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This Week's Top
10
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October 9,
2014
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Hello
There are three Editor's Choice
reviews to explore in this issue, two for adults and one
for young adults - in each case you can read the full
review on BookBrowse, an excerpt and go "beyond the
book" to explore a related topic.
Talking of
"Beyond the Book", imagine a world where two-thirds of
the population have died of a merciless virus and the
remainder are rebuilding and reinventing. No, this isn't
the plot to a futuristic sci-fi novel but a picture of
15th century Europe in the wake of the Black Death -
find out more about the dawn of the age of invention in
our Beyond the Book article for Gutenberg's
Apprentice.
In a previous issue we explored
fiction and nonfiction about US soldiers serving in the
Middle-East and returning from service. In this issue we
suggest books written by and about people living in the
region.
Also, members - don't miss our First
Impressions offer this month - we have 200 copies of 6
early 2015 books to share with
you!
Davina
BookBrowse Founder &
Editor
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 1. Editor's
Choice: Hardcover
The
Invention of Exile by Vanessa Manko
Hardcover
(August 14, 2014), 304 pages. Publisher:
Penguin Press. BookBrowse Rating: 5/5,
Critics' Consensus: 4.8/5 Buy at Amazon |
B&N |
IndieReview:
It is hard to believe that Vanessa Manko hasn't
been an immigrant herself, given her ability to
put herself in the shoes of one and imagine the
humiliations and gradual descent into paranoia
brought on by years of living in a constant state
of expectation. Austin Voronkov, the
protagonist of The Invention of Exile, is a
Russian-born man who, in 1920, after seven years
of law-abiding life in the United States, is
deported back to the Soviet Union under the false
accusation of anarchism. In love with Julia, one
of his landlady's daughters, Austin marries her
before being deported ... continued
Full access to our
reviews & beyond the book articles are for members only. But
there are always four free Editor's Choice
reviews and beyond the book articles on our
homepage. |
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2. Editor's
Choice: Paperback
The
Luminaries by Eleanor Catton
Paperback
(October 01, 2014), 864 pages. Publisher:
Little Brown & Company. BookBrowse Rating:
5/5, Critics' Consensus: 5.0/5 Buy at Amazon |
B&N |
Indie Review:
At 848 pages, The Luminaries is the longest
book I've ever read. And possibly the most
complicated besides. There is a large cast of
central players-nineteen live ones, one dead-as
well as additional supporting characters, each one
contributing a crucial part to this lively and
entertaining story, a mystery charged with all the
deadly sins; most particularly greed and lust.
Storylines are not always told in a linear
fashion; we shift back and forth in time. With
exquisite prose, Eleanor Catton weaves together
many individual stories to paint a rich picture at
a pivotal moment in ... continued
Full access to our
reviews & beyond the book articles are for members only. But
there are always four free Editor's Choice
reviews and beyond the book articles on our
homepage. |
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3. Editor's Choice:
YA
Six
Feet Over It by Jennifer Longo
Hardcover
(August 01, 2014), 352 pages. Publisher: Random
House. BookBrowse Rating: 5/5, Critics'
Consensus: 5.0/5 Buy at Amazon |
B&N |
Indie Review:
Leigh is haunted by death. Her father, Wade, has
recently - and without prior warning - bought a
graveyard and moved the family on site. Although
Wade loves the idea of living in a "park" as in
"memorial park," he always seems to vanish when
someone arrives in need of their services. Forced
into selling gravesites and tombstones, teenaged
Leigh understandably dreads receiving customers;
again and again, she is required to assist
grieving families with a tragic and difficult
purchase. While the pressure of the job weighs on
Leigh, it turns out she has a talent for it.
Deeply mired ... continued
Full access to our
reviews & beyond the book articles are for members only. But
there are always four free Editor's Choice
reviews and beyond the book articles on our
homepage. |
|
 4. First
Impressions: Free Books for Members
This
month's First Impressions books are now available
for our USA resident members to choose. We have a
total of 200 early reader editions of these six
2015 books to share with our members, with the
understanding that recipients will do their best
to write a brief review within about a month of
receiving the book. Offer closes 9am ET Monday Oct
13.
A lot
of BookBrowse's content is available for free but
full access to all our reviews, "beyond the book"
articles, themed reading suggestions and
readalikes is for members only. Most readers of
this newsletter are not members.
Membership
is $10 for 3 months or $35 for a year.
