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BookBrowse Highlights
| October 30, 2014
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Hello
There is much to discover in this week's issue including Michel Faber's new book, The Book of Strange Things - quite different to his 2002 bestseller The Crimson Petal and the White, but no less exceptional.
We've also just opened a discussion of Finding the Dragon Lady about Vietnam's Madam Nhu, once described as "the most dangerous enemy a man can have."
And we have copies of Alice McDermott's Someone to give away.
All this and much more to explore in this week's issue. Thanks for reading!
Davina, BookBrowse Editor
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Some of BookBrowse's content is available for free but full access is for members. If you are not yet a member please consider subscribing. Find out more!
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 1. First Impressions: Members Recommend
Each month we give away books to US resident members to read and review. Here are their opinions on one recently published book:  The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber Publisher: Hogarth Books Publication Date: Oct 2014 Novel, Sci-Fi, 480 pages
Number of reader reviews: 39 Readers' consensus: 4.1/5.0
Members Say
"Michel Faber is a genius. This masterpiece explores faith in the context of religion, marriage, friendship and humanity. The author's seamlessly ability transcends traditional genres in telling the tale of a marriage complicated by distance and faith. This book is mesmerizing - the events on earth and the new planet are fascinating. The end of the novel is perplexing - almost a beginning. This is a must read - it propels you to the end. Excellent!" - Jan T. (Leona Valley, CA)
"I don't know how to begin to review this book except to say it's thrilling, frightening, and compelling. I would recommend it as a 'must read' on anyone's book list." - Chris H. (Wauwatosa, WI)
I loved The Crimson, The Petal and the White, but this book is as different as two books could be! This is also a book I might not have picked up had I known what it was about - not a sci-fi fan, nor would the religion heavy theme have attracted me. That would have been my loss! This insightful novel is the story of Peter, a minister with a past, who has been chosen to head to Oasis, and bring Christianity to the "Aliens". He leaves behind his beloved wife Bea. This could have been a very predictable story - but in Faber's deft hands it is anything but cookie-cutter." - Ruthie A. (Summit, NJ)
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 2. The BookBrowse Book Club
Please Join Us to Discuss:
Finding the Dragon Lady: The Mystery of Vietnam's Madame Nhu by Monique Brinson Demery
Published Oct 2014, 280 pages
"Even those familiar with the history of Vietnam will be astonished at the bizarre case of Madame Nhu. Monique Demery tracks down the original Vietnamese 'Dragon Lady' who confesses to weaknesses and heartbreak but refuses to take responsibility for her role in the war that ruined so many lives in her country and ours." - Elizabeth Becker, author of When the War Was Over: Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge
Most months we give away books to US resident members to read and discuss. While we can only send books to members, all are welcome to join the discussions.
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 3. Editor's Choice 
Red Sky in Morning by Paul Lynch
Paperback (October 01, 2014), 304 pages. Publisher: Back Bay Books. BookBrowse Rating: 5/5, Critics' Consensus: 4.7/5 Buy at Amazon | B&N | Indie Review: To crack open the cover of Paul Lynch's debut novel, Red Sky in Morning, and read the first paragraph is to hear the beginning notes of an old melody, resonant and echoing from an ancient landscape. The language seems to come from a time before the written word. It is sonorous, mystical and mythical, and with its forceful cadence, its vivid, startling imagery and word order, the reader is pulled immediately inside the dream: Night sky was black and then there was blood, morning crack of light on the edge of the earth. The crimson spill sent the bright stars to fade, hills stepping out of... 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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4. Editor's Choice 
Little Failure by Gary Shteyngart
Paperback (October 01, 2014), 368 pages. Publisher: Random House. BookBrowse Rating: 5/5, Critics' Consensus: 4.9/5 Buy at Amazon | B&N | IndieReview: "Like most Soviet Jews, like most immigrants from Communist nations, my parents were deeply conservative," writes Gary Shteyngart in his engaging memoir, Little Failure. So one can imagine that of all the career paths the Shteyngarts had in mind for their only child, writing certainly wasn't one of them. "My mother was developing an interesting fusion of English and Russian and, all by herself, had worked out the term Failurchka, or Little Failure." "'What kind of profession is this, writer?' my mother would ask. 'You want to be this?' I want to be this." And what a writer he has become! ... 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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 5. Beyond the Book: Medical Tourism  Every time we review a book we also explore a related topic. Here is a recent "beyond the book" article for...
