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September 15, 2015 book reviews, reading

Book Talk: EVERYBODY RISE by Stephanie Clifford

Everybody Rise: A Novel Stephanie Clifford (Twitter) St. Martin’s Press (August 2015), hardcover (ISBN 1250077176 / 9781250077172) Fiction, 384 pages Source: Ebook borrowed from Los Angeles Public Library via Overdrive (August 2015, ISBN 9781466889125) This post includes affiliate links to IndieBound ——————————————————————————————————————- “Work just gets in the way of life,” Camilla Rutherford observes to Evelyn Beegan somewhere near the halfway point of Stephanie Clifford’s debut novel, Everybody Rise. Who hadn’t felt that way […]

September 1, 2015 book reviews, reading

Reader’s Journal: Weather Stories and WHAT STANDS IN A STORM

I haven’t been a regular viewer of the Weather Channel since I moved to sunny coastal Southern California, but even this region does have its weather issues. (And when weather is a story here, it’s huge.) It’s literally been years since this mostly desert climate has received adequate annual rainfall, and that’s led to a wildfire “season” that lasts nearly year-round. The wildfires clear land that turns into mud and floods when we do get rain. […]

August 13, 2015 book reviews, reading

A Reader’s Journal: GO SET A WATCHMAN, by Harper Lee

Go Set a Watchman: A Novel Harper Lee Audiobook read by Reese Witherspoon Harper Books (July 2015), hardcover (ISBN 0062409859 / 9780062409850) Fiction, 288 pages Source: Public library/audiobook download via Overdrive (Harper Audio, July 2015, ISBN 9780062409898, ASIN B00TABW9Y0) NOTE: The following contains potential spoilers for Go Set a Watchman. The story of Go Set a Watchman’s publication has almost overshadowed the story it tells. It may or may not be the first draft of what, after […]

August 11, 2015 book reviews, reading

Book Talk: ANCHOR AND FLARES: A MEMOIR OF MOTHERHOOD, HOPE, AND SERVICE by Kate Braestrup

Anchor and Flares: A Memoir of Motherhood, Hope, and Service Kate Braestrup Little, Brown and Company (July 14, 2015), Hardcover (ISBN 0316373788 / 9780316373784) Nonfiction: memoir, 336 pages Shelf Awareness for Readers provided me with a publisher-furnished galley to facilitate the review, but it was not submitted, published, or compensated by them because it was not completed by deadline. Kate Braestrup’s Anchor and Flares is subtitled “A Memoir of Motherhood, Hope, and Service.” I’d suggest that “hope” and […]

August 4, 2015 book reviews, reading

(Audio)Book Talk: LEAVING BEFORE THE RAINS COME by Alexandra Fuller

Leaving Before the Rains Come Alexandra Fuller Audiobook read by the author Penguin Press (January 2015), Hardcover (ISBN 1594205868 / 9781594205866) Nonfiction: memoir, 272 pages Source: Purchased audiobook (Recorded Books, Jan. 2015, ISBN 9781490654881, ASIN B00QVWQVSQ) ——————————————————————————————————————— As a daughter of White colonists in southern Africa during a time when those colonies were at war for the independence of their native Black populations, Alexandra Fuller’s youth would have been unsettled enough by virtue of the […]

July 16, 2015 book reviews, reading

A Reader’s Journal: DIETLAND by Sarai Walker (audiobook read by Tara Sands)

I was a tiny child, small and thin. Pregnancy at the age of nineteen changed the “thin” for good—I never got any taller, but I did gradually get bigger. At several inches under five feet tall, I don’t have a lot of wiggle room on the BMI scale, and I’ve spent most of the last twenty years or so entrenched in the “overweight” bracket, occasionally tipping over into “obese”. I worked at achieving Lifetime Member […]

July 14, 2015 book reviews, reading

Book Talk: A FRIEND OF THE FAMILY, by Lauren Grodstein

A Friend of the Family Lauren Grodstein Algonquin Books (2010), Paperback (ISBN 1616200170 / 9781616200176) Fiction, 304 pages Source: Purchased print edition While planning for our vacation to Seattle, I pulled some books from my shelves to consider bringing along. That stack fueled my thoughts about a “free range reading summer.” A Friend of the Family was one that came along for the trip. According to LibraryThing, I’ve had this novel on my shelves for […]

July 9, 2015 book reviews, reading

A Reader’s Journal: DOMESTIC ARRANGEMENTS by Norma Klein

If you want to irritate me, state that YA fiction “didn’t exist” until about seven years ago. State, when referring to the 1970s and 80s, that “there was no YA then.” My personal reading experience from those years, the years when I was in middle and high school, says you’re wrong. Granted, this wasn’t YA the way we know it now. It was usually published in small, cheap paperbacks that fit easily into a purse […]

July 7, 2015 book reviews, reading

(Audio)Book Talk: MY SALINGER YEAR by Joanna Rakoff (read by the author)

My Salinger Year Joanna Rakoff (Twitter) (Facebook) Audiobook read by the author Knopf (June 2014), Hardcover (ISBN 0307958000 / 9780307958006) Nonfiction: memoir, 272 pages Source: Purchased audiobook (Audible Studios, June 2014, ASIN B00KAGAMTI) —————————————————————————————————————— When Joanna Rakoff left graduate school in London and returned home to New York City, she was rather at loose ends. As an aspiring poet, a job somewhere in the publishing industry seemed like a good idea for the time being, […]

June 18, 2015 book reviews, reading

Book Talk: THE ODD WOMAN AND THE CITY by Vivian Gornick (via Shelf Awareness)

The Odd Woman and the City: A Memoir Vivian Gornick Farrar, Straus and Giroux (May 19, 2015), Hardcover (ISBN 0374298602 / 9780374298609) Nonfiction: memoir, 192 pages A version of this review was previously published in Shelf Awareness for Readers (June 9, 2015). Shelf Awareness provided me with a publisher-furnished galley to facilitate the review, and compensated me for the review they received and posted. —————————————————————————————————————– At times The Odd Woman and the City, Vivian Gornick’s collection of […]

June 16, 2015 book reviews, reading

Book Talk: IN THE UNLIKELY EVENT by Judy Blume

In the Unlikely Event Judy Blume (Facebook) (Twitter) Knopf (June 2, 2015), Hardcover (ISBN 1101875046 / 9781101875049) Fiction, 416 pages A version of this discussion was previously published as a “From My Shelf” feature in Shelf Awareness for Readers (June 12, 2015). Shelf Awareness provided me with a publisher-furnished galley to facilitate the review and compensated me for the feature they received and posted. That pre-flight safety advisory probably feels a little more ominous to someone who’s had some […]

June 11, 2015 book reviews, reading

Book Talk: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF SOPHIE STARK by Anna North (via Shelf Awareness)

The Life and Death of Sophie Stark: A Novel Anna North (Twitter) (Facebook) Sophie Stark’s Tumblr Blue Rider Press (May 19, 2015), Hardcover (ISBN 0399173390 / 9780399173394) Fiction, 288 pages A version of this review was previously published in Shelf Awareness for Readers (June 9, 2015). Shelf Awareness provided me with a publisher-furnished galley to facilitate the review, and compensated me for the review they received and posted. ———————————————————————————————————————- Anna North’s second novel, The Life and Death of Sophie […]

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