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BookBrowse Highlights
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June 25, 2015
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Hello
Splash into deep-sea adventure with Pirate Hunters, an engaging nonfiction narrative that recounts the search for a lost pirate ship, Golden Fleece, and go"beyond the book" for a surprisingly intriguing look into admiralty law, which governs maritime activities including the salvage of boats at sea.
While we carefully curate the books to shortlist for review, sometimes an issue of our membership magazine BookBrowse Recommends turns out to be particularly strong in a given area. Such is the case in our latest issue where almost half the recommendations are nonfiction, including The Ingenious Mr. Pyke, a compelling biography of a little-known genius whose idea for ships made of ice is nowhere near as crazy as it sounds!
Whatever fuels your passion for adventure, be it on the high seas or on dry ground, you're sure to find it at BookBrowse.
We'll be taking next week off for Independence Day in the U.S. So the next issue will be July 9.
Davina, BookBrowse Editor |
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The content in these newsletters is a tiny fraction of the reviews, beyond the book articles, news, previews, free books and more that are available to our members.
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 1. First Impressions: Members Recommend Each month we give away books to U.S. resident members to read and review (or discuss). Members who choose to participate receive a free book about every three months. Here are their opinions on one recent release.  The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication Date: Jun 2015
Novel, 352 pages
Number of reader reviews: 36
Readers' consensus: 4.3/5.0
Members Say"One of the great pleasures of BookBrowse is being introduced to debut authors like Erica Swyler, just a pleasure to read. I really enjoyed the switch to the late 1700s traveling circus and back to the present. I'm not going to give to much away you'll just have to read the book. Hard to believe this is her first novel. I'll be waiting for her next!" - Gary R. (Bolingbrook, IL) "She has made all characters, no matter how prominent in the story, so complete and three dimensional that you can believe them to be real. As she allows you to peel back the layers, she taunts you to find the secrets that bind her tale together. I cannot wait to suggest this book as a book club selection as I feel it will be great choice for discussion. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to read a book I might easily have dismissed as just another circus/carney story." - Susan B. (Hahira, GA) "I felt the magic of the book from the start. Some books are like that. Not many. Just a special few. Thank you, Erika Swyler, for The Book of Speculation." - Gail B. (Albuquerque, NM)
More about this book | Read all the reviews Buy at Amazon | B&N | Indie
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 2. The BookBrowse Book Club
 The Third Wife by Lisa Jewell
Published Jun 2015. 352 pages
For fans of Liane Moriarty and Jojo Moyes comes a riveting family drama with a dark mystery at its core, from the bestselling author of The House We Grew Up In. Discussions Coming Soon
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 3. Editor's Choice 
Pirate Hunters by Robert Kurson
Hardcover (Jun 2015), 304 pages Publisher: Random House BookBrowse Rating: 4/5, Critics' Consensus: 4.5/5 Buy at Amazon | B&N | IndieReview: Questions of exactness aside, Pirate Hunters is fascinating and suspenseful, a breathless story of shadowy figures and global intrigue, set against the backdrop of hostile oceans and an even more hostile rogues' gallery of ruthless, bloodthirsty pirates. I'd be surprised if the book doesn't strike a chord with most readers - and even more surprised if someone somewhere wasn't already at work turning it into a screenplay. As a potential cinematic blockbuster, Pirate Hunters seems like found treasure.... continued... (Reviewed by James Broderick).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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 4. Beyond the Book: Admiralty Law Every time we review a book we also explore a related topic. Here we go "beyond the book" for Pirate Hunters by Robert Kurson Pirate H unters, Robert Kurson's real-life tale recounts the struggle to locate and recover sunken treasure. The obstacles are numerous: little or no historical documentation, inaccurate maps, bad weather, and rival scavengers. Additionally, as the book makes clear, a formidable challenge faced by both amateur and professional salvagers of underwater shipwrecks is the sometimes daunting task of navigating the murky legal waters of aquatic salvage. It's not always clear who - if anyone - owns a shipwreck and the rights to its contents, and even when ownership is clear it's not always obvious who has the right to attempt to salvage it - despite