"From the Bay to the Blue Ridge"
The Girl Before, The Girl After By Miriam Kramer Every month I hopscotch across diverse genres to find the books I review. I gravitate towards psychological thrillers, preferably set in the United Kingdom or Ireland with a dark, chilly edge. J.P. Delaney’s The Girl Before fit that bill, so I dove into […]
The Stranger in the Woods By Miriam Kramer Those of us who live in Washington, DC’s political tangle or even in the bustling historic environment of Old Town, Alexandria might take a long weekend or week-long trip glamping near the Grand Canyon, hiking in the Shenandoah Valley, or sailing the Potomac to reconnect with […]
The Road Not Taken By Miriam R. Kramer It is very difficult to write about love well. For every realistic, flawed love story, there are hundreds of well-meaning, gooey fabrications: kitschy stories that come neatly wrapped like a box of heart-shaped chocolates. Neither All the Ugly and Wonderful Things, by Bryn Greenwood, nor […]
A Melting Pot of Comedy By Miriam R. Kramer January is generally anticlimactic and dreary after the holidays, and the beginning of this year may feel particularly dreary in comparison with the ebullient atmosphere prevalent eight years ago. Yet it’s also a symbolic start. If we learn anything through reading about comedians’ […]
The Twelve Dogs of Christmas By Miriam R. Kramer At this time of year Old Town glitters by night with tangles of twinkling lights in the trees lining King Street, as shops and restaurants brace themselves for the onslaught of visitors celebrating events such as the Scottish Christmas Walk. One of my favorite […]
The Year of Voting Dangerously By Miriam R. Kramer Veterans Day is sacred to both veterans and their family members who sacrificed for our country, to those who served to defend our way of life. Let us now consider the diffuse phrase “way of life.” We consider voting in elections deemed free and fair […]
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child By Miriam R. Kramer “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” Literary genius William Faulkner was a figure dour and frightening enough to scare any costumed child on his doorstep asking for candy on Halloween. That youngster might have gotten a few nasty surprises in her box […]
Me Before and After You By Miriam R. Kramer Carl Jung once stated “The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.” Jojo Moyes hit the NY Times bestseller list several years ago with her blockbuster novel Me Before You. […]
Circling the Sun By Miriam R. Kramer Africa is not for the weak. When I lived in Africa as a child, I went on safari in Kenya and Tanzania. A hungry mongoose targeted my brother as the smallest and therefore weakest member of our group, causing us to grab him and retreat to the top […]
The Boys in the Boat By Miriam R. Kramer “When you get the rhythm in an eight, it’s pure pleasure to be in it. It’s not hard work when the rhythm comes—that ‘swing’ as they call it. I’ve heard men shriek out with delight when that swing came in an eight; it’s a thing they’ll […]
