Tag: reviews

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

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

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

A Reader’s Journal: DOMESTIC ARRANGEMENTS by Norma Klein
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 […]

(Audio)Book Talk: MY SALINGER YEAR by Joanna Rakoff (read by the author)
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, […]

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

Book Talk: IN THE UNLIKELY EVENT by Judy Blume
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 […]

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

(Audio)Book Talk: BORN WITH TEETH by Kate Mulgrew, read by the author
June 9, 2015 book reviews, reading

(Audio)Book Talk: BORN WITH TEETH by Kate Mulgrew, read by the author

Born With Teeth: A Memoir Kate Mulgrew Audiobook read by the author Little, Brown and Company (April 14, 2015), Hardcover (ISBN 0316334316 / 9780316334310) Nonfiction: memoir, 320 pages Source: Purchased audiobook (Hachette Audio, April 2015, ISBN 9781478903277; Audible ASIN B00U1OQ8YW) —————————————————————————————————————–   Kate Mulgrew’s first ambition was to be a poet. When she was selected to recite some pieces in a school program, her mother suggested learning one well-known poem and including that with the […]

Book Talk: ONE THING STOLEN, by Beth Kephart
May 21, 2015 book reviews, reading

Book Talk: ONE THING STOLEN, by Beth Kephart

One Thing Stolen Beth Kephart Chronicle Books (April 2015), Hardcover (ISBN 1452128316 / 9781452128313) Fiction (YA), 272 pages Source: Publisher-hosted blog tour   An articulate first-person narrator. A vivid sense of place (often a foreign one). Strong cross-generational relationships. The examination of an issue from an uncommon, unexpected perspective. These are some of the things I’ve found to be characteristic to Beth Kephart’s young-adult novels. These are some of the common elements I’ve come to […]

A Reader’s Journal: BEING MORTAL, by Atul Gawande
May 19, 2015 book reviews, reading

A Reader’s Journal: BEING MORTAL, by Atul Gawande

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End Atul Gawande (Facebook) (Twitter) Audiobook read by Robert Petkoff Metropolitan Books (2014), Hardcover (ISBN 0805095152 / 9780805095159) Nonfiction, 304 pages Source: Purchased audiobook (Macmillan Audio, October 2014, ISBN 9781427244246; Audible ASIN B00NPAJ32S) My father just turned 86 years old. My mother-in-law will be 77 this summer. Both have outlived spouses after decades-long marriages. Both are still able to live on their own, both still work part-time, […]

Book Talk: THE TURNER HOUSE, by Angela Flournoy (via Shelf Awareness)
May 5, 2015 book reviews, reading

Book Talk: THE TURNER HOUSE, by Angela Flournoy (via Shelf Awareness)

The Turner House Angela Flournoy (Facebook) (Twitter) Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (April 14, 2015), Hardcover (ISBN 0544303164 / 9780544303164) Fiction, 352 pages, $23.00   A version of this review was previously published in Shelf Awareness for Readers (April 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.   —————————————————————————————————————-     The childhood summers she spent with her grandparents, and the stories of […]