
A review of Kate Morton's novel The Forgotten Garden.
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Short reviews of Jellicoe Road, The Sense of An Ending, The Future of Us, Lost At Sea: The Jon Ronson Mysteries, One Last Thing Before I Go, People Who Eat Darkness and Moranthology.
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Short reviews of Robopocalypse, The Twelve, The Graveyard Book, The Journal of Best Practices, and Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake.
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Short reviews of A Grown Up Kind of Pretty, Let's Pretend This Never Happened, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, How To Be A Woman, and The Casual Vacancy.
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Short reviews of Broken Harbor, So Cold The River, I Am America (And So Can You), Losing Clementine, and I Hardly Ever Wash My Hands: The Other Side of OCD.
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Short reviews of State of Wonder, Take the Cannoli, The Partly Cloudy Patriot, Wild, State by State and Savages.
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Book reviews: Devil in The White City; After The Quake; Gang Leader for A Day; Dear American Airlines; and Heft.
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A collection of short book reviews, including: When Will There Be Good News; Started Early, Took My Dog; The Man Who Mistook His Wife for A Hat; Girl In Translation; Curtains; and Game Change.
Read more →A review of the second Simon Serraillier novel, The Pure In Heart, by Susan Hill.
Read more →A review of Richard Matheson's book I Am Legend.
Read more →A review of John Ajvide Lindqvist's vampire horror book Let Me In.
Read more →Mini reviews of Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, The Marriage Plot by Jeffrey Eugenides, The 500 by Matthew Quirk and The Taker by Alma Katsu.
Read more →Short reviews of three audiobooks: Moonwalking with Einstein by Joshua Foer, The Art of Fielding by Chad Harbach and The Odds by Stewart O'Nan.
Read more →Mini reviews of three great reads: 11/22/63 by Stephen King, Oryx & Crake by Margaret Atwood and Await Your Reply by Dan Chaon.
Read more →Five super mini book reviews of I Am The Messenger, The Call, Lamb, The Lifeboat and The Sugar Queen
Read more →Super mini reviews of Olive Kitteridge, Drop Dead Healthy, Steve Jobs, Fun Home and Perfection.
Read more →A review of The Hypnotist's Love Story by Liane Moriarty.
Read more →Reviews of Graceling, Divergent and A Friend of the Family.
Read more →Super Mini Reviews of five books: Earth: The Book, A Northern Light, Revolutionary Road, The Namesake and The Slap.
Read more →Mini Reviews of Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, The Book of Joe and Everything Is Wrong With Me.
Read more →A review of Tiny Beautiful Things: Advice on Love and Life From Dear Sugar by Cheryl Strayed.
Read more →A review of Mark Haddon's latest novel, The Red House.
Read more →Mini reviews of The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, The Chosen by Chandra Hoffman and Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami.
Read more →A review of the audiobook version of Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter by Tom Franklin.
Read more →A review of Matthew Norman's debut novel, Domestic Violets.
Read more →A review of Haruki Murakami's memoir about running and being a novelist, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running.
Read more →A review of the audibook version of The Emperor of All Maladies by Dr. Siddhartha Muhkerjee.
Read more →A review of Anne Lamott's Some Assembly Required: A Journal Of My Son's First Son
Read more →A review of Lauren Hillenbrand's book, Unbroken.
Read more →Mini reviews of Attachment by Rainbow Rowell, The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore, and V Is For Vengeance by Sue Grafton.
Read more →Mini reviews of The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz, Red Hook Road by Ayelet Waldman and Origin by Diana Abu-Jaber.
Read more →A review of S.J. Watson's novel Before I Go To Sleep.
Read more →A review of Dan Chaon's collection of short stories, Stay Awake.
Read more →A review of Kate Atkinson's second Jackson Brodie mystery, One Good Turn.
Read more →A review of Aron Ralston's real-life survival story, Between A Rock and A Hard Place.
Read more →A review of Sandra Newman's snarky guide to Western lit, The Western Lit Survival Kit.
Read more →A review of New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast's book What I Hate from A to Z.