If you decide to join and do so by close
of this weekend you'll be able to request one of
these books and have a very good chance of
receiving it as we assign books primarily on when
somebody last received one, so new members are top
priority. First Impressions runs each month, so if
you don't see a book you like this month, there's
always next month. Full details on our join
page. |
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 5. Author
Interview
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 6. Beyond the
Book
Fifteenth
Century: Dawn of the Age of
Invention
Every time
we review a book we also explore a related topic.
Here is a recent "beyond the book" article
for
Gutenberg's
Apprentice by Alix Christie
The
Black Plague had claimed as much as two-thirds of
Europe's population in the 14th Century. Life
seemed fragile at best, and people who could write
felt like it was important to get things down in
black and white, to record their stories for
posterity. Furthermore, the Church, the medieval
everyman's raison d'etre, had pretty much failed
them. So some began to question if there was
... continued Read in
full | More about this
book |
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7. Publishing Soon
Each month BookBrowse previews 80-100
notable books. Here is a particularly interesting
title from these upcoming books.  The Birth
of the Pill by Jonathan EigPublisher:
W.W. Norton & Company Publication Date: Oct
13, 2014 History, Science & Current
Affairs, 400 pages Critic's Opinion: 5/5
Buy at Amazon |
B&N |
Indie
We
know it simply as "the pill," yet its genesis was
anything but simple. Jonathan Eig's masterful
narrative revolves around four principal
characters: the fiery feminist Margaret Sanger,
who was a champion of birth control in her
campaign for the rights of women but neglected her
own children in pursuit of free love; the
beautiful Katharine McCormick, who owed her
fortune to her wealthy husband ...
continued
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 8. Blog: Relive
World War I Day by Day
 Would you like
to know more about World War I but are nervous
about getting bogged down in weighty nonfiction or
possibly flawed fiction reads? Do you
enjoy listening to a good yarn that wraps
historical fact around a great narrative
story? If you do, then I urge to tune into
BBC Radio 4's Home Front.
continued...
Read this blog
post | All blog posts
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 9. Middle-East
Whatever
your interests you can find the books that are
just right for you by browsing and
cross-referencing our recommended reading lists by
genre, time period, setting and wide variety of
themes.
The Middle-East is much in the
news, and likely to be for sometime to come. In a
previous issue we explored fiction and nonfiction
about US soldiers serving in the Middle-East and
returning from service. In this issue we suggest
books with a contemporary setting, written by and
about people living in the region.
 An
Unnecessary Woman by Rabih
Alameddine
Hardcover:
Feb 2014, Paperback 13 Jan 2015
Lebanon:
From the author of the international bestseller
The Hakawati comes an enchanting story of
a book-loving, obsessive, seventy-two-year-old
"unnecessary" woman with a past shaped by the
Lebanese Civil
War |
 The
Girl Who Fell to Earth by Sophia
Al-Maria
Paperback:
Nov 2012
Qatar:
The Girl Who Fell to Earth heralds the
arrival of an electric new talent and takes us
on the most personal of quests: the voyage
home. |
 Scenes
from Village Life by Amos
Oz
Hardcover:
Oct 2011, Paperback Sep 2012
Israel:
A portrait of a fictional village, by one of the
world's most admired
writers. |
 I
Shall Not Hate by Izzeldin
Abuelaish
Hardcover:
Jan 2011, Paperback Jan 2012
Palestine:
The extraordinary, riveting story of a
Palestinian doctor who, rather than seek revenge
after witnessing his three daughters' deaths by
Israeli tank shells, continues his humanitarian
call for the people of the region to come
together in understanding, respect, and
peace. |
 Beirut
39 by Samuel Shimon
Paperback:
Jun 2010
An
exciting collection of the best new writing from
the Arab world, by thirty-nine writers under
thirty-nine. |
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 10.
Wordplay Solve
one of our fiendish wordplay puzzles, and be
entered to win the book of your choice! Enter now
This week's wordplay
clue: B A Rock A A H
P
The answer to
last Week's Wordplay: Keep Y S
O
" Keep your shirt
on" Meaning: Stay calm This
expression probably refers to the tendency of a
man who is about to fight to take his shirt off
before fighting (this might not be the case today,
but in the days when most people had only one or
two sets of clothes it would have been prudent to
protect them.) In 1854 it was used in
The Spirit of the Times by George W Harris
who wrote "I say, you durned ash cats, just keep
yer shirts on, will ye?" Note: 'Keep your
socks on' was also considered a correct answer in
this
quiz. |
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