All the Ms: Marechera to Margolis

Marechera, Dambudzo: From a short story collection, The House of Hunger, I read “Burning in the Rain.” It is beautifully written, if depressing like so many short stories, and holds within it hints of classic tropes: the Mirror, Dorian Gray’s portrait.

Mesha Maren: Perpetual West is a big book that is quite beautifully written and seems from the beginning inexpressibly sad. I can handle sad, but I don’t go in for it on a continual basis. Moving on…

Margaret, Joanna: The Bequest is quite gripping. It is described as a “Gothic Mystery” and the beginning actually reminded me of Rebecca. However, I prefer mystery to suspense–despite reading Rebecca and most of Mary Stewart when I was younger. 

Margolin, Phillip: Murder at Black Oaks is extremely straight-forward: here’s the problem, here are the suspects. Hey, this is a murder mystery with lawyers! I like such a blunt approach! I may check out another Margolin novel (aside from the fact that I’m not a huge fan of “get that innocent person off death row” plots). 

Margolis, Seth: Despite the rough writing in places—I’m not a huge fan of the overuse of “you” as a generic pronoun–Closing Costs (sometimes, lowercase, but I thought it was a typo when I came back to the list, so I'm upcasing it here) is engaging. I might read more if I cared more about upperclass New York City life. 

Margolis, Sue: Perfect Blend is chick-lit rather than romance. In a way, I suppose “chick-lit” is a sub-genre of romance. But I separate them. To me, chick-lit is about the world of (usually) the heroine. Romance, on the other hand, is about the relationship. There’s a lot of cross-over, but basically, it’s Cinderella versus Beauty & the Beast. I prefer the latter.