Read more →A review of The CHICK-tionary by Anna Lefler.
Read more →A review of Amy Chua's controversial parenting memoir, Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.
Read more →A review of the audiobook of Anthony Bourdain's collection of essays, Medium Raw.
Read more →A review of the adventure/survival book The Ledge by Jim Davidson and Kevin Vaughn.
Read more →A review of the adult dystopian book The Unit by Ninni Holmqvist.
Read more →A review of the excellent YA dystopian book The Giver by Lois Lowry.
Read more →Mini-Reviews of three very different books: Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann, I Am Not Myself These Days by Josh Kilmer-Purcell and Three Cups of Deceit by Jon Krakauer.
Read more →A review of the third book of Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking Series, "Monsters of Men."
Read more →A review "The Ask and the Answer", the second book of the Chaos Walking Series by Patrick Ness.
Read more →Mini book reviews of The Fox Inheritance, Faking Smart! and When You Reach Me.
Read more →My review of The Rose Trilogy by Jennifer Donnelly, which offers densely plotting historical fiction that packs in the action, drama and romance.
Read more →Book reviews of books by two comediennes: Tina Fey's Bossypants and Chelsea Handler's My Horizontal Life.
Read more →Mini book reviews of three different books: The Bucolic Plague by Josh Kilmer-Purcell, Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson and Ten Degrees of Reckoning by Hester Rumberg.
Read more →A book review of Chevy Steven's second thriller, Never Knowing, which is being released on July 5.
Read more →A book review of Jonathan Safran Foer's novel, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, written as a letter to the author.
Read more →Three book reviews of The Lonely Polygamist by Brady Udall, Garlic and Sapphires by Ruth Reichl, and The Wordy Shipmates by Sarah Vowell.
Read more →A book review of What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty.
Read more →Three mini book reviews of The Last Days of Ptolemy Gray (Walter Mosley), Strange But True (John Searles) and The Virgin of Small Plains (Nancy Pickard).
Read more →Reviews of Packing for Mars by Mary Roach, How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming by Mike Brown, Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell, and The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot.
Read more →A book review of Darin Strauss's powerful memoir, Half A Life.
Read more →A review of Jasper Fforde's witty and whimsical book "The Big Over Easy."
Read more →Book review of Jeff Klima's humorous (but gross, graphic and profane) memoir "The Dead Janitors Club." I happened to love it ... but it definitely isn't for everyone.
Read more →Book reviews of two ghost-themed books: Laura Kasischke's "The Raising" and Laura Brodie's "The Widow's Season." I liked one a lot more than the other ... find out why!
Read more →Book reviews of "Complications" by Atul Gawande, "Strangers at the Feast" by Jennifer Vanderbes, and "Backseat Saints" by Joshilyn Jackson
Read more →A review of Carolyn Parkhurst's novel The Nobodies Album.
Read more →A review of Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Sausages by Tom Holt. Surreal, silly but great fun.
Read more →A review of Still Missing by Chevy Stevens--an edge-of-your-seat thriller.
Read more →A review of Zoo Story by Thomas French, which provides an inside look at Tampa's Lowery Park Zoo.
Read more →A review of Red in the Flower Bed by Andrea Nepa, a children's book about interracial adoption.
Read more →A review of Zeitoun by Dave Eggers, a thought-provoking and disturbing look at one man's experiences before, during and after Hurricane Katrina.
Read more →A review of the Young Adult (YA) novel, "Before I Fall," by Lauren Oliver, which I found to be memorable and notch above the other YA books I've read.
Read more →A review of Laura Lippman's book, "I'd Know You Anywhere," which I listened to on audio. I found it a compelling bit of psychological suspense.
Read more →The last book I read for the RIP Challenge, We Have Always Lived In The Castle was author Shirley Jackson's final novel. I suspect you won't forget the narrator Merricat and will drawn into this wonderfully creepy tale.
Read more →I finally get around to reading Daphne DuMaurier's classic book "Rebecca" and find it wonderfully creepy.
Read more →A book review of Mary Roach's book "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers," which proved to be amusing, educational, fascinating and gross all at once.