Internal Medicine by Terrence Holt Hardcover (September 29, 2014), 240 pages. Buy at Amazon | B&N | Indie Internal Medicine is but one view of the U.S. medical system. According to The Commonwealth Fund, a private foundation looking to foster a better health care system in the USA, the U.S. ranked last in a survey of healthcare in 11 developed nations - behind Canada, ranked at #10, and way behind Germany & Netherlands in a tie at #5, with Switzerland at #2, and the United Kingdom topping the list. ... continued Read in full | More about this book
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6. Beyond the Book: Michel Faber  Every time we review a book we also explore a related topic. Here is a recent "beyond the book" article for... The Book of Strange New Things by Michel Faber Michel Faber is considered Dutch in the  Netherlands, which is where he was born; Australian in Australia, because he lived there for so long; and Scottish in Scotland, where he emigrated with his wife and family in 2003. To say this award-winning writer is revered is an understatement. Born in 1960 in The Hague, Faber studied Dutch, Philosophy, Rhetoric, and English Language at Melbourne ... continued Read in full | More about this book
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 7. Author Interview
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 8. Readalikes
 A much-anticipated second novel which tells the improbable love story of Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson and his tempestuous American wife, Fanny.
If you liked Under the Wide and Starry Sky, try these:
Paperback Feb 2014
"Tell me the story of Everest," she said, a fervent smile sweeping across her face, creasing the corners of her eyes. "Tell me about this mountain that's stealing you away from me."
Paperback Jun 2014
Headhunters on My Doorstep is a funny yet poignant account of one man's journey to find himself that will captivate travel writing aficionados, Robert Louis Stevenson fans, and anyone who has ever lost his way.
Paperback Apr 2008
An exceptional first novel based on the life of Mamah Borthwick Cheney and her clandestine love affair with famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
Paperback Nov 2013
In the spirit of Loving Frank and The Paris Wife, acclaimed novelist Melanie Benjamin pulls back the curtain on the marriage of one of America's most extraordinary couples: Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh.
More readalikes for Under The Wide & Starry Sky |
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 9. Quote: Arthur C Clarke "We have to abandon the idea that schooling is something restricted to youth. How can it be, in a world where half the things a man knows at 20 are no longer true at 40 - and half the things he knows at 40 hadn't been discovered when he was 20?" - Arthur C Clarke
 Arthur C Clarke (1917-2008) is widely considered one of the "Big Three" modern science fiction writers (the other two being Isaac Asimov and Robert Heinlein). During his 91 years he penned about 100 books and more than 1,000 short stories and essays. He is remembered for his knack of predicting the future long before most people could imagine such things. In 1945, while working as a radar technician, he published a paper predicting communications satellites but a lawyer told him that his ideas were so far fetched that they couldn't be patented - thus, when communications satellites started to appear in the 1960s, he got not a dime. continued...
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 10. Win This Book
 Someone by Alice McDermottPublished by Picador, Paperback Oct 2014,240 pages
Enter the Giveaway Reviews Each slide, each scene, from the ostensibly inconsequential to the clearly momentous, is illuminated with equal care.... if the definition of what constitutes great literature has been too narrowly perceived, the happy news is that anyone can develop the capacity to see more widely. Reading Someone isn't a bad way to begin. - New York Times, Leah Hager Cohen This book shimmers. There is nothing stale or predictable about it... In Someone, nothing extraordinary happens to an ordinary woman. But McDermott's novel manages to be gripping and resonant. In her own way, she achieves as much as the dazzling, muscular 'hysterical realists.' For she manages to break all the basic rules of writing - only quietly. - NPR, Susan Jane Gilman Starred Review. [A] deceptively simple tour de force... in her hands, an uncomplicated life becomes singularly fascinating, revealing the heart of a woman whose defeats make us ache and whose triumphs we cheer. - Publishers Weekly 5 people will each win a paperback copy of Someone. This giveaway is open to residents of the USA only, unless you are a BookBrowse member, in which case you are eligible to win wherever you live. Enter the giveaway Past Winners
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