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BookBrowse Highlights
| May 14, 2015
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Hi Davina (new free list),
Remember the jingle for Almond Joy: "Sometimes you feel like a nut? Sometimes you don't?" Well, those are my sentiments about novels and short stories. Sometimes I don't feel like a novel, I want a small nugget of perfection, a story that I can finish in one sitting that is short and sweet, even profound. We highlight two such short-story collections here, both of which have received BookBrowse's highest rating.
Edna O'Brien is a veteran of literary fiction with her career spanning many works of renown. Her collection of short stories, The Love Object, reviewed by Jennifer Wilder, culls some of her great work and each is a marvel to be savored. Then there is Lauren Acampora whose debut collection, The Wonder Garden, perfectly captures suburban angst through a set of interlinked short stories. In her review, Poornima Apte labels Acampora as a writer to watch.
I hope you enjoy these delicious morsels as much as we enjoyed reading and featuring them.
Thank you and happy reading!
Best wishes,
Davina, BookBrowse Editor |
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 1. The BookBrowse Book Club 
The Headmaster's Wife
by Thomas Christopher Greene
Published Feb 2015, 288 pages
From the Jacket: Luminous and atmospheric, bringing to life the tight-knit enclave of a quintessential New England boarding school, the novel is part mystery, part love story, and an exploration of the ties of place and family. Beautifully written and compulsively readable, The Headmaster's Wife stands as a moving elegy to the power of love as an antidote to grief.
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 2. Editor's Choice 
The Love Object by Edna O'Brien
Hardcover May 01, 2015, 544 pages. Publisher: Little Brown & Company. BookBrowse Rating: 5/5, Critics' Consensus: 4.8/5 Buy at Amazon | B&N | IndieReview: Edna O'Brien's The Love Object is more than a short-story collection, it's an encyclopedia of perfect storytelling and a retrospective on the fifty-year career of a writer of exquisite finesse and pathos. While submerged in these stories, I happened on the famous quote from the 17th century philosopher Blaise Pascal: "I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time." O'Brien has taken a great deal of time over these small works of art. They are finely wrought pieces with vivid details, sparingly rendered. The sentences are buffed to a polish, the symbolic images (a green georgette evening gown, a mossy cave, an undercooked fowl) so finely worked, their seams are invisible... continued. (Reviewed by Jennifer Wilder) 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 available. |
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 3. Beyond the Book The Literary Life of Edna O'Brien Every time we review a book we also explore a related topic. Here is a recent "beyond the book" article for The Love Object by Edna O'Brien  Edna O'Brien was born in 1930 in western Ireland, where her parents lived in a picturesque stone house called Drewsboro, built on the remains of a fancy country house her father had helped burn down so the British couldn't use it during the Irish War of Independence after World War I. Her father's family was wealthy, her mother's, poor. They raised racehorses and other livestock. O'Brien grew ... continued Read in full
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4. Editor's Choice 
The Wonder Garden by Lauren Acampora
Hardcover (May 01, 2015), 368 pages. Publisher: Grove Press. BookBrowse Rating: 5/5, Critics' Consensus: 5.0/5 Buy at Amazon | B&N | IndieReview: It should come as no surprise that the land of the white picket fence and the McMansion can harbor deep existential angst. The trope has been expertly mined many a times before by veteran authors like John Updike, John Cheever, Philip Roth, Tom Perrotta and many more. To this eclectic list we can add Lauren Acampora, whose debut collection of short stories, The Wonder Garden, set in a tony New England suburb called Old Cranbury, carries a razor-sharp edge of dark satire and lands Acampora firmly on my list of writers to watch ... continued (Review by Poornima Apte) 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 available.
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 5. Readalikes for The Wonder Garden
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 6. Author Interview  Sofi Oksanen talks about her latest book, When the Doves Disappeared, and the environment for citizens in Soviet Russia.