Read more →A review of "Superfreakonomics" by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. This accessible and fascinating book looks at a variety of topics from an economic viewpoint, including monkey prostitution.
Read more →A review of Of Bees and Mist by Erick Setiawan, an involving domestic drama with magical elements.
Read more →A book review of an amazingly funny but terrifically raunchy memoir by Rachel Shukert called "Everything Is Going To Be Great."
Read more →A review of Abraham Verghese's novel Cutting for Stone.
Read more →A review of a collection of non-fiction essays, The New Kings of Non-Fiction, edited by Ira Glass.
Read more →A review of Marisa de los Santo's lovely book, Love Walked In.
Read more →A review of Justin Cronin's epic "The Passage." It is NOT a vampire book!
Read more →A review of Nelson DeMille's latest John Corey thriller, The Lion.
Read more →A review of Jen Lancaster's weight loss memoir, Such A Pretty Fat.
Read more →A review of Sloane Crosley's book of essays "How Did You Get This Number?"
Read more →A review of Catherine O'Flynn's novel, The News Where You Are.
Read more →A review of Kazuo Ishiguro's book Never Let Me Go.
Read more →A review of Rhoda Jantzen's memoir, Mennonite In A Little Black Dress.
Read more →A meme concept by That’s A Novel Idea 1 book I read: “The Host” by Stephenie Meyer 2 words that describe the book: Sci-fi lite 3 settings where it took place or characters you met: Setting: Planet Earth (mostly in and around Arizona), sometime in the future Wanderer is a “soul,” a type of...
Read more →Four mini book reviews of An American Family by Pam Spaulding, About Alice by Calvin Trillin, Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris, Dave Barry's Only Travel Guide You'll Ever Need by Dave Barry, and Being Perfect by Anna Quindlen.
Read more →A review of The Handbook for Lightning Strike Survivors by Michele Young-Stone.
Read more →A review of Bite Me by Christopher Moore.
Read more →A review of Andrew Martin's comic guide for housekeeping for men, How To Get Things Really Flat.
Read more →A review of Marisa de los Santo's charming book, Belong To Me.
Read more →Waiting for Columbus Thomas TrofimukDoubleday, 2009ISBN: 978-0385529136336 pagesGenre: Literary FictionMy Rating: 4 stars Book Description from Shelfari A man arrives at an insane asylum in contemporary Spain claiming to be the legendary navigator Christopher Columbus. Who he really is, and the events that led him to break with reality, lie at the center of...
Read more →A meme concept by That’s A Novel Idea 1 Book you read: “Bloodsucking Fiends” by Christopher Moore 2 Words that describe the book: Vampire comedy 3 Settings where it took place or characters you met: Setting: Modern-day San Francisco Jody—A fledgling vampire who had her new lifestyle thrust upon her with no warning or...
Read more →A meme concept by That’s A Novel Idea 1 Book you read: “Julie & Julia” by Julie Powell 2 Words that describe the book: Cooking quest 3 Settings where it took place or characters you met: Setting: Modern-day New York City Julie Powell—A disgruntled New York secretary, Julie Powell feels like her life is...
Read more →After my dad died last year, I developed more than a passing interest in what happens after we die. In an effort to find out more, I read the following two books at roughly the same time. In retrospect, I realize these books are like night and day: one is a religious text from...
Read more →A meme concept by That’s A Novel Idea 1 Book you read: “Interpreter of Maladies” by Jhumpa Lahiri 2 Words that describe the book: Short story heaven 3 Settings where it took place or characters you met: This is a collection of short stories by the writer I consider to be the master of...
Read more →The Girl With the Dragon TattooThe Girl Who Played With FireSteig LarssonKnopf, 2008 and 2009Genre: FictionMy rating: 4 stars for both Here is the description for the Become A Character part of the Take Another Chance Challenge: For this challenge, you can read any book you want. However, you have to write about the...
Read more →A meme concept by That’s A Novel Idea 1 Book you read: “A Dirty Job” by Christopher Moore 2 Words that describe the book: Dying (of) Laughter 3 Settings where it took place or characters you met: Setting: San Francisco, CA, modern times Charlie Asher—a normal guy (a “Beta Male”) with a normal life...
