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BookBrowse Highlights
| December 4, 2014
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Hi
BookBrowse 2014 Award Winners are announced below. Thank you to all of you who participated in the voting!
Also in this issue are two just published books our members have been reading for First Impressions: Backyard by Norman Draper a laugh-out-loud tale of the gardening world; and Five, a suspenseful thriller by Ursula Andrew who reviewers compare to Louise Penny.
Looking for the perfect gift for your book loving friends and family? Use our "Find-a-Book" app to mix and match our recommended reading lists by genre, time period, setting and a wide range of themes to find the perfect book. Or, give the gift that will last all year, a BookBrowse membership!
Davina
BookBrowse Editor
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  1. BookBrowse's 2014 Award Winners Thank you to all those who participated in this year's vote.
Congratulations to BookBrowse's 2014 Award Winners!
Click on the image to read the review, backstory and excerpt for each book: |
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Best Fiction
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Best Debut
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Best Nonfiction
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Best Young Adult
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Next week we'll publish the full list of 2014 BookBrowse Favorites as selected by you.
Most "people's choice" book awards actively encourage authors and publishers to send their fans to the voting page ("vote stuffing"). Clearly this gives a huge advantage to those authors with the widest fan base. Also, the standard method of voting is to simply cast a vote for a book, which again gives an advantage to the books with the highest sales. Thus most "people's choice" awards measure popularity, which is not always the same as quality! To prevent vote stuffing, only BookBrowse's members & subscribers can vote in our awards. And to ascertain quality, instead of simple popularity, voters are asked to rate each shortlisted book they've read on a 5-point scale. The winning books are those that receive the higher overall rating. This year, over 6000 votes were cast. More about the Awards.
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 2. First Impressions: Members Recommend
Each month we give away books to US resident members to read and review (or discuss). Members who choose to take part receive a free book (including free shipping) about every three months. Here are their opinions on two recently published books:   Backyard by Norman Draper Publisher: Kensington Publication Date: Nov 25, 2014 Novel, 320 pages Number of reader reviews: 19 Readers' consensus: 3.9/5.0 Members Say "This was a delight to read. One of my favorite movies of all time is 'Best of Show' which satirizes the dog show world and this book is the 'Best of Show' for the gardening world. If anyone doubts this, they haven't known obsessive gardeners... I look forward to future books of Draper's." - Janet W. (Davis, CA) "One does not have to be a gardener to thoroughly enjoy Backyard although it may add a tiny extra dimension. The characters in this book are all slightly mad and manage to get themselves into crazy situations which are laugh-out-loud funny." - Sue Z. (Cornelius, NC) "Woven into the book - and perhaps its star - are the author's vivid descriptions of lush plants and evolving garden designs, which should (and did) appeal to even gardening novices like me." - Carol C. (Troy, NY) |
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 3. First Impressions: Members Recommend
 Five by Ursula Archer Publisher: St. Martin's Minotaur Publication Date: Dec 9, 2014 Thriller, 336 pages Number of reader reviews: 23 Readers' consensus: 4.2/5.0 Members Say"Her writing style reminded me of Louise Penny which is a compliment of high praise in my opinion. The pace of the story was just right. The suspenseful plot was intriguing without being overtly creepy." - Jennifer B. (Oviedo, FL) "I found this book to be a superb thriller. The story revolves around geo-caching, which is like a scavenger hunt using technology. Very original story. Keeps you guessing right to the end." - Debbie M. (Grand Junction, CO) "Ursula Archer blew me right out of the water. Detective Beatrice and her partner, Florin, investigating crimes of murder and mayhem. Throw in a snarky ex-husband and random body parts, this book will keep you entertained." - Debb R. (Grand Island, NE) "There is much going on beneath the surface of this intelligent, very well written mystery." - Loren B. (Appleton, WI) |
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4. Free Books for Members We have 235 copies of these six great books to give away to review (First Impressions) or discuss (BookBrowse Book Club.) Offer closes Sunday 12/7.
