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BookBrowse Highlights
| February 19, 2015
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Hello
We've woven a beautiful tapestry filled with great book recommendations, plus fun nuggets of information.
Members who participated in our popular First Impressions program recently reviewed these four just published books: Blue Stars by Emily Gray Tedrowe; Kristin Hannah's The Nightingale; He Wanted the Moon by Mimi Baird and The Rebellion of Miss Lucy Ann Lobdell. You can read their thoughts below.
Veteran author Anne Tyler, a favorite of many, spins her magic again with A Spool of Thread, our Editor's Choice. You can read about an intriguing indecipherable manuscript and INTERPOL's protocols in our Beyond the Book sampling.
As always, happy reading!
Davina
BookBrowse Editor
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1. 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 four recently published books:   Blue Stars by Emily Gray Tedrowe Publisher: St. Martin's Press Publication Date: Feb 2015 Novel, 352 pages Number of reader reviews: 18 Readers' consensus: 4.0/5.0
Members Say"For the past six years I have worked as a therapist with National Guard military members and their families and watched as the soldiers were deployed, some for the second, third or fourth times. I waited with the families, providing support to them as they lived each day hoping their loved one would return safely. During that time I also supervised newly graduated therapists as they began their careers and kept a list of books about working with military families that I suggested they read. This book will be at the top of that list. Tedrowe has written a book that touches on the greatest fears of anyone who loves a military member and she did it with compassion and skill. The characters ring true, the situations they find themselves in are (sadly) very real and the emotional roller coaster the women find themselves on exists for all those who have a loved one in the military. This is a book that needs to be read by anyone who wants to understand what our military families go through every day, even now. Thank you, Emily Gray Tedrowe, for writing this touching, realistic and much needed novel." - Nan G. (Mazomanie, WI) |
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2. First Impressions: Members Recommend
 The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah Publisher: St. Martin's Press Publication Date: Feb 2015 Historical Fiction, 448 pages Number of reader reviews: 31 Readers' consensus: 4.8/5.0 Members Say"I found myself thinking of these characters even when I was not reading the book. The story of the Germans occupying France during World War II has been told many times, but Kristin Hannah paints a vivid picture of the characters and the times. I easily pictured the countryside in the Loire Valley and the city of Paris. Sisters Viann and Isabella, who seemed very different, bonded in the dire circumstances. Morals during war become a matter of necessity. A beautifully told story." - Elizabeth K. (Glenshaw, PA) "To know that the book is based on a true story makes it even more powerful. Book clubs will find much to discuss with this book." - Andrea S. (Lafayette, IN) "This was the first book by Kristen Hannah that I have read and now I want to go back and read her earlier books. The plot was engaging and the twists were good and yet believable.The characters were well drawn. I enthusiastically recommend this book" - Nancy D. (West Chester, PA) |
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 3. First Impressions: Members Recommend
 The Rebellion of Miss Lucy Ann Lobdell by William Klaber Publisher: St. Martin's Press Publication Date: Feb 2015 Historical Fiction, 288 pages Number of reader reviews: 45 Readers' consensus: 4.0/5.0 Members Say "What an interesting book. Although fiction, it is based on a real women's life although she preferred to be not Lucy but Joseph." - Sally G. (Saint Johns, FL) "An amazing story of Lucy who at first disguises herself as a man to have the earning power and status to support her only child. As the story progresses she identifies and becomes the man she only thought to mimic. As she travels through the unexplored territories of eastern United States in the mid-1800s, she also explores herself and her sexuality as a naturally born woman who falls in love with other women. A fascinating story of the ignorance, prejudice, and the abuse she encounters until the very end." - Laurie F. (Brookline, MA) "I loved this book and I predict it will be one of the best books I read in 2015. I cannot stop thinking about Joseph and her courageous life and I'm telling everyone I know to read it." - Laura L. (St. Paul, MN) |
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4. First Impressions: Members Recommend
 He Wanted the Moon: The Madness and Medical Genius of Dr. Perry Baird, and His Daughter's Quest to Know Him
by Mimi Baird with Eve Claxton Publisher: Crown Publication Date: Feb 2015 Biography, 272 pages Number of reader reviews: 21 Readers' consensus: 4.2/5.0 Members Say "Upon starting this small book, the journal of a brilliant bipolar doctor in the 50s, I wondered about the number of people who might be interested. It turned out to be a page turner for me - the doctor's journal and his daughter's narrative of what she knew and when she knew it about her father's life and illness. Terribly sad, but even with a modest interest in mental illness, I was fascinated by his mind and by the way he was treated (I use that word very loosely) by the hospital." - Rebecca J. (Knoxville, TN) "I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I was a psychiatric nurse in the late 1960s at a large university hospital ... I so admire Mimi Baird for writing this book about her father and the effect his illness had, not only on his own life but that of his family, friends, and colleagues." - Christine B. (Scottsdale, AZ) "I feel very fortunate to have received this brilliant book from BookBrowse. It provides a very unique voice to mental illness and the many ways that it affects the lives of the patient and those around him or her." - Christopher R. (Brooklyn, NY) | Read all the reviews Buy at Amazon | B&N | Indie |
