5/23/2012: This was an engrossing and suspenseful read, despite the fact that the main character wasn't particularly likeable. Watching a respected physician lose her mental integrity, her memories, and her ability to care for herself was tragic; that she alone may know the details of her best friend's murder really ratchets up the tension. I will definitely be on the lookout for future books by this author.
5/21/2012: This was one of the best books I have ever read. Being a high school student helped me relate to so many characters in the book. I recommend this book to every high school student, as the characters can all be found in any school. There is the bully, the misfit, the popular kids. A incident occurs among the students where an email posting(which was supposed to be private) is sent out to all the school and causes a terrible situation for the sender. This is such a case of something any...
5/21/2012: The Sense of an Ending is the 11th novel by Julian Barnes. In his sixties, retired, Tony Webster sees his life as pretty ordinary: career, marriage, amicable divorce, one child, two grandchildren. So the letter from a lawyer, informing him of an unexpected bequest of money and some documents, is surprising and intriguing. A blast from the past, it has him thinking back to high school friends, Adrian Finn in particular, and his first girlfriend at college, Veronica Ford. As Tony examines his...
5/18/2012: Contrary to Howard Jacobson's contention that Australian readers prefer their fiction to be "unwritten" and "unfictional", I prefer a novel to be without haphazardness of structure and about people who stretch my boundaries of empathy. There's a tang of narcissism in Finkler. This puts Jacobson in the category of "un-writer" - the sort of author that he denigrated in his 1987 travel book "In the Land of Oz". I admire Jacobson's humour, but would have...
5/5/2012: Chesapeake Blue is the fourth of the Chesapeake Bay series by Nora Roberts. It is the story of Seth Quinn, who as a ten-year-old , was bought from his mother (Ray’s estranged daughter, Gloria deLauter) by Ray Quinn and raised by Ray’s adopted sons, Cam, Ethan and Phil. After years of promoting his art around the continent, Seth Quinn wants to come home to St Christopher, to the security of the place he grew up in. When he arrives, he meets Drusilla Whitcomb Banks, granddaughter of a Senator,...
5/4/2012: Thirty nine people in one lifeboat adrift for many weeks waiting for rescue, some strong some not. Rogan takes what is a relatively simple plot line and than fills it with moral ambiguities and decisions that keeps the reader wondering what will happen next. Not sure what I think of the main character and narrator Grace, we are filled in on her back story, except to say that I felt she was definitely an opportunist, but above all she is a survivor, not only of the ship sinking and subsequent...
5/1/2012: My goodness but this book was fantastic! His use of local color and dialect, his descriptions, his use of the weather to ratchet up the tension, and all this from a first time author. The town midwife, Adelaide, who sees it as her job to protect the children, the sheriff, who has plenty of tragedy in his own life, and the two young boys, Jess, who is in third grade, and his older but mute brother, Christopher. When evil comes to their small Appalachian town in the form of itinerant preacher,...
5/1/2012: I have read a lot of novels about ancient Jerusalem during this era but I must begin this particular review with one word – WOW!! I was completely entranced with Alice Hoffman’s The Dovekeepers which took place during the Roman siege during the first century CE.
The story is told through the voices of four different women: Yael, Revka, Aziza and Shirah. Each of these women had secrets about where they came from, who they are, who their fathers were, and who they love. Each of the women’s...
4/28/2012: Set during the civil war, the wife of a slave owning plantation, is sentenced to the lunatic asylum on Sibella Island. There she meets many different characters, some sane some not, and Ambrose who is scarred by his own actions in the war. This novel is a quiet novel, almost ethereal in tone, because the reader learns what sent these people here in flashback and conversations from the characters instead of directly from the acts. Loved the doctor's son, a young boy who fears he himself in...
4/21/2012: There is not a dull moment in this book. The storyline about multiple generations of a German/American family is engrossing, and there are plenty of humorous situations. Alex George has plenty to say and he says it well. I could just hear that four-part barbershop quartet harmony!
4/21/2012: Definitely held my interest, since I haven't stopped reading it since I picked it up. Set in 1892, in Portland, a prostitute is murdered and a newly appointed detective and a half Abenaki Indian profiler must team together to solve the case. New investigative techniques and a duo that slightly resemble Holmes and Watson, the Salem Witch hunts and an uncanny ability to make the reader actually feel that they are in this time period mark this series debut by a new author, nothing short of...
4/17/2012: What a beautiful book, both the story itself and the actual book. The cover is a stunning design, and different parts of the story have front pages with gorgeous calligraphy - it really is beautifully designed and presented.
The subject of the novel fascinated me, the language of flowers and each flower's individual meaning - something that I knew nothing about, although I believe that our latest member of the Royal Family - Kate Middleton is very interested in the subject.
I was also...
4/16/2012: What a fascinating and well written study on the differences between introverts and extroverts and what goes in to making them that way. I believe anyone managing people in any capacity should read this book as well as parents who are raising children, wondering why they are so different. Highly informative and the examples used are many well known people. I was surprised by quite a few that I thought were extroverts, were not and vice versa.
4/15/2012: This is one of the best books I have ever read. I picked this up at the book fair with little knowing how Sally Gardner would take us through the life of a girl with a heart wrenching story. This book is expertly written; and I think this book should be more recognised. I have recommended it to friends, who have also experienced tears, laughter and joy reading this excellent novel.
4/14/2012: I have read many books on a variety of subjects. This over~70 retired psychologist has found this read to be a rich and satisfying feast. A richness and depth in this novel from such a youthful looking writer. I await Gil Adamsons next masterpiece with high anticipation. For me its a 5/5. NG.
4/14/2012: "Angelmaker" is, as protagonist Joshua Joseph Spork scoffs, an exaggeratedly corny name for a doomsday machine powered by clockwork bees. But as we discover, everything about this story has a double meaning at least, and no one--not even the hapless Spork, despite what he thinks--is quite who he or she seems. Part steampunk, part wry London contemporary, it's "Auntie Mame" meets "A Prairie Home Companion" meets (incongruously) "Clockwork Orange" meets...
4/13/2012: Next to Love is well-written, which makes the potentially maudlin subjects presented here interesting and thought provoking. With Feldman's clean, spare writing, the reader is allowed to think independently. Her writing is varied and interesting, and she does not repeat or spoon feed, for which I was very grateful. Babe, the main character, is the least babe-like woman in the book, and she suffers for her intelligence. And in a different way, so do the women who blindly conform to...
4/10/2012: I am 11 and loved this book even if it was not for my age group. The gripping storyline made it very hard for me to put down. I would recommend this book to anybody that likes books with adventure. I personally say it is one of may favourite books.
4/9/2012: This was a fantastic historical mystery taking place in 1852 New York City. The potato famine has caused hundreds of thousands of Irish immigrants to flock to New York, causing untoward problems between the protestants and the newly arrived Catholics. The Five Point area, 6th district is a poor violent area full of corruption and crime. A new police force, the predecessor to the NYPD is formed, the men wearing the badge are called Copper stars by the residents. Add to that a murderer of...
The first biography of Clarence Birdseye, the eccentric genius inventor whose fast-freezing process revolutionized the food industry and American agriculture.
BookExpo America will broadcast live author appearances for the first time(May 24 2012) For the first time, BookExpo America is making author appearances at the show available for viewing online live or on demand, via Livestream. It is...
Full Story