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7. Publishing Soon
Each month BookBrowse previews 80+ notable books. Here is a particularly interesting title from these upcoming books.  The Storm Murders by John FarrowPublisher: Minotaur Books Hardcover May 2015 Thrillers, 320 pages Critic's Opinion: 5/5 Buy at Amazon | B&N | Indie
From the Jacket: On the day after a massive blizzard, two policemen are called to an isolated farm house sitting all by itself in the middle of a pristine snow-blanketed field. Inside the lonely abode are two dead people. But there are no tracks in the snow leading either to the house or away. What happened here? Is this a murder/suicide case? Or will it turn into something much more sinister?
More about this book | More Previews
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 8. Quote
"When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him." - Jonathan Swift  Clergyman, satirist and author of Gulliver's Travels, Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), was born in Dublin, Ireland. He completed his education in Ireland by attending Trinity College, Dublin and then moved to live with his mother in Leicestershire, England (his mother was English; his father died seen months before he was born). In 1689 he became secretary to the diplomat, Sir William Temple. Within three years he had gained the confidence of his employer to the point that he was introduced to William III and sent to London to petition the newly crowned king on political matters.... continuedRead in full
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 9. Themed Reads: Biographies & Memoirs 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 Biographies & Memoirs.
Click the image for more about each book.
 A Spy Among Friends by Ben Macintyre
Paperback May 2015
Master storyteller Ben Macintyre's most ambitious work to date brings to life the twentieth century's greatest spy story. |
 Enduring Courage by John F. Ross
Paperback May 2015
The sensational true story of Eddie Rickenbacker, America's greatest flying ace. |
 The Remedy by Thomas Goetz
Paperback Mar 2015
The riveting history of tuberculosis, the world's most lethal disease, the two men whose lives it tragically intertwined, and the birth of medical science. |
 For the Benefit of Those Who See by Rosemary Mahoney
Hardcover: Jan 2014, Paperback Mar 2015
Rosemary Mahoney tells the story of Braille Without Borders, the first school for the blind in Tibet, and of Sabriye Tenberken, the remarkable blind woman who founded the school. |
 Girl in the Dark by Anna Lyndsey
Hardcover: Mar 2015
Haunting, lyrical, unforgettable, Girl in the Dark is a brave new memoir of a life without light. |
 H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald
Hardcover: Mar 2015
Obsession, madness, memory, myth, and history combine to achieve a distinctive blend of nature writing and memoir from an outstanding literary innovator. |
 Red Notice by Bill Browder
Hardcover: Feb 2015
A real-life political thriller about an American financier in the Wild East of Russia, the murder of his principled young tax attorney, and his dangerous mission to expose the Kremlin's corruption.
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 10. Win This Book
 I Take You by Eliza KennedyPublished May 2015
320 pages
Enter the Giveaway "In the first big beach read of the season, New York lawyer and bride-to-be Lily Wilder has a hard time staying faithful to her perfect fiancé- but that won't stop this hilarious debut novel from winning you over and warming your heart." - Entertainment Weekly "It's the smartest, sexiest, funniest (like, hilarious) beach read on the shelves right now." - Huffington Post "[Kennedy's] snappy comedy of mis-manners delights in subverting expectation... I Take You, as salty-sweet as a margarita, will appeal to fans of Seating Arrangements, Where'd You Go, Bernadette, and, looking further back, Laurie Colwin's Happy All the Time, though it's far more ribald. Kennedy's novel, tailored for summer wedding season, is a sassy paean to pleasure and romantic love that may well leave you singing that classic Gershwin line, 'Better call the calling-off off.'" - Heller McAlpin, NPR.org "I have not laughed this hard or this much at a book since Bridget Jones's Diary. I Take You is wickedly smart, hilariously funny, sexy, clever, and stupidly accomplished for a first novel. In short, the most enjoyable read I have had in YEARS. I completely loved it." - Jane Green, New York Times bestselling author of Tempting Fate 5 people will each win a hardcover copy of I Take You. 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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