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BookBrowse Highlights
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July 30, 2015
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Hello,
Amelia Earhart might be the more well-known aviatrix but Beryl Markham surely deserves an equally strong place in the history books. Her colorful life, filled with high-flying adventure and equally rambunctious affairs, is the kind of material that justly deserves to be memorialized and the talented Paula McLain does so eloquently in the fictionalized biography, Circling the Sun.
You can learn more about Beryl Markham, the rebellious woman who spent much of her life in the Kenyan countryside, through our Beyond the Book that explores the figure behind the legend.
Then, fly across the ocean to Sweden with a naturalist's whimsical memoir, The Fly Trap, and learn how you can distinguish between hoverflies and their more pesky cousins in the related Beyond the Book.
With so many promising stops along the way to explore, all you have to do is buckle your seatbelt and get ready to soar with BookBrowse.
Thanks for reading!
Your editor, Davina |
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 1. The BookBrowse Book Club
Please Join Us to Discuss:
 Summer House with Swimming Pool by Herman Koch
Published Jun 2015, 416 pages
Featuring the razor-sharp humor and acute psychological insight that made The Dinner an international phenomenon, Summer House with Swimming Pool is a controversial, thought-provoking novel that showcases Herman Koch at his finest. More about this book | Join the discussion
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  2. 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 two recent releases.  Broken Promise by Linwood Barclay Publisher: NAL, July 2015, Thriller, 464 pages
Number of reader reviews: 25
Readers' consensus: 4.3/5.0
Members Say
"Lots of things are broken in Promise Falls, New York; the local economy, the newspaper which has to shut down suddenly, the hospital coping with low ratings, the abandoned amusement park, and the lives of many people dealing with sorrows and secrets in their lives. This book stands far above the usual genre of thriller, due to the masterful way the author shows each character in the story as a complete human being, with reasons to make choices between good and evil." - Anne C. (Herndon, VA)
"Broken Promise is the first book I have read by Linwood Barclay, but it won't be the last... I look forward to more stories about this little town and its inhabitants." - Priscilla M. (Houston, TX)
"I loved how the author kept me guessing and made me want to know more. I can't wait until the next book." - Julie R. (Woodland, CA)
"If you like mysteries and you don't know Linwood Barclay yet, here's your chance ... Barclay is always worth a thrilling read." - Patricia D. (Woodland Hills, CA)
More about this book | Read all the reviews Buy at Amazon | B&N | Indie
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3. First Impressions: Members Recommend  Circling the Sun by Paula McLain Publisher: Ballantine Books, Jul 2015. Historical Fiction, 384 pages
Number of reader reviews: 25
Readers' consensus: 4.7/5.0
Members Say
"I very much enjoyed Out of Africa with Meryl Streep as Karen Blixen and Robert Redford as Denys Finch Hatton. This book by McLain focuses on Beryl Markham, whose life in Kenya intersects with the lives of Karen and Denys. When she sets her sights on Denys, an inevitable, awkward love triangle results. I found McLain's portrayal of her fascinating. Why, I wondered, had I never heard of this woman who accomplished so much?" - Sue Ellen S. (Cedar Falls, IA)
"For the second time, Paula McLain has knocked it out of the ballpark in bringing historical characters and foreign settings to life. The writing is flawless - reading this literature is like holding a strand of pearls in your hand -- silky smooth and warm." - Hazel R. (North Eastham, MA)
"McLain's book is an excellent read, invoking a time we'll not see again and a character worth admiration." - Mary P. (Bellingham, WA)
"Book clubs would find plenty to talk about with this one. Highly recommended." - Wendy W. (Ann Arbor, MI)
More about this book | Read all the reviews Buy at Amazon | B&N | Indie
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 4. Beyond the Book: A Glimpse of Beryl Markham Every time we review a book we also explore a related topic. Here is a recent "beyond the book" article for Circling the Sun by Paula McLain
 Paula McLain's new historical fiction, Circling the Sun is the story of Beryl Markham, an aviatrix whose incredible flight accomplishments took a back seat to the more famous Amelia Earhart. A number of books have tried to shine the light on this British daredevil who, in many ways, was ahead of her time ... continued Read in full | More about this book
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 5. Top 2015 Book Club Recommendations - Part 2
Looking for the perfect books for your book club to read this year and into 2016? Look no further!
