A few years ago, the Mystery Guild Book Club polled members with the question “Which mystery writer would you rather be stranded on a desert island with?” The winner: Lillian Jackson Braun. The book club didn’t ask why readers voted for her, but anyone who has read Ms. Braun’s novels knows why. With the exception … Continue reading →.

Ice Bound is available at Amazon.com. What Sara Wheeler did for traveling in Antarctica, Jerri Nielsen’s bestseller does for living in Antarctica. Dr. Nielsen made international news when she discovered that she had breast cancer during a long Antarctic winter at the South Pole. The base is customarily shut down during the nine months of … Continue reading →.

People who are space nuts may not realize that we know more about Mars than we know about some places on our own planet. Antarctica is one of these places. International treaties have dictated that Antarctica, the only place on earth with no native human population, be used for scientific endeavors, and that those endeavors … Continue reading →.

The following is an excerpt of a lovely review of Singled Out: How Two Million Women Survived Without Men after the First World War By Virginia Nicholson. THIS is an inspiring book, lovingly researched, well-written and humane. Virginia Nicholson has found one of those subjects which sits unregarded under our noses, and has discovered in … Continue reading →.

Isolation is a topic that spans lifetimes and generations, an identifiable feeling that crosses cultures and continents. Monique Truong’s The Book of Salt is an effort to capture this feeling and describe it with a story. Truong’s novel follows the tumultuous life of Binh, a Vietnamese man who is ousted from his home country and … Continue reading →.

Though many who participate in the study of literature scoff at the literary merit of graphic novels, Marjane Satrapi’s autobiographical Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood, offers a fresh and unique perspective on an historical subject. Chronicling her young life in Iran during the turbulent first years of the Islamic Revolution, Satrapi literally illustrates her … Continue reading →.