is not so …
It’s a big Spiral Arm, and the scarred man, Donavan buigh, has gone missing in it, upsetting the harper Mearana's …
There is a river on Dangchao Waypoint, a small world out beyond Die Bold. It is a longish river as …
In Bite by Bite, poet and essayist Aimee Nezhukumatathil explores the way food and drink evoke our associations and …
A boy grows to manhood while attempting to subdue the evil he unleashed on the …
Finished chapter 1.
From Wikipedia: Three Witnesses is a collection of Nero Wolfe mystery novellas by Rex Stout, published by the Viking Press …
The Big Time tells the tale of a group of servicemembers who work in facilities isolated from regular space-time. They’re …
Luke and Kate are both nonverbal and diagnosed with “classic” autism. They have always been …
I've been reading this book since March, and I'm finding it very hard to finish—not because it's written in a difficult way, but because it's so emotionally raw and honest.
Piranesi’s house is no ordinary building: its rooms are infinite, its corridors endless, its walls are lined with thousands upon …
Nero Wolfe leaves his Manhattan brownstone to travel to the resort of Kanawha Spa, in …
You can absolutely tell that this book was published in 1938. It is not one of Stout's best.
Part of Stout's aim here was undoubtedly to highlight for his readers the way racial prejudice operated in the American South in the late 1930s. Despite this good intention, I don't feel like those sections really stand up very well in terms of story. (Having a luxury spa in 30s West Virginia seems a little forced, for starters.)
Stout's characterization of the victim's wife is straight out of femme fatale noir.
For those who wish to totally avoid racial slurs: this book does contain them. They are to the best of my recollection "appropriately" used—I mean the characters who use them would use them—and Nero Wolfe does not.
Still, in my opinion even "not the best" Nero Wolfe stories are worth reading. But maybe just move on to the next one when …
You can absolutely tell that this book was published in 1938. It is not one of Stout's best.
Part of Stout's aim here was undoubtedly to highlight for his readers the way racial prejudice operated in the American South in the late 1930s. Despite this good intention, I don't feel like those sections really stand up very well in terms of story. (Having a luxury spa in 30s West Virginia seems a little forced, for starters.)
Stout's characterization of the victim's wife is straight out of femme fatale noir.
For those who wish to totally avoid racial slurs: this book does contain them. They are to the best of my recollection "appropriately" used—I mean the characters who use them would use them—and Nero Wolfe does not.
Still, in my opinion even "not the best" Nero Wolfe stories are worth reading. But maybe just move on to the next one when you're done.
From Wikipedia: "I never knew a plaguier case. We have all the knowledge we need, …
The main female character, Helen Frost, says in answer to a question from Nero Wolfe that she'll "be twenty-one in May." Given that this was published in 1937, that would make her just over 108 now, if she were a real person.
