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BookBrowse Highlights
| January 15, 2015
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Hello
Tired of old man winter? We've got plenty here to cure you of the seasonal blues.
You can travel to 1930s China through our book club discussion of Night in Shanghai or read our review of the Costa Award winner, Ali Smith's How to Be Both.
Check out which soon-to-be-published books should be on your radar; and, if you're a member, sign up to review an upcoming release through First Impressions.
Happy reading!
Davina
BookBrowse Founder & Editor
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 1. The BookBrowse Book Club
Night in Shanghai: A Novel by Nicole Mones
Published Jan 2015, 288 pages
In this stunningly researched novel, Nicole Mones not only tells the forgotten story of black musicians in the 1930s Chinese jazz age, but also weaves in a startling true tale of Holocaust heroism little-known in the West.
"I really enjoy historical fiction where real facts propel the plot and the fictional characters makes decisions on these facts. I thought the author did a wonderful job of weaving the historical facts into the storyline. While I knew about the Japanese and their take over of China what I did not know was the extent of the number of Jewish people who found refuge there when escaping Germany and other countries in Europe. So I am glad the novel stays true to the events." - Beverly J
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 2. Editor's Choice (hardcover) 
How to be Both by Ali Smith
Hardcover (December 01, 2014), 384 pages. Publisher: Pantheon Books. BookBrowse Rating: 5/5, Critics' Consensus: 4.9/5 Buy at Amazon | B&N | Indie
How you see - and experience - Ali Smith's new novel
How to Be Both (which has just been awarded the 2014 Costa Novel of the Year Award) is a matter of chance. Inside are two intertwined stories. One, titled "one," is narrated by Francesco del Cossa, a 15th century Italian artist; the other, also titled "one," is in the voice of George, a charmingly brilliant and rebellious twenty-first century teenage girl struggling to deal with the sudden death of her mother. The order of the stories is random; half were printed with del Cossa'a story first, half the other way around.
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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 (paperback)
The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
Paperback (December 01, 2014), 288 pages. Publisher: Algonquin Books. BookBrowse Rating: 5/5, Critics' Consensus: 4.5/5 Buy at Amazon | B&N | Indie I feel like Gabrielle Zevin wrote this wonderful book, about a lonely New England bookstore owner who adopts a little girl and falls in love with life, just for me. And maybe just for you too. If one of the first things you do with a new book is pick it up and press its open pages to your face and inhale. Ahh. That smell - the heady (in a literal sense) aroma of a book, of a small neighborhood bookstore, the paper, the ink, the glue - is nearly as important to me as the story within those pages. There is nothing like it, an integral part of the whole reading enchilada. And so right from 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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 4. Beyond the Book: Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Every time we review a book we also explore a related topic. Here is a recent "beyond the book" article for
All My Puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews
All My Puny Sorrows takes its title from a line in a poem by Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 - 1834), who is considered by many to be the founder of the Romantic Movement in poetry. He is most famous for the poems Kubla Khan and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Both his works and his literary criticism had huge influences on poets William Wordsworth (who was also a close friend) and Ralph Waldo Emerson, as well as on American transcendentalism .... continued Read in full | More about this book |
 5. First Impressions: Members Recommend
Each month we give away books to US resident members to read and review ahead of publication. Members who choose to take part receive a free book (including free shipping) about every three months. Below is this month's selection:
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 6. Publishing Soon Each month BookBrowse previews 80-100 notable books. Here is a particularly interesting title from these upcoming books.  Sweetland by Michael CrummeyPublisher: Liveright / WW Norton
Publication Date: Jan 2015
Novel, 336 pages
Critic's Opinion: 5/5
The scarcely populated town of Sweetland rests on the shore of a remote Canadian island. Its slow decline finally reaches a head when the mainland government offers each islander a generous resettlement package-the sole stipulation being that everyone must leave. Fierce and enigmatic Moses Sweetland, whose ancestors founded the village, is the only one to refuse. As he watches his neighbors abandon the island, he recalls the town's rugged history and its eccentric cast of characters.. ..
" Sweetland is perhaps a perfect novel for book group discussions, as it offers numerous opportunities for interpretation and even speculation about everything from the reasons underlying Sweetland's stubbornness to the nature of his ultimate fate. It's also a powerful character study of an older, literally scarred but undefeated man, as well as a potent portrait of the land and people he adores." - Norah Piehl More about this book(our full review and backstory will be in next week's issue of BookBrowse's e-mag, The BookBrowse Review) |
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 7. Author Interview  A Conversation with SpaceGeek and Science Fanatic Andy Weir author of The Martian |
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 8. Themed Reading: Russia & the USSR
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 - including Russia & USSR
 The Betrayers by David Bezmozgis
Hardcover: Sep 2014
A compact saga of love, duty, family, and sacrifice from a rising star whose fiction is "self-assured, elegant, perceptive... and unflinchingly honest" (New York Times) |
 The Romanov Sisters by Helen Rappaport
Hardcover: Jun 2014, Paperback 16 Jun 2015
They were the Princess Dianas of their day - perhaps the most photographed and talked about young royals of the early twentieth century. The Romanov Sisters captures the joy as well as the insecurities and poignancy of those young lives. |
 All That Is Solid Melts into Air by Darragh McKeon
Paperback: Apr 2014
A gripping end-of-empire novel charting the collapse of the Soviet Union through the focalpoint of the Chernobyl disaster. |
 Glorious Misadventures by Owen Matthews
Hardcover: Nov 2013, Paperback 7 Jul 2015
From the glittering court of Catherine the Great to the wilds of the New World, Matthews conjures a brilliantly original portrait of one of Russia's most eccentric Empire-builders. |
 The Man Without a Face by Masha Gessen
Hardcover: Mar 2012, Paperback Mar 2013
The chilling account of how Vladimir Putin, a low-level, small-minded KGB operative, ascended to the Russian presidency and destroyed years of progress to make his country once more a threat to her own people and to the world. |
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 9. Pronunciations
Ever wondered how to pronounce a tricky author name? Next time you're stuck, pop over to our author pages where you'll find hundreds of author pronunciations which you can look up alphabetically, or you test yourself with an interactive game.
Here are a selection of authors with last names starting with N:
- Thich Nhat Hanh: Tik · N'yat · Hawn
- Kien Nguyen: Key-en When
- V.S. Naipaul: V S nie-PAWL
- Ann Napolitano: na-poll-ih-TAH-no (first syllable like 'ap' in apple)
- Fuminori Nakamura: nah-kah-MOOR-ah
- Celeste Ng: Ng is pronounced ing
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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 Solve this clue: "F A C Starve A F"
Answers to the Big Holiday Wordplay
Q. F A L I L V by H S T A. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson Q. A C O D by J K T A. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole Q. J L S by R B A. Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach Q. T C O T C B by J M A A. The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M Auel Q. T N O T R by U E A. The Name of the Rose by Umberto Ecco Q. T W M by M A A. Tuesdays With Morrie by Mitch Albom Q. T O M A T S by E H A. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway Q. T P O B A W by S C A. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky: Q. A P F O M by J I A. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving Q. T V H C by E C A. The Very Hungry Caterpiller by Eric Carle The winners of the Big Holiday Wordplay are currently being contacted by email. Once all prizes are claimed, names will be displayed here.
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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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