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 5. Editor's Choice
 A Spool of Blue Thread by Anne Tyler
Hardcover (February 1, 2015), 368 pages Publisher: Knopf BookBrowse Rating: 5/5, Critics' Consensus: 4.9/5 Buy at Amazon | B&N | Indie...What brings A Spool of Blue Thread together is Tyler's writing style. An excellent example is what Abby says about the day she fell in love with Red. "It was a beautiful, breezy, yellow-and-green afternoon." Without the inclusion of "yellow-and-green," this would have been a terribly boring sentence; but with this deceptively simple phrase, Tyler suggests so much. Just think about her choice of colors; they make us feel the summer sun, its warmth and its light, coupled with cool grass and the movement of the air through the leaves of shady trees. Tyler's genius is that we get all that with only three strung-together words. These evocative concisions keep us cleverly enthralled, throughout. ... 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. Beyond the Book: The Voynich Manuscript  Every time we review a book we also explore a related topic. Here is a recent "beyond the book" article for Alphabetical by Michael Rosen
In reviewing Alphabetical: How Every Letter Tells a Story, by Michael Rosen, I wrote that most readers would learn something, however small, from such a wide-ranging look at the English language. In my case, I was introduced to the Voynich Manuscript, written in central Europe in the fifteenth century, in a language that no expert has been able to translate. Rosen is firm in his assertion that the manuscript is a complex hoax but in truth theories about its provenance and meaning abound .... continued Read this article in full, plus the review and an excerpt
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7. Beyond the Book: Interpol and Red Notices  Every time we review a book we also explore a related topic. Here is a recent "beyond the book" article for Red Notice by Bill Browder
The title Red Notice refers to one of the many alerts issued by Interpol, the world's largest international police organization. The idea of an international police force was originally proposed at the First International Criminal Police Congress in Monaco in 1914, although the organization didn't come into being until an initiative was passed in 1923 at the International Criminal Police Congress in Vienna. Formed as the International Criminal Police Commission (ICPC) headquartered in Vienna, it fell under Nazi Germany's control in 1938 and was moved to Berlin in 1942. After World War II, ICPC was reformed as Interpol under the auspices of Belgium, and it was granted official status by the United Nations in 1949. (The name "Interpol," often written INTERPOL, is a concatenation of "International" and "Police.") ... continued Read this article in full, plus the review and an excerpt |
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 8. Publishing Soon
Each month BookBrowse previews 80-100 notable books. Here is a particularly interesting title from these upcoming books.  H is for Hawk by Helen MacdonaldPublisher: Grove Press Publication Date: Mar 2015 Memoir, 288 pages Critic's Opinion: 5/5 Buy at Amazon | B&N | IndieWinner the 2014 Costa Book Award and a #1 bestseller in the UK. When Helen Macdonald's father died suddenly on a London street, she was devastated. An experienced falconer - Helen had been captivated by hawks since childhood - she'd never before been tempted to train one of the most vicious predators, the goshawk. But in her grief, she saw that the goshawk's fierce and feral temperament mirrored her own.
Resolving to purchase and raise the deadly creature as a means to cope with her loss, she adopted Mabel, and turned to the guidance of The Once and Future King author T.H. White's chronicle The Goshawk to begin her challenging endeavor. Projecting herself "in the hawk's wild mind to tame her" tested the limits of Macdonald's humanity and changed her life.
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 9. Wordplay Solve one of our fiendish wordplay puzzles, and be entered to win the book of your choice!
This week's wordplay: N Say N
Answer to the last Wordplay:
C T T Chase: Cut to the chase
Meaning: Get to the point
This phrase originates in the early years of the US film industry. Many of the early films (which had plots that would seem very simplistic by today's standards) contained a chase sequence that formed the core action of the film. It is believed to have been first used as a direction in silent movies, albeit the earliest known reference is in the script for Hollywood Girl, a very late silent movie released in 1929, two years after the first "talkie." ... continued |
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 10. Win This Book
 Mightier Than the Sword by Jeffrey ArcherPublished Feb 2015
400 pages
Enter the Giveaway From the Jacket Mightier than the Sword opens with an IRA bomb exploding during the MV Buckingham's maiden voyage across the Atlantic - but how many passengers lose their lives? Jeffrey Archer's compelling Clifton Chronicles continue in this, his most accomplished novel to date. With all the trademark twists and turns that have made him one of the world's most popular authors, the spellbinding story of the Clifton and the Barrington families continues. Reviews"Expect once more unto the breach: The conclusion's a turbo-charged cliffhanger that'll have fans screaming Arrrcherr!" - Kirkus "As always, [Archer] conducts his multiple plots and vivid characters with consummate skills." - Barnes and Noble 5 people will each win a hardcover copy of Mightier Than the Sword. 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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