Charmed Particles: A Novel Chrissy Kolaya (Twitter) Dzanc Books (November 2015), trade paper (ISBN 1938103173 / 9781938103179) Fiction, 224 pages A version of this review was previously published in Shelf Awareness for Readers (December 15, 2015). Shelf Awareness provided me with a publisher-furnished galley to facilitate the review, and compensated me for the review they received and posted. This post contains affiliate links to Indiebound. In Charmed Particles, first-time novelist Chrissy […]
Career of Evil (A Cormoran Strike Novel) Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling) Audiobook read by Robert Glenister Mulholland Books (October 2015), hardcover (ISBN 0316349933 / 9780316349932) Fiction (mystery/crime), 512 pages Source: Purchased audiobook (Hachette Audio, October 2015, 9781478962670, Audible ASIN B014JXQMEG) This review contains affiliate links to Indiebound.org. A few weeks ago, not long after I’d found myself idly wondering when J.K. Rowling’s crime-writing alter ego, Robert Galbraith, would have a new book […]
Neverwhere: The Author’s Preferred Text Neil Gaiman (Twitter) Audiobook read by the author William Morrow (2015), hardcover reprint (ISBN 0062371053 / 9780062371058) Fiction: fantasy, 336 pages Source: Purchased audiobook (Harper Audio, 2007, ISBN 9780061549113, Audible ASIN B000XSAXXS) for the Neverwhere Readalong (#NeverwhereRAL), October 2015 This post contains affiliate links to Indiebound. —————————————————————————————————– My official line is that I rarely read “genre” fiction. I’ve recently realized that my only real support for […]
Luckiest Girl Alive: A Novel Jessica Knoll (Twitter) (Facebook) Simon & Schuster (May 2015), hardcover (ISBN 9781476789637) Fiction: 350 pages Source: Purchased ebook (iBooks, ISBN 9781476789651) This post contains affiliate links to IndieBound. The discussion contains potential spoilers for the novel Luckiest Girl Alive. High-school humiliation, shocking tragedy, personal reinvention, the conviction that the “right” old-money marriage will change your life; we’re all pretty well acquainted with the plot points of Jessica Knoll’s first novel, […]
Preschooled: A Novel Anna Lefler (Twitter) (Facebook) Full Fathom Five Digital (2015), trade paper (ISBN 1633700712 / 9781633700710) Fiction, 336 pages Source: ARC provided by the author I have known Anna Lefler since 2008, when we met as contributors to the Los Angeles Moms Blog, and consider her a friend. I was happy to be offered an advance copy of her first published novel, and while I admit to being predisposed in its favor, I […]
Secondhand Souls: A Novel Christopher Moore (Twitter) (Facebook) Audiobook read by Fisher Stevens William Morrow Books (August 2015), hardcover (ISBN 0061779784 / 9780061779787) Fiction, 352 pages Source: Audiobook borrowed from Los Angeles Public Library via Overdrive (Harper Audio, August 2015; ISBN 9780062374103) ————————————————————————————————————- There’s a colony of ghosts inhabiting the Golden Gate Bridge, and they’ve started talking to Mike Sullivan, the bridge painter. A banshee—harbinger of death—has been visiting retired police officer/reluctant soul-recoverer/bookselling Death […]
The Admissions: A Novel Meg Mitchell Moore (Twitter) (Facebook) Doubleday (August 18, 2015), Hardcover (ISBN 0385540043 / 9780385540049) Fiction, 320 pages A version of this review was previously published in Shelf Awareness for Readers (September 4, 2015). Shelf Awareness provided me with a publisher-furnished galley to facilitate the review, and compensated me for the review they received and posted. This post contains affiliate links to IndieBound. The Admissions is Meg Mitchell Moore’s account of a very eventful autumn for the Hawthornes of Marin […]
Who Do You Love: A Novel Jennifer Weiner (Twitter) (Facebook) Atria Books (August 11, 2015), Hardcover (145161781X / 9781451617818) Fiction, 400 pages $27.00 A version of this review was previously published in Shelf Awareness for Readers (August 28, 2015). Shelf Awareness provided me with a publisher-furnished galley to facilitate the review, and compensated me for the review they received and posted. This post contains affiliate links to IndieBound. ————————————————————————————————————— In Who Do You Love, Jennifer Weiner […]
Station Eleven: A Novel Emily St. John Mandel (Twitter) Audiobook read by Kirsten Potter Vintage (June 2015), trade paper (ISBN 9780804172448) Fiction, 352 pages Source: Audiobook borrowed from Los Angeles Public Library via Overdrive.com (Random House Audio, June 2014, ISBN 9780553397987) This post contains affiliate links to Indiebound. I’m inconsistent in my response to “everyone’s talking about it” novels, but more often than not, I tend to wait until the talk has died down a bit. Everyone was talking […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
