BookBrowse | Book Reviews and Recommendations

Reviews by Carolyn L. (Cincinnati, OH)

Last Train to Istanbul
by Ayse Kulin

Jews and Turkey--A Lesser Known Story (9/2/2013)

The Last Train to Istanbul gives readers a glimpse into life in Turkey as WW II presses on the country's doorstep. It is the story of an open-minded family that will confront their daughter's decision to marry a Jewish boy only to cause Selva and her husband Rafael to move …more

The White Forest: A Novel
by Adam McOmber

Love a good mystery-alas this was not it (7/31/2012)

While Adam McOmber's The White Forest is dark and it is a mystery, it left this reader needing more. The plot seem to plod along at much too slow of a pace. This might have worked if the reader was hooked by the characters or an intriguing plot. Unfortunately, Jane, Mandy …more

A Simple Murder
by Eleanor Kuhns

Add this book to your summer reading list (4/1/2012)

For Will Rees chasing after his son, David, ends up in a Shaker village called Zion. Not only does Rees have to resolve a broken relationship with his son, he also becomes enmeshed in solving a murder that takes place in the village.

While the story is somewhat predictable, …more

Half-Blood Blues: A Novel
by Esi Edugyan

Jazz, Germans and Being Black (2/13/2012)

Imagine being in Berlin and then Paris in 1939. Then imagine being a black man who is German and several black Americans all trying to play jazz in these two cities as the war nears. All the Hot Time Swingers (a German American band) wanted to do was play music.

This novel …more

Falling Together: A Novel
by Marisa De Los Santos

Sometimes you need to lose something before you can find it (8/29/2011)

This is a book about friendship, un-friending, facing your demons in the closet and accepting change. It is the collective story and individual stories of Will, Cat and Pen as they go through ten years of their lives; sometime they go together and sometimes apart. This a …more

In Search of the Rose Notes: A Novel
by Emily Arsenault

Slow going (5/26/2011)

I've always felt you should give a book at least 100 pages to get the reader wrapped into the plot; sometimes it just takes awhile for the writer to get the pieces of the story in place. Alas, even well after 100 pages of In Search of Rose Notes the book left this reader …more

A Lesson in Secrets: A Maisie Dobbs Novel
by Jacqueline Winspear

Amazing Maisie (3/6/2011)

As the world inches its way toward another war and zealot new groups in support of Hitler are on the rise, Maisie is asked by the British Secret Service to help with surveillance at a college in Cambridge that is committed to promoting peace. Not long after her arrival at …more

BookBrowse Book Club

The Lilac People
by Milo Todd

For fans of All the Light We Cannot See, a poignant tale of a trans man’s survival in Nazi Germany and postwar Berlin.

About Discuss
Lessons in Chemistry
by Bonnie Garmus

Praised by Parade and The New York Times Book Review, this debut features a 1960s scientist turned TV cooking star.

About Discuss
Daughters of Shandong
by Eve J. Chung

Based on the author’s family story, comes an extraordinary novel about a mother and her daughters’ escape from Taiwan.

About Discuss

Members Recommend

The Original Daughter
by Jemimah Wei

A dazzling debut by Jemimah Wei about ambition, sisterhood, and family bonds in turn-of-the-millennium Singapore.

Read the Reviews
Awake in the Floating City
by Susanna Kwan

A debut novel about an artist and a 130-year-old woman bound by love and memory in a future, flooded San Francisco.

Read the Reviews
Ginseng Roots
by Craig Thompson

A new graphic memoir from the author of Blankets and Habibi about class, childhood labor, and Wisconsin’s ginseng industry.

Read the Reviews
Serial Killer Games
by Kate Posey

A morbidly funny and emotionally resonant novel about the ways life—and love—can sneak up on us (no matter how much pepper spray we carry).

Read the Reviews