Tessa Bright Wildsmith News for Maryville, TN from Blount Today

Tessa Bright Wildsmith

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Tessa Bright Wildsmith writes the weekly book review Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading. With what little free time she has away from designing advertising and page layouts for Blount Today, she tries to use reading. Tessa loves books of all kinds, but mostly fiction. Some of her favorite authors are Chuck Palahniuk, Kelly Armstrong, Andre Dubus III, Diane Setterfield and Sarah Waters. Feel free to email her any suggestions you have for a great book.

Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading: The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood Published 3/1/2010 at 10:12 a.m. 0 comments
As “The Blind Assassin” opens, young Laura Chase drives her car off a bridge killing herself. Her sister, Iris, gets the call of her accident. As Iris recounts the story, she seems cold and removed from her sister’s death. From ...
Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading: Loving Frank by Nancy Horan Published 2/22/2010 at 10:10 a.m. 0 comments
Loving Frank is an historical fiction novel about Frank Lloyd Wright and his mistress, Mamah. Since I knew little of the relationship between the famed architect and his mistress, this was a stunning, moving story for me. In early 1900s ...
Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston Published 2/15/2010 at 11:49 a.m. 0 comments
In honor of Black History Month, I thought I’d review “Their Eyes Were Watching God” by Zora Neale Hurston. I have mixed feelings about this book. I loved it and hated it at the same time. Let me explain. I ...
Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading: Deception Point by Dan Brown Published 2/1/2010 at 10:39 a.m. 0 comments
Author Dan Brown is probably best known for his books “Angels and Demons” and “The DaVinci Code.” He’s also written some lesser known books like “Deception Point” that deserve just as much praise but rarely get it. NASA has recently ...
Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading: Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen Published 1/19/2010 at 11:16 a.m. 0 comments
Jacob Jankowski is 90. Or 93. One or the other, as he puts it. We meet Jacob as a cranky old man living in a nursing home watching the days pass by. He spends his days annoyed at the nurses, ...
Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading: The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst Published 1/4/2010 at 4:58 p.m. 0 comments
“The Dogs of Babel” seems, at first, to be a crazy story about a man trying to teach his dog to speak. This story is so much more than that. Paul Iverson is grief stricken when his wife, Lexy, falls ...
Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading: The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova Published 12/21/2009 at 1:01 p.m. 0 comments
“The Historian” is a thrilling, gothic, historical, mystery novel. There are so many different parts to it that I’m not sure exactly how to classify it. The story begins in 1972. A 16-year-old American girl living in Amsterdam finds a ...
Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading: A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini Published 11/30/2009 at 10:37 a.m. 0 comments
I don’t know that I would have ever picked up “A Thousand Splendid Suns” if someone hadn’t raved about it and said that I had to read it. I’m so glad that they did. The story covers 30-something years of ...
Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading: House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III Published 11/25/2009 at 2:01 p.m. 0 comments
“House of Sand and Fog” was one of those books that moved me to my core. Kathy Nicolo is down on her luck. She’s estranged from her husband, alone and broke. Massoud Amir Behrani isn’t having the best of times ...
Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading: Fingersmith by Sarah Waters Published 11/16/2009 at 11:07 a.m. 0 comments
Susan Trinder and Maud Lilly are both orphans. Susan has been raised in a house of thieves in London, while Maud has been raised as a lady in the English countryside. Neither girl knows the other exists until a grifter ...
Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading: Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya Published 11/2/2009 at 10:58 a.m. 0 comments
When “Bless Me, Ultima” was announced as The Big Read selection for this year, my publisher was very excited and insistent that I read and review it. Honestly, I wasn’t looking forward to it. Maybe it’s some sort of prejudice ...
Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading: Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold Published 10/19/2009 at 4:04 a.m. 0 comments
Susie Salmon is a typical 14-year-old girl. She’s looking forward to starting high school. She has her first crush. She loves her family and she’s trying to find out who she is. Susie, however, is dead.
Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See Published 10/5/2009 at 10:34 a.m. 0 comments
“Snow Flower and the Secret Fan” is an intriguing book. It is filled with situations that are hard to imagine because they were so foreign to my modern mind. We are introduced to Lily, a seven-year-old girl living in nineteenth-century ...
Leave me alone, I'm reading: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson Published 9/28/2009 at 10:45 a.m. 0 comments
I had high expectations for “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” by Stieg Larsson. My expectations were met, for the most part, but I have to say I was a little disappointed with some parts of the book. “The Girl ...
Leave Me Alone, I'm Reading: The Way The Crow Flies by Ann-Marie MacDonald Published 9/21/2009 at 11:03 a.m. 0 comments
“The Way The Crow Flies” is several stories in one. It’s a story of growing up and realizing parents are imperfect. It’s about lost innocence and human morality. It’s about love and protection. It’s also a murder mystery. The story ...