Rated of 5
by Rachel D. (Leominster, MA) The Lost and Forgotten Languages of Shangha9
This is a novel of love and heartache. A book that I couldn't put down until I had finished it. The author shows such insight into the human emotions of the characters that it captures you from the very beginning.
Rated of 5
by Aprile G. (Northampton, Massachusetts) The Loss of Language
"The Lost and Forgotten Languages of Shanghai" is a lyrical, haunting, and engrossing book about how language and culture, and the understandings and misunderstandings that they engender, both tie people together and break them apart.
When the central character, Li Jing, has a brain injury that suddenly makes him unable to speak a word of Chinese (although he still understands it), his world, and that of his wife, father, and son, is thrown into turmoil. The parallel experiences of his American doctor, Rosalyn Neal, of isolation and connection are compelling, and ultimately heartbreaking. The book chronicles the characters' struggles, moments of connection, and missteps so seamlessly that you feel you are experiencing what the characters are experiencing. This is a book to be savored, and there is much to spark lively discussion.
Rated of 5
by Lani S. (Narberth, PA) A great postulate gone south
The premise of the book held much promise and I eagerly awaited reading it. That said, I was disappointed. The most engaging parts were contemplating the questions of who are without language and whether a common language is important to the emotional connection with one another. However, the plot felt like a predictable soap opera,with characters I did not find believable. Indeed, the Dr.'s unprofessional behavior was so abhorrent and unlikely that it hindered my belief in the rest of the novel.
A bold, mesmerizing novel about the woman known as "Typhoid Mary," the first known healthy carrier of typhoid fever in the burgeoning metropolis of early twentieth century New York.
Stranger than fiction, blending tragedy and farce, How to Create the Perfect Wife is an engrossing tale of the radicalism, and deep contradictions, at the heart of the Enlightenment.
Z, the novel about the life of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald is at points charming and; like another reviewer, I kept thinking of the movie, "Midnight...
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Although heavy on the scientific details, which slowed down the story for me (OK, I admit, I was one of those liberal arts majors who skipped out on...
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Loved this book. Magical, quirky, enchanting I could go on. All books do not have to be literary fiction, sometimes it is just so comforting to read...
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U.S. ebook sales up in 2012, but rate of growth is slowing(May 16 2013) In 2012, trade book sales (i.e. non academic book sales) rose 6.9%, to $15.049 billion, and e-book sales continued to grow, although the rate of growth...
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of 5
by Rachel D. (Leominster, MA) 
of 5
by Lani S. (Narberth, PA) 
