Kate Padilla has long enjoyed reading, and for the last decade, combined her writing skills and book pleasure to review books for Authorlink.
Kate’s journalism career began in high school with a weekly column in her hometown newspaper, and later, after graduating from the University of Wyoming, she moved into newspapers as a reporter and editor and also as a radio news director. She subsequently worked as a U.S. Senate staffer helping write legislation and then as a public lands manager for the Department of Interior until her retirement. Now, she is an award-winning poet, artist and writer living in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her passion is exploring, traveling to places not often frequented by tourists, ranging from Albania in the Balkans to isolated Honduran islands in the Caribbean.
Not surprisingly Kate favors foreign authors because they immerse her in other worlds and cultures, books such as those written by Nobel Prize winner Naguib Mahfouz, who writes about the Arab world, or Milan Kundera, from Czechoslovakia. Any book written by women with Latin or Mexican roots is a must, she says, listing authors Isabel Allende and Sandra Cisneros as idols. She never passes up a poetry book sent her way, though they are a challenge to review because the poetry is subjective. She also enjoys a good detective novel, and at times, magical fanaticism. Her review favorites include offerings from the Library of America, a nonprofit that collects and preserves writings from America’s key authors. If she had a genre she doesn’t prefer, it would likely be most Western novels. Her pet peeves are preachy religious or moralizing books, those that demean women or have disregard for the environment.
Book Review: Tyll by Daniel Kehlmann, Pantheon Books - German novelist Daniel Kehlmann, in his magical fantasy novel, “Tyll”, invents a jester named Tyll as protagonist to guide us through a historical and momentous adventure in Central Europe during the Thirty Years’ War from 1618 to 1648.
Book Review: Scarlet Odyssey, C.T. Rwizi, 47North - This ambitious debut novel, Scarlet Odyssey by C.T. Rwizi, features mystics, sorcerers and warriors who all fight to control plains and rivers in a magical world.
Winter Sisters, Tim Westover, QW Publishers - Author Tim Westover weaves an illuminating tall tale about ancient vs. modern medicine in his novel, “Winter Sisters.” The story begins in the early 1800s with the arrival of Audrey Waycross fresh out of medical school.
The Lions of Fifth Avenue , Fiona Davis, Penguin Random House - Fiona Davis, known for factual research into New York’s landmarks in her historical fiction novels, has again produced a first-class tale. “The Lions of Fifth Avenue” is a suspenseful drama centered on the New York Public Library and its Berg Collection, stocked with American and English rare books and artifacts.
Updike Novels 1968-1975, Christopher Carduff Editor, Library of America - John Updike won two Pulitzer Prizes for his “Rabbit” tetralogy, a series about the disturbing life of an ordinary man, Harry “Rabbit” Angstrom, the protagonist whose risky doings are a mirror response to events such as the Cold War, Vietnam, sex, drugs and civil rights protests.
The Other Family, Loretta Nyhan, Lake Union - Author Loretta Nyhan’s novel, “The Other Family,” pivots around new mainstream themes such alternative medicine (mindfulness), DNA testing, social media as a campaign tool, and online dating.
The Keeper, Jessica Moor, Penguin Books - Jessica Moor’s novel, “The Keeper,” needs to be read, despite its painful subject: Why do women stay with their abusive husbands/partners? Moor tackles the physiological and physical fear of women caught in the cycle of violence, and why law enforcement shies away from domestic abuse.
Jean Stafford Complete Novels, edited by Kathryn Davids, Library of America - Pulitzer-Prize-winner Jean Stafford gets renewed attention from The Library of America with three of her most important works in one edition. Boston Adventure is a dense work written in 1944 that garnered her national acclaim ...
This Terrible Beauty, Katrin Schuman, Lake Union Publishing - Suspense seeps through each page of Katrin Schumann’s historical fiction novel, “The Terrible Beauty.” Her evocative characters maneuver through a grim life on the German island of Rügen during Hitler’s regime ...
The Other Windsor Girl, Georgie Blalock, William Morrow - Georgie Blalock’s novel, The Other Windsor Girl, is a fictional non-literary romance novel based on British royalty research. She focuses on Princess Margaret, daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, second in line to the throne after sister Queen Elizabeth II.