The Leftovers Tom Perrotta (Facebook) St. Martin’s Press (2011), Hardcover (ISBN 0312358342 / 9780312358341) Fiction, 368 pages Source: Secondhand ARC received from another blogger (my apologies for not tagging you, but I’ve had this one for a few years and can’t remember who passed it on to me–thank you anyway!) We’re Netflix binge-ers at our house, but we don’t subscribe to any of the premium-cable channels. This means when one of them decides to adapt a […]
The Silkworm (A Cormoran Strike Novel) Robert Galbraith (pseudonym of J.K. Rowling) Audiobook read by Robert Glenister Mulholland Books (June 2014), Hardcover (ISBN 0316206873 / 9780316206877) Fiction (mystery/crime fiction), 464 pages Source: purchased audiobook (Hachette Audio, June 2014, ISBN 9781611134940; Audible ASIN B00IMLDGIM) I was surprised by how much I enjoyed J.K. Rowling’s first outing as mystery writer “Robert Galbraith,” The Cuckoo’s Calling, when I listened to the audio version this past spring. This was partly due to […]
The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry: A Novel Gabrielle Zevin (Twitter) (Facebook) Algonquin Books (April 2014), Hardcover (ISBN 1616203218 / 9781616203214) Fiction, 272 pages Source: Purchased e-book (iBooks) Gabrielle Zevin is better known as a YA author, but her novel for adults, The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry, has been getting a lot of attention from the Book People since its publication in the spring. It’s understandable. Book People are often drawn to stories about Book […]
Arts & Entertainments: A Novel Christopher Beha (Facebook) (Twitter) Ecco Press (July 1, 2014), trade paper (ISBN 006232246X / 9780062322463) Fiction, 288 pages A version of the following was previously published as a Starred Review in Shelf Awareness for Readers (July 15, 2014). Shelf Awareness provided me with a publisher-furnished galley to facilitate the review, and compensated me for the review they received and posted. In his second novel, Arts and Entertainments, Christopher Beha (What Happened to Sophie Wilder) shifts his setting from the world […]
Golden State: A Novel Michelle Richmond (Twitter) (Facebook) Bantam (February 2014), Trade paper (ISBN 0385343280 / 9780385343282) Fiction, 304 pages Source: Purchased ebook (iBooks edition, ISBN 9780345532404) Southern-rooted, San Francisco-based Michelle Richmond was my “Must-Read Author Discovery” of 2008 thanks to her novels The Year of Fog and No One You Know, but I’d lost touch with her a bit until her latest novel, Golden State, was published earlier this year. Certain elements here will be familiar to those who’ve read this author’s […]
Brutal Youth: A Novel Anthony Breznican (Twitter) (Goodreads author page) Thomas Dunne Books (June 10, 2014), Hardcover (ISBN 1250019354 / 9781250019356) Fiction, 416 pages A version of this review was previously published in Shelf Awareness for Readers (June 17, 2014). Shelf Awareness provided me with a publisher-furnished galley to facilitate the review, and compensated me for the review they received and posted. Anthony Breznican’s Brutal Youth is at first reminiscent of The Chocolate War, Robert Cormier’s classic young-adult novel of […]
The Possibilities: A Novel Kaui Hart Hemmings (Facebook) (Twitter) Simon & Schuster (May 2014), Hardcover (ISBN 1476725799 / 9781476725796) Fiction, 288 pages A version of this review was submitted to Shelf Awareness for Readers, but was not published due to timing and space limitations. Shelf Awareness provided me with a publisher-furnished galley to facilitate the review, and compensated me for the review they received. In her second novel, The Possibilities, Kaui Hart Hemmings again displays […]
Self-Inflicted Wounds: Heartwarming Tales of Epic Humiliation Aisha Tyler (Twitter) (Facebook) Audiobook read by the author It Books/Dey Street Books (July 2013), Hardcover (ISBN 0062223771 / 9780062223777) Nonfiction (memoir/essays/humor), 256 pages Source: Purchased audiobook (Harper Audio, July 2013, ISBN 9780062263322; Audible ASIN B00D98KXPW) “They say” that when you look back over your life, you’ll have more regrets over what you didn’t do than what you did. I don’t completely agree–if what you’ve done was immoral, illegal, and/or caused irreparable […]
The Martian: A Novel Andy Weir (Facebook) Audiobook read by R.C. Bray Crown (February 2014), hardcover (ISBN 0804139024 / 9780804139021) Fiction (science fiction/suspense), 384 pages Source: Purchased audiobook (Podium Publishing, March 2013; Audible ASIN B00B5HO5XA) The Martian is almost certainly one of those books that I wouldn’t have noticed in my pre-book-blogging life, and given that my pre-book-blogging reading life didn’t include audiobooks, I absolutely wouldn’t have read it by ear even if I had become aware of its existence. I […]
Call the Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard TimesJennifer WorthAudiobook read by Nicola BarberPenguin Books (2012), Trade Paperback (ISBN 1611749247 / 9781611749243)Nonfiction: autobiography/memoir, 352 pagesSource: purchased audiobook (Highbridge Audