The Bibliophile's Compass

1941  Candle in the Wind by Maxwell Anderson Adrift in the Caribbean, wrecked against a reef, stranded alone on an island with someone who called himself Mike Scott--Samantha tried desperately to recall the events that had brought her to such an impasse. 1992  The Sisters Rosensweig by Wendy Wasserstein Wasserstein writes of three Jewish middle-aged sisters-Sara, Gorgeous, and Pfeni-who come together in London to celebrate Sara’s birthday. Winner of the Outer Critics Circle Award. 2024 Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret by Benjamin Stevenson ( My Review )  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Benjamin Stevenson returns with a Christmas addition to his bestselling, “deviously good fun” (Nita Prose), Ernest Cunningham mysteries. Unwrap all the Christmas staples: presents, family, an impossible murder or two, and a deadly advent calendar of clues. 2024 How Does That Make You Feel, Magda Eklund?  by Anna Montague A funny and moving novel about love, loss, and new beginnings found on an ...

2022 Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson ( My Review )  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ When the Australian Mystery Writers’ Society invited me to their crime-writing festival aboard the Ghan, the famous train between Darwin and Adelaide, I was hoping for some inspiration for my second book. Fiction, this time: I needed a break from real people killing each other. Obviously, that didn’t pan out. 2023 Tremor by Teju Cole A weekend spent antiquing is shadowed by the colonial atrocities that occurred on that land. A walk at dusk is interrupted by casual racism. A loving marriage is riven by mysterious tensions. And a remarkable cascade of voices speaks out from a pulsing metropolis. Winner of The Anisfield-Wolf Book Award Finalist for The National Book Critics Circle Award 2023 The Future Future by Adam Thirlwell (UK) A wild story of female friendship, language, and power, from France to colonial America to the moon, from 1775 to this very moment: a historical novel like no ot...

1651 Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe Crusoe runs away to sea and is promptly shipwrecked 1652 Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe Crusoe captured by Turkish pirates and enslaved for two years at Salé, on the Barbary Coast. 1659 Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe Crusoe leaves Brazil on his disastrous slaving voyage. 1773 "Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral" by American slave Phillis Wheatley published in the UK - first known book of poetry published by a Black woman 1913 George Bernard Shaw's play "Androcles and the Lion" premieres in London The play is Shaw's retelling of the tale of Androcles, a slave who is saved by the requiting mercy of a lion. 1982 Naira Power by Buchi Emecheta is published (Uk-Nigeria) It is a narrative about corruption in which the main character Ramonu wielded power over justice due to his riches. Everything went wrong when the power went off. 2003 The King of Capri by Jeanette Winterson is published (UK) When a greedy king wakes ...

Title : Everyone this Christmas Has a Secret Author : Benjamin Stevenson Publication Year : 2024 Pages : 175 Rating : ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Genre : Crime, Mystery, Thriller, Humor, Metafiction Source : Audiobook @storytel.tr Thanks to @storytel.tr, I was able to finish my Ernest Cunningham series. Now, I will be eagerly waiting for “Everyone in This Bank is a Thief,” which is set to be released in October 2025. Generally, authors can ruin a series as they progress, but Stevenson is not one of those authors. He has become even bolder than he was in the earlier books. For goodness' sake, he wrote his Golden Rules of Crime Fiction in this one! He is more self-destructive than ever, both literally and figuratively. I know I’m not dealing with a logical narrative, even though it pretends to be one. But how on Earth does the main character get hurt in each book and continues to function physically and mentally? I worry about Ernest if the series reaches the tenth book! At this rate, there would ...

Title : Everyone On This Train Is A Suspect Author : Benjamin Stevenson Publication Year : 2023 Pages : 371 Rating : ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Genre : Crime, Mystery, Thriller, Humor, Metafiction Source : Audiobook @everand_us After reading “Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone,” I realized that if a book combines mystery, humor, metafiction, and crime, it definitely has my full attention. Plus, I have this particular quirk—once I start a series, I'm all in, come hell or high water! Thankfully, I haven’t begun any series that seem to go on forever, like the 40th book in a never-ending series XXX. So, when I dove into his second book, “Everyone On This Train Is A Suspect,” I was armed with high expectations, and believe me, Stevenson delivered like a well-trained waiter at a five-star restaurant. Now, let’s get to the juicy stuff—the plot! The title does all the work: everyone on this train is a suspect. Picture this: Ernest, our charmingly neurotic narrator, is aboard a train where famous ...

Title : Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone Author : Benjamin Stevenson Publication Year : 2022 Pages : 371 Rating : ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Genre : Crime, Mystery, Thriller, Humor, Metafiction Source : Audiobook @everand_us I was looking for something light and entertaining, something that would definitely make me laugh, and Stevenson did not disappoint! The humor was sharp, witty, and refreshingly clever—definitely a solid four stars right from the start! Then, just when I thought it couldn't get any better, our charismatic narrator, Ernest Cunningham, an author in his own right, reveals all the juicy secrets—not just about the murders, but also about how he crafted this captivating tale. Just like that, it earned five stars! So, what’s the plot? Well, the title gives it all away: it’s about a family with a killer streak—literally! Our goal, as curious readers, is to figure out how every single member of this clan, even the extended family, became a murderer! You can’t help but wonder...