BookBrowse: Your Guide to Exceptional Books

Reviews by Maggie R. (Canoga Park, CA)

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Shelter
by Jung Yun

Shelter (2/10/2016)

Another excellent book that takes the reader into the inner workings of a complicated family. At once painful and familiar, the emotions and relationships of Kyung, his wife and parents are exposed following a horrendous violation. Highly recommended.

Home by Nightfall: A Charles Lenox Mystery
by Charles Finch

A Good Mental Vacation (10/14/2015)

Another first time reader here. Home By Nightfall prompted a mental movie a la PBS Mystery. Charming characters, small town Victorian setting, intriguing mysteries, all in a package that can be read quickly with the reader choosing the ideal cast!

Still Life Las Vegas
by James Sie

There is still life in Las Vegas . . . (6/5/2015)

Give this book a try. It's not for everyone - other reviews will tell you why - but I believe the appeal of Walt may hook you in spite of/because of the strangeness and sadness of the story. I was reminded of Theo from The Goldfinch, who also had transforming experiences in Las Vegas and who we also leave with only the beginning of his journey completed.

Make Your Home Among Strangers
by Jennine Capó Crucet

Don't Miss This Book (5/6/2015)

As a 70 year old reader, I'm often a bad fit for "coming of age" fiction. Lately, however, I've been moved by such novels as The Goldfinch and The Marriage Plot whose complex characters are struggling with weighty and ambivalent situations, make terrible choices but soldier on and find some kind of light at the end (middle?) of the tunnel.

Here's another one - and how! Lizet and her family are maddeningly real. Her life remains up for grabs. It's she in fact self centered as her mother sees her? Selfish as her sister claims? There is an abundance of miscommunication involving everyone in her life. Read this book! It's going to be big.

The writing never falters. I look forward to reading Jennine Capo Cruzet's short fiction, How to Leave Hialeah.

All the Old Knives
by Olen Steinhauer

Another winner from Olen Steinhauer (12/20/2014)

I read and loved the Milo Weaver trilogy and The Cairo Affair. The Old Knives is something different. Shorter, with a more compact but still twisty plot, fewer characters but intrigueing. When I finished, I wanted to go back and reread to catch the clues and misdirections. Highly recommended for espionage fans and for those who are not yet sold.

The Cairo Affair
by Olen Steinhauer

Steinhauer does it again (12/25/2013)

I became a fan through the Milo Weaver trilogy. The Cairo Affair convinced me that even with a new cast of characters, Steinhauer concocts a fine tale that depicts an almost alternate universe. A definite must read for those who like to become lost in the worlds of LeCarre and the less often mentioned Charles McCarry.

How to Be a Good Wife
by Emma Chapman

This is going to divide its readers (8/11/2013)

Well written and tense, it won't let you draw easy conclusions. If you must "care about" characters, this may not be for you. If you want dark and unsettling, give it a try.

The Daughters of Mars
by Thomas Keneally

Keneally is back! (6/13/2013)

I love this book. How could I not? A favorite author who has written, besides Schindler's List, a string of novels of life in Australia . . . a favorite setting for fiction, WWI. Think Pat Barker's Regeneration trilogy, Sebastien Japrisot's "A Very Long Engagement". Hallelujah!

The Caretaker
by A .X. Ahmad

Keeps you reading . . . (4/23/2013)

This was a fast read because I couldn't stop till it was over. Good use of unusual mix of characters and odd plot. Though there were far fetched elements, they didn't detract from the pull of the plot.

The Forgetting Tree: A Novel
by Tatjana Soli

A Rich Stew (8/15/2012)

The effects of tragedy and healing growth through relationship with the land and with a companion steeped in mystic beliefs form the backbone of this lush, dramatic novel. Wonderful storytelling.

The Age of Miracles: A Novel
by Karen Thompson Walker

yet another way the world ends . . . (5/17/2012)

The combination of preadolescent turmoil and global turmoil work well together. Yes, there will be overlaps in postapoc novels, just as there are in love stories, mysteries. But if the characters are fresh and the story compelling, I'll keep reading and enjoying.

The Land of Decoration: A Novel
by Grace McCleen

Finally child I can care about (3/29/2012)

just a small rant about the run of hyperintellegent children/teens who populate current fiction. Sorry, but they annoy me. (Won't name names.) This is not one of them! Judith is a likeable thoughtful child who constructs an alternate world and falls into a moral quandary when her emerging ego confronts a situation her strictly religious upbringing has not prepared her for. The outcome is always in doubt and the reader's attachment to Judith makes it hard to stop reading.

Arcadia: A Novel
by Lauren Groff

Another taste of Groff (12/3/2011)

As someone who has read and relished Groff's 2 prior books, I was caught off guard at first by the pacing of this novel but ultimately loved it as much as the others. The style may be an acquired taste but for those can see the world askew, this book should satisfy.

Low Town: A Novel
by Daniel Polansky

Low Town (6/14/2011)

Elements that are interesting combine with others that are not so well developed. The result is a promising first novel by an author whose imagination should produce more consistent works over time.

The Devotion of Suspect X
by Keigo Higashino

A stew of elements (1/26/2011)

I collect mystery/espionage set in other countries and find this a backdoor into other cultures. The Devotion of Suspect X did not disappoint. And it has the added element of the mathematical puzzlement to add suspense.

Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
by Amy Chua

I'm speechless (11/9/2010)

Five stars for well written and fascinating book - but a bit like watching a train wreck. No! You didn't say that! You didn't do that! Will look forward to the daughters' memoirs.

The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives: A Novel
by Lola Shoneyin

Another kind of Big Love (7/9/2010)

We learn about others through reading their stories. Not only are the women we meet here of a different culture, they also share their secrets and reveal their individuality in the context of polygamous marriage via first person narratives. Engaging, unusual yet recognizably like ourselves, they give this book its hold over the reader.

The Girl Who Fell from the Sky
by Heidi W. Durrow

The Girl Who Fell From the Sky (4/7/2010)

A story and characters that carry the reader along on a search for identity by a mixed race girl whose life is turned upside down and who is defined by those around her in the narrow focus of each one's experience. thought provoking and touching.

A Girl Made of Dust
by Nathalie Abi-Ezzi

Contrasts (6/6/2009)

I was reminded of To Kill a Mockingbird while reading this novel. This is a child's view of her world and its day to day perplexities surrounded by a larger world of horrific events which intrude ever more painfully. Told in a deceptively simple style, the narrative draws in the reader with glimpses of family secrets waiting to be revealed.

The Crow Road
by Iain Banks

Absorbing read (9/17/2008)

This is my first Iain Banks book and I thoroughly enjoyed the attention to characters - major, minor and fleetingly glimpsed. Essentially a growing up, multigenerational, mystery hybrid set in a real-feeling Scotland, the plot remains a means to an end - that of giving the reader time to pass in the company of a well drawn, lifelike and idiosyncratic fictional community.

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