Read more →Bad MotherAyelet WaldmanDoubleday, 2009ISBN: 978-0385527934224 pagesGenre: Non-Fiction Memoir, Parenting, EssaysMy rating: 4 stars Overview For the All in the Family part of the Take Another Chance Challenge, I had to read two books by writers who were related to each other in some way. I chose Michael Chabon (the husband) and Ayelet Waldman (the...
Read more →How I Became A Famous NovelistSteve HelyGrove Press, Black Cat, 2009ISBN: 978-0802170606224 PagesGenre: Fiction, HumorMy Rating: 4 stars The Set-Up To impress his former girlfriend at her upcoming wedding, Pete Tarslaw decides to become a famous novelist. Figuring it couldn’t be all that hard, he spends an afternoon at a bookstore studying bestselling books....
Read more →A meme concept by That’s A Novel Idea 1 Book you read: “Empire Falls” by Richard Russo 2 Words that describe the book: Small town life 3 Settings where it took place or characters you met: Setting: Empire Falls, Maine, not too long ago but not present day Miles Roby—The quintessential “nice guy,” Miles...
Read more →Reviews of three dystopic tales, The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins and In A Perfect World by Laura Kasischke.
Read more →Reviews of two delightful books featuring young girl detectives: What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn and The Sweetness At the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley.
Read more →The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life As An ExperimentA.J. JacobsSimon & Schuster, 2009ISBN: 978-1416599067256 pagesNon-Fiction, HumorMy Rating: 3.5 stars A.J. Jacobs has created his own little niche market: conducting experiments in his life and then writing about them. The first of these books, The Know-It-All, chronicled his experience reading every single page of the...
Read more →Hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. The idea is to write about some favorite booksthat you read before you started blogging! Today, I want to tell you about: Still Life with Woodpeckerby Tom Robbins The Book Description This is one of those books that kind of defies description so I’ll use one...
Read more →Bright Lights, Big AssJen LancasterNew American Library, 2007Memoir, HumorISBN: 978-0-451-22125-4382 pages This is my second Jen Lancaster book, and I enjoyed it even more than the first one (Bitter Is the New Black). A rollicking memoir by a very funny but bitchy lady, Bright Lights, Big Ass is a bit more free-wheeling than her...
Read more →A bit about one of my favorite books, The Classics Reclassified by Richard Armour.
Read more →Title: The Unlikely Disciple: A Sinner’s Semester at America’s Holiest UniversityAuthor: Kevin RoosePublishing Info: Grand Central Publishing, 2009ISBN: 978-0446178426Pages: 336Genre: Non-Fiction, Memoir In an effort to spice up my book reviews, I’ve been tinkering with different ways to review books. For this book, I thought it might be fun to review it by paying...
Read more →Title: Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper Author: Diablo Cody ISBN: 978-1-592-40273-1 Publishing Info: Gotham Books, 2006 Number of Pages: 212 Book Category: Memoir The other day when I wrote my review of Her Fearful Symmetry in the form of an open letter to the author, I had an...
Read more →Hosted by That’s A Novel Idea 1 Book you read and/or reviewed: Z for Zachariah by Robert C. O’Brien 2 Words that describe the book: Post-apocalyptic survival 3 Settings where it took place or characters you met: Setting: After a nuclear war in the United States, somewhere on the Eastern Seaboard Ann Burden—a 16-year-old...
Read more →Title: Alex & Me Author: Irene M. PepperbergPublishing Info: Harper Collins, 2008Number of Pages: 226Book Category: Memoir, Non-Fiction Book Overview The subtitle for this book is “How a Scientist and a Parrot Discovered a Hidden World of Animal Intelligence—and Formed A Deep Bond in the Process.” I think this sums it up pretty well...