a considerable body of law on these matters dating back centuries. "Salvage and admiralty law, in general, is very ancient. Most of the law we deal with today in the United States dates back to English law, and much of that goes back to the time of pirates and wooden ships," says David Neblett, a Miami-based attorney and a leading legal authority in underwater salvage. Admiralty laws, which govern maritime activities and delineate the rights of privately owned sea vessels in international waters, were originally put in place, Neblett says, to aid ship owners in recovering their lost goods, and to give salvors (the legal term) the incentive to help recover those goods. "Salvage law was adopted to encourage people to save valuable cargo, which can often be a dangerous situation." ... continued Read in full |
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 5. Author Interview  Norah Vincent discusses her first novel Adeline in which she explores the life of Virginia Woolf. Among the many topics discussed Vincent explains how in many ways this novel is a work of immersion journalism, like her two previous nonfiction works. Read the Interview | Self-Made Man
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6. Editor's Choice 
One Kick by Chelsea Cain
Paperback (May 2015), 384 pages Publisher: Pocket Books BookBrowse Rating: 5/5, Critics' Consensus: 4.8/5 Buy at Amazon | B&N | IndieReview: Forget that girl with the tattoo. Kick (aka, Kit, aka, Kathleen) Lannigan is a girl with serious weaponry. "Kick pulled open her red purse and showed...the army fixed-blade survival knife, the recon tactical camo knife, a three-pack of throwing knives, the Leatherman, her lipstick pepper spray, a pouch of throwing stars, the handcuffs, and a pen with a steel tip that could be used as an emergency window breaker." And that's just for starters ... 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 available.
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7. Beyond the Book: Geoffrey Pyke's Genius  Every time we review a book we also explore a related topic. Here is a recent "beyond the book" article for The Ingenious Mr. Pyke by Henry Hemming Geoffrey Pyke, the subject of The Ingenious Mr Pyke, was a man of many talents; his interests were as varied as they were obsessive. To understand them, we need look no further than two of his most successful projects, The Malting House School and the development of a remarkable substance which became known as "pykrete." ... Having charmed his way into a high-level position in Combined Operations, a secretive war department, Pyke's febrile inventive mind was given free rein by the department's commander, Lord Louis Mountbatten, who recognized the genius in Pyke's seemingly ridiculous inventions. Among these was Pyke's proposal to build a berg-ship - that is a ship, or more precisely an aircraft carrier, made entirely of reinforced ice ... continued Read in full | More about this book
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 8. Publishing Soon BookBrowse previews the best books publishing soon. Here is a particularly interesting title from these upcoming books.  Summer House with Swimming Pool
by Herman KochPublisher: Hogarth Books. Jun 2015 Novel. 416 pages. Critic's Opinion: 5/5 Buy at Amazon | B&N | Indie
The blistering, compulsively readable new novel from Herman Koch, author of the instant New York Times bestseller
The Dinner. When a medical procedure goes horribly wrong and famous actor Ralph Meier winds up dead, Dr. Marc Schlosser needs to come up with some answers. After all, reputation is everything in this business. ... continued
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 9. Blog: Best July Books  Traditionally the summer months were slow times for new books, but in today's always-on world seasonal differences are less pronounced and it was a struggle to decide which ten books to feature as particularly notable from our list of July's best books (see best books coming soon). Interestingly, and entirely inadvertently, three of them have aviation as a theme - from the very early days of flight, to the space program of the late '40s through '60s, and into the distant future. continued... Read this blog post | All blog posts
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 10. Wordplay Solve our fiendish Wordplay puzzle, and be entered to win the book of your choice!
This week's Wordplay:
Solve this clue: "Don't S I O T D"
The answer to last Week's Wordplay: Y A B Up T W T
"You are barking up the wrong tree"
Meaning: You are taking the wrong course and/or wasting your effort in the wrong direction
This expression alludes to a dog who believes it has chased it's prey up one tree, when in fact the prey is somewhere else entirely.
The earliest known references both date to 1832: Westward Ho! by James Kirke Paulding and Legends of the West by James Hall. Most sources put Westward Ho! as the earlier, with some citing Legends of the West as 1833 ... continued
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