Dear Silvia Moreno-Garcia, I’ve had mixed success with your books. I loved Gods of Jade and Shadow, your young adult fantasy, liked your sort-of-domestic-noir thriller, Untamed Shore, and didn’t care a bit for Mexican Gothic, the horror novel you came out with last year (I was an outlier; it was ... more >
Journalist Erica Buist travels to seven death festivals around the world (Nepal, Madagascar, Indonesia, Sicily, Japan, Mexico and New Orleans) in search of better attitudes towards death After the death of her father-in-law, journalist Erica Buist decided to travel to seven death festivals around the world, in an attempt to ... more >
Trigger warning: Dear Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Gods of Jade and Shadow, your 2019 fantasy novel, was terrific, and Untamed Shore, your noir thriller from earlier this year was also good. I don’t usually care for horror novels but I have enjoyed gothics, so when I learned about Mexican Gothic, your new ... more >
PLEASE NOTE: It’s almost impossible to discuss this novel’s strengths and weaknesses without giving away spoilers, so if you prefer not to be spoiled, read no further. Dear Silvia Moreno-Garcia, I don’t generally read crime novels, but the description of Untamed Shore as a “novel of suspense with an eerie ... more >
I was tempted to make a list of my favorites among the 2019-published books I read this year. In the end I decided to focus on my favorite 2019 reads (first time reads; I didn’t include books I had read / reviewed in prior years) without regard to their year ... more >
Please note: The following review contains some spoilers. Dear Ms. Moreno-Garcia, It was the setting of your new fantasy novel, Gods of Jade and Shadow, that first caught my attention. I had never read a book set in 1920s Mexico before. This one also promised to feature a young woman ... more >