The Literate Kitty

There are friends... and then there are your Ride-or-Dies, The People Who Have Your Back (No Matter What). One thing I’ve learned, over the years, is that it doesn’t matter how many “friends” or “followers” you have, or how many “likes” you get, on whatever social platform.    What does matter is what happens when you’re at your lowest. Your ugliest. Your neediest (or, your I-absolutely-don’t-need-anyone-iest, which of course, is when you absolutely-really- do ).   Because the people who show up for you then, in all your  whateverness?  They’re the ones worth holding onto, listening to, and sharing your best—and your worst—with, forever.   Deanna Raybourn’s newest spy thriller,  Kills Well With Others , gives us a masterclass in the why... and does so, in surprisingly poignant--and frequently hilarious--fashion.     They’re a foursome, alright... but definitely not your killer  Sex-and-the-City  kind of quad (not even the  and...

Widespread grumblings over religion. Questions about royal succession. And a general air of growing discontent.   Conditions were rife for an uprising... had it been anything other than the woefully ill-conceived “attack” by a paltry handful of pitchfork-wielding farmers against an army of well-armed military troops.   As for the aftermath of such folly... well, heads—and more,  so much more —were bound to roll.   But there’s always someone, on the periphery of a rebellion, seeking more peaceful solutions. Or, at the very least, trying to do serious damage control, after the fact... as in Minette Walters’ latest historical novel,  The Players .     King James II found himself already at a disadvantage, on ascending to the throne. He’d inherited the crown from his well-liked brother, Charles II, who’d been the answer to everyone’s prayers, following Oliver Cromwell’s unpopular (and Puritanical) turn as non-royal leader.    But when Charles II ...

How much I have to thank you for, Daddy... today and always. "Daddyback Ride" (circa a long time ago... :)) You passed along not only your passion for books to me, but also your love of movies and TV. What would you have thought of all the iterations of James Bond since last you walked this mortal coil? Even the lesser ones would've left you grinning like a giddy kid, I'm sure. (Likewise with the Mission Impossible and Bourne franchises; it's hard to top spies, great action scenes, and thrilling car chases.) You'd have loved "Hell on Wheels" as much as I do (even though it involves neither of your favorite western actors, John Wayne or Clint Eastwood). That delicious mashup of space-opera, western, and action-adventure otherwise known as "Firefly"? The boxed set absolutely would have found its way into one of your birthday boxes... and you'd have been elated.  The re-imagined "Battlestar Galactica"? Oh, yeah....

It’s one of those sad facts of life: get enough young people together--say, at a college or university--and bad things are gonna happen now and then. Drunken revelries lead to aggressive behaviors and all manner of accidents. Pranks that seem like great fun turn out to be anything but harmless larks. And, kids who haven’t yet figured out a way to deal--with life, studies, the grim realities of an uncertain future, being different, or rejection--decide it’s easier to just end things... permanently. Thus is the stage set for Mary Louise Kelly’s top-notch thriller, Anonymous Sources . When Alexandra James--current go-to reporter responsible for the New England Chronicle ’s university beat--gets the call, interrupting her summer evening plans, to dash over to Harvard for a breaking story, such is the type of scene she expects to find. Another dead college student who took a dive from a campus bell tower... he either got plastered and lost his footing with tragic results, or w...