Request Books (members only) | Membership Info
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5. Editor's Choice: Historical Fiction 
The Undertaking by Audrey Magee
Hardcover (August 01, 2014), 304 pages. Publisher: Grove Press. BookBrowse Rating: 5/5, Critics' Consensus: 4.5/5 Buy at Amazon | B&N | IndieThe Undertaking is one of those rare books: a debut novel that completely lives up to its billing. Magee's story is set in World War II Germany and is concerned with the marriage of two young people: Peter, an ordinary German with ambitions to be a teacher, but now a serving infantryman on the Eastern Front, and Katherina, a woman he has never met. In an unconventional but historically accurate ceremony, the two are married to each other's photographs even though they are thousands of miles apart. By marrying, Peter gains leave to visit his new wife in Berlin and Katherina has the... 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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6. Editor's Choice: Ages 9 Through Adult 
Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin
Hardcover (October 01, 2014), 240 pages. Publisher: Feiwel & Friends. BookBrowse Rating: 5/5, Critics' Consensus: 5.0/5 Buy at Amazon | B&N | IndieAnn M. Martin possesses the rare ability to speak well and clearly for every character in her book. Indeed I'm having a hard time writing this review without tearing up with the emotion she made me feel, not just for Rose (rows) - the story's narrator - but for her father, her uncle, her teacher, and for Rain (reign) her dog. It is all via the guileless voice of Rose who, with dispassionate descriptions that cut like a hot knife through butter, replaces her sense of muzziness with clarity. Ms. Martin knows that if Rose can understand what's going on and what people are feeling, so ... 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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 7. Beyond the Book: Urban Aquaculture  Every time we review a book we also explore a related topic. Here is a recent "beyond the book" article for On Such a Full Sea by Chang-rae Lee - a vividly imagined tale of a future America.
Paperback (December 02, 2014), 432 pages.
As the temperature of oceans continues to rise, creating unstable environments for large-scale fishing, and as the world population keeps increasing, fish farming or aquaculture, which can be done in oceans, ponds or tanks, has been increasingly used to supplement diets. The two primary types of aquaculture include extensive aquaculture where the chemical composition of ponds is altered so as to increase the production of phytoplankton and correspondingly, increase the production of fish, and intensive aquaculture, which includes a variety of external methods to increase fish production. ... continued Read in full | More about this book
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 8. Author Interview  Vanessa Manko discusses her debut novel, The Invention of Exile, inspired in part by her own family history, and a shameful episode in America's fight against communism. Read the Interview | The Invention of Exile
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 9. Find the Perfect Gift with Find-A-Book
Looking for the perfect book to gift this season? Use BookBrowse's Find-a-Book app to mix and match our recommended reading lists to find the book that are just right for each of your recipients, with the reassurance that all books are personally recommended by our reviewers.
We have almost 200 lists to explore and cross-reference - including geographic setting, time period, genre and a wide range of themes.
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 10. Win This Book  The Weight of Blood by Laura McHughPublished Mar 2014
320 pages
Enter the Giveaway
From the Jacket For fans of Gillian Flynn, Scott Smith, and Daniel Woodrell comes a gripping, suspenseful novel about two mysterious disappearances a generation apart. Available now in hardcover. Paperback publishes Dec 30, 2014 "Starred Review. Debut novelist McHugh comes out swinging with this gripping tale set in the Ozarks of Missouri... Her prose will not only keep readers turning the pages but also paints a real and believable portrait of the connections, alliances, and sacrifices that underpin rural, small-town life in Henbane... Strongly recommended for readers who enjoy thrillers by authors such as Laura Lippman and Tana French."- Library Journal 5 people will each win a paperback copy of The Weight of Blood. 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 might live. Enter the giveaway Past Winners
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 About BookBrowse
Get to know BookBrowse through our 4-part introductory series:
Back issues of this newsletterYou might also be interested in the content of our About section, including how we got started, profiles of our editorial staff and reviewers, and answers to frequently asked questions. |
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