Read more →Title: Creating A Charmed Life Author: Victoria MoranISBN: 978-0-06-251580-3Publishing Info: HarperOne, 1999Number of Pages: 214Book Category: Spirituality Book Overview This compact book is filled with practical and sensible advice for women (and men!) who would like to create a charmed life, which the author characterizes as unhurried, effortless and filled with grace and poise....
Read more →My Favorite Reads is hosted byAlyce at At Home With Books.The idea is to write about some favorite booksthat you read before you started blogging! In the spirit of the Halloween season, I thought I would share one of my favorite scary books with you. The thing is, this book is scary because it...
Read more →Writing about some of my favorite action books featuring John Corey.
Read more →Title: Water For Elephants Author: Sara GruenISBN: 978-1-56512-560-5Publishing Info: Algonquin Books, 2006Number of Pages: 331Book Category: Fiction Story Overview Jacob Jankowski is 90— or possibly 93. He’s not really sure. When you’re five, you know your age down to the month. Even in your twenties you know how old you are. I’m twenty-three, you...
Read more →My Favorite Reads is hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books. The idea is to write about some favorite books that you read before you started blogging! Today I want to tell you about Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Steven J. Dubner The...
Read more →A bit about one of my favorite reads, The Mezzanine by Nicholson Baker.
Read more →Title: You Suck Author: Christopher MooreISBN: 978-0-7394-8632-0Publishing Info: William Morrow, 2007Number of Pages: 328Book Category: Fiction, Humor Story Overview “You bitch, you killed me. You suck!” So begins the witty, sarcastic, bawdy romp that is You Suck — a vampire book that makes other vampire books look positively Puritanical by comparison. Tommy Flood awakens...
Read more →Title: Bitter Is The New Black Author: Jen LancasterISBN: 0-451-21760-8Publishing Info: New American Library, March 2006Number of Pages: 398Book Category: Memoir, Humor, Non-Fiction Book Overview I usually don’t like to use the blurbs on the back of the book to do my story overviews, but the one on this book is just too good...
Read more →Title: The Lost City of Z Author: David GrannISBN: 978-0-385-51353-1Publishing Info: Doubleday, February 2009Book Specs: 299 pagesBook Category: Non-Fiction Book Overview The Lost City of Z combines true-life adventure, history, biography and travel narrative in one book. The book chronicles journalist David Grann’s investigation into the mystery of what happened to British explorer Percy...
Read more →My Favorite Reads is hosted byAlyce at At Home With Books.The idea is to write about some favorite booksthat you read before you started blogging! Today I want to tell you aboutA Simple Planby Scott Smith The Book Description Two brothers find $4 million in the cockpit of a downed plane. The pilot is...
Read more →My Favorite Reads is hosted byAlyce at At Home With Books.The idea is to write about some favorite booksthat you read before you started blogging! Today I want to tell you aboutClockersby Richard Price Book Description From Paperback Swap Award-winning author Richard Price offers a viscerally affecting and accomplished portrait of inner-city America. Veteran...
Read more →Alyce over at At Home With Books had a great idea for a new meme — writing about books you loved but read before you started blogging. The idea is not to review the books (after all, even many of our favorite books become a bit hazy after a few years — well, at...
Read more →Title: Anne of Green GablesAuthor: Lucy Maud MontgomeryThere are many versions out there. I read mine on my KindleBook Specs: 304 pagesBook Category: Fiction, Children (but really, for everyone!) Story Overview On Prince Edward Island in the little town of Avonlea, brother and sister Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert decide to adopt a young boy...
Read more →Title: The Abstinence Teacher Author: Tom PerrottaISBN: 978-0-312-36354-3Published By: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2007Book Specs: 358 pagesBook Category: Fiction Story Overview Ruth Ramsey is a divorced mother with two daughters who teaches Sex Education (“Health”) at the local high school in the affluent town of Stonewood Heights. Ruth is a popular teacher with the students...
Read more →A review (of sorts) of Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. A little known book. Have you heard of it?
Read more →A review of I Love You, Beth Cooper by Larry Doyle.
Read more →A review of The Various Haunts of Men by Susan Hill.
Read more →A review of Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips.
Read more →A review of The Economist Book of Obituaries, which was much better than you might expect.
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