The Uncommon Reader: A NovellaAlan BennettPicador, 2008 (Paperback) (ISBN 0312427646 / 9780312427641)Fiction, 128 pages First sentence: At Windsor it was the evening of the state banquet and as the president of France took his place beside Her Majesty, the royal family formed up behind and the procession slowly moved off and through into the Waterloo Chamber. Book description: When her corgis stray into a mobile library parked near Buckingham Palace, the Queen feels duty-bound to […]
Thanks to Anna Jarzab of Authors on the Web for providing an Advance Reader Copy (ARC) of this book! It’s now available in bookstores. True Colors: A Novel Kristin Hannah St. Martin’s Press, 2009 (hardcover) (ISBN 0312364105 / 9780312364106) Fiction, 400 pages First sentence: Fifteen-year-old Winona Grey stared out at the waterfront ranch that had been in her family for four generations, looking for something that had changed. Book description (summarized): The Grey sisters have […]
This review is based on an Advance Reader Copy (ARC) received through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers Program. Honeymoon in Tehran: Two Years of Love and Danger in Iran Azadeh Moaveni Random House, 2009 (hardcover) (ISBN 140006645X / 9781400066452) Memoir, 352 pages First sentence: In the late spring of 2005, I returned to Iran to report on the country’s presidential election. Book Description (summarized): In 2005, Azadeh Moaveni, longtime Middle East correspondent for Time magazine, returns to […]
Change of Heart: A Novel Jodi Picoult Washington Square Press, 2008 (Paperback) (ISBN 0743496752 / 9780743496759) Fiction, 480 pages First Sentence: In the beginning, I believed in second chances. Book description: One moment June Nealon was happily looking forward to years full of laughter and adventure with her family, and the next, she was staring into a future that was as empty as her heart. Now her life is a waiting game. Waiting for time […]
>>Thanks to Anna Jarzab of Authors on the Web for offering me the opportunity to read and review this book – sorry it’s taken so long! (My copy is an ARC; the book was published in October 2008). Buffalo Gal Laura Pedersen Fulcrum Publishing, 2008 (paperback original) (ISBN 1555916929 / 9781555916923) Memoir, 256 pages First sentence: “Buffalo, New York, probably turns out more priests and nuns than any other city, except perhaps Rome.” (That’s the […]
History Lesson for Girls: A Novel Aurelie Sheehan Penguin, 2007 (paperback) (ISBN 0143111906 / 9780143111900) Fiction, 368 pages First sentence: One day I saw them, our dream horses, and on that day I pulled over to the side of the road and cried. Book description (summarized): Alison suffers from scoliosis. Her bent spine is not only a physical defect but also a social stigma isolating her from other teenagers and even distancing her from her […]
(I don’t participate in The Sunday Salon, but it seems like Sunday is a good alternate day for posting book reviews if they don’t show up here on Thursdays. New year, new tradition?) Thanks to Felicia Sinusas of Jane Wesman Public Relations for noticing this book on my wish list and arranging for me to receive a copy to read and review – sorry it’s taken so long! The Pages in Between: A Holocaust Legacy […]
Who By Fire Diana Spechler Harper Perennial, 2008 (paperback) (ISBN 0061572934 / 9780061572937) Fiction, 368 pages First sentence: At the back of the plane, twelve men bow and mumble and sway, masked by thick beards and crowned by black hats. Book Description (summarized): When Bits and Ash were children, their younger sister was kidnapped, a tragedy that led to their family’s unraveling. Years later, Ash, who always blamed himself for Alena’s disappearance, abruptly moved to […]
Thursday Next: First Among Sequels Jasper Fforde 2008, Penguin (paperback) (ISBN 0143113569 / 9780143113560) Fiction, 384 pages First sentence(s): The Swindon I knew in 2002 had a lot going for it. (Chapter 1 prologue) The dangerously high level of the stupidity surplus was once again the lead story in The Owl that morning. (Chapter 1 proper) Book Description: It is fourteen years since Thursday Next pegged out at the 1988 SuperHoop, and the Special Operations […]
Thanks to Tracee Gleichner at Pump Up Your Book Promotion for the opportunity to read and review this book! A Jolly Good Fellow Stephen V. Masse Good Harbor Press, 2007 (paperback) (ISBN 097996380X / 9780979963803) Fiction, 220 pages First sentence: He’s out there hitchhiking. Book description: Two weeks before Christmas, Duncan Wagner gets into his car for another attempt at kidnapping the son of his most despised enemy, State Representative Win Booker. When he drives […]
(Disclaimer: Thanks to Trish Collins of TLC Book Tours for the opportunity to read and review this book, and to the author for providing a signed copy!) Somebody Else’s Daughter Elizabeth Brundage Viking, 2008 (Hardcover) (ISBN 0670019003 / 9780670019007) Fiction, 352 pages First Sentence: We left San Francisco that morning even though your mother was sick. (Read an excerpt from the book’s prologue.) Book Description (summary): In the Berkshire mountains of Massachusetts a group of […]
Disclosure: I received this book for review as an ARC (Advance Reading Copy) via LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers program. The book was published on October 7, 2008 and is now in bookstores. Between Here and April Deborah Copaken Kogan Algonquin Books, 2008 (hardcover) (ISBN 1565125622 / 9781565125629) Fiction, 288 pages First Sentence: April Cassidy was my best friend from the first day of first grade in September of 1972, until a couple of months later, when […]
