Rated of 5
by Patricia S. (New Canaan, CT) Would appeal to chess players
Had my parents not taught me to read a book through to the end, I might have stopped midway and given this barely a 3. I found it very tedious in the beginning and wished I knew something about the game of chess. However as the book progressed, it began to have more rhythm, and I enjoyed the writing style and Ms. DuBois' command of the English language. The last 1/3 of the book was a pleasure to read, and I was then wishing for more.
Rated of 5
by Joyce W. (Rochester, MN) Fabulous writer needs better story line
I wanted to rate this on two levels; her writing is a 5 but the story is a 3. I enjoyed her writing immensely and will look for a future book. It was a little too slow and philosophical for me and the characters were not compelling. The scenes of Russia were as I pictured it and loved the use of current politics with Putin. A little bit too many adverbs and adjectives; a more uplifting topic with her style would make a marvelous read.
Rated of 5
by Beatrice D. (Floral Park, New York) Searching for Meaning in Different Worlds
Two characters from opposite sides of the world meet in a country that is frequently in the news, yet we know so little about the life of its people.
Aleksandr, a chess prodigy from a rural village in Russia finds himself first in Leningrad where he meets people who have an influence on his life and then in Moscow.
Irina, from Cambridge, Mass., has cut all ties with her American life and is now in Moscow seeking to meet Aleksandr because of a letter she found among her late father's papers. Both are searching for answers to the meanings of their very disparate lives.
The subsidiary characters (both real and fictional), as well as the events described during this period in Russia's history make for an engaging and provocative read.
Rated of 5
by Laurie H. (Stuart, FL) Like a glass of fine red wine
Red wine and great books, these are a few of my favorite things!! I loved this book; it's nice to see that an author can have an original idea and follow it through with a great story. Like a glass of good wine, it's flavor unfolds slowly and you invest yourself in the characters; it does not disappoint. Curl up in your favorite chair and enjoy, I did.
Rated of 5
by Mary Ellen (Canfield, OH) Not a lost cause
For a first novel from a young author, this is an amazing book. It is skillfully written in a clever style, interweaving the lives of its central characters looking for answers to life's difficult question.
The characters are more interesting than appealing. The story line proceeds through a political period (also pertinent today) in a compelling manner. It is a thought-provoking read.
Rated of 5
by Sarah H. (Arvada, CO) A book worth quoting
It is rare that you find a book that combines both an engaging story and beautiful thought provoking prose. A Partial History of Lost Causes combines both, along with engaging characters and a universally accessible commentary that addresses the mundane, the cruel and the unexplainable parts of life. This is the kind of book that leaves me craving the next book from the author. And unlike some readers, I love having to go to the dictionary now and again during my reading. Having to do so every page becomes cumbersome, but a handful of well used words not in popular rotation restores the beauty of language that we have lost. I celebrate this book and it's author!
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.
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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Can an wiser, older narrator view the past with more wisdom than he might have possessed forty years earlier in the summer he was thirteen? Ordinary...
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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 Patricia S. (New Canaan, CT) 
of 5
by Joyce W. (Rochester, MN) 
of 5
by Laurie H. (Stuart, FL) 