In December last year we published the first half of our Top Reads for Book Clubs in 2015 list, covering books that had published (or were due to publish) in paperback from late 2014 to early 2015.
Now, here is part 2 - with the very best book club reads from Spring to Fall 2015. All books are available in paperback and ebook. All received 5 star reviews from BookBrowse, and almost all have reading guides.
Of course, these aren't just for book clubs, they make great reading for all who enjoy well written books that provoke good conversation, and tell you things about this wonderful world of ours you didn't before!
The books are categorized into:
- Moral Dilemmas
- Historic USA
- The Chinese-American Experience
- The Golden Years
- Historic Europe
- Generational Sagas
- Page-Turning Nonfiction
- Books for Younger Readers
Read this blog post | All blog posts |
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6. Editor's Choice
The Fly Trap by Fredrik Sjoberg
Hardcover (Jun 2015), 288 pages. Publisher: Pantheon Books. BookBrowse Rating: 5/5, Critics' Consensus: 4.4/5 Buy at Amazon | B&N | IndieReview: Sjöberg's keen eye and effervescent tone are infectious, you can't help but be carried along by his boundless enthusiasm for nature's many wonders. In many ways this memoir reads like Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine, like summer trapped within the pages of a warm and nourishing book. 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: Hoverflies as Expert Masqueraders Every time we review a book we also explore a related topic. Here is a recent "beyond the book" article for The Fly Trap by Fredrik Sjoberg
 In his memoir, The Fly Trap, Fredrik Sjöberg writes: "hoverflies are meek and mild creatures, easy to collect, and ... appear in many guises. Sometimes they don't even look like flies. Some of them look like hornets, others like honeybees, parasitic ichneumon wasps, gadflies, or fragile, thin-as-thread mosquitoes so tiny that normal people never even notice them." If you're "meek and mild" in the natural world, it helps to pretend to be bad and bold which explains hoverflies' expertise at Batesian mimicry, a natural process where species take on the threatening behaviors or looks of more offensive counterparts to ward off predators. continued... Read in full | More about this book
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8. Publishing Soon
Each month BookBrowse previews 80+ notable books. Here is a particularly interesting title from these upcoming books.  The Last Days of Rabbit Hayes by Anna McPartlinPublisher: St. Martin's Press,
Publication Date: Aug 4, 2015,Novel, 368 pages
Critic's Opinion: 4/5
Here is a truth that can't be escaped: for Mia "Rabbit" Hayes, life is coming to an end ...
Rabbit Hayes loves her life, ordinary as it is, and the extraordinary people in it. She loves her spirited daughter, Juliet; her colorful, unruly family; the only man in her big heart, Johnny Faye. But it turns out the world has other plans for Rabbit, and she's okay with that. Because she has plans for the world too, an only a handful of days left to make them happen.
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 9. Author Interview  Pam Jenoff, author of The Kommandant's Girl, discusses her new book, The Last Summer at Chelsea Beach set in New Jersey during World War II Read the Interview | More about the book
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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: "Let's G T S O T R" Enter now The answer to last Week's Wordplay: I Y Can't S T H, G O O T K " If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen" Meaning: If the pressure is too great for you, leave it to others who can cope Harry S. Truman is on record as using the expression in 1942 as reported by The Soda Springs Sun, Idaho: "Favorite rejoinder of Senator Harry S. Truman, when a member of his war contracts investigating committee objects to his strenuous pace: 'If you don't like the heat, get out of the kitchen'." But sources, including Truman, attribute the expression to others: Some say that Truman attributed it to his friend General Harry H. Vaughan. Others cite a 1931 issue of The Examiner (Independence, Missouri) quoting Eugene I. "Buck" Purcell: "But if a man can't stand the heat he should, he ought to stay out of the kitchen." The Dictionary of Modern Proverbs (Yale Press) notes that Truman acknowledged having heard the expression from an old friend and colleague on the Jackson County Court. If that is the case, he would referring to be Purcell, a county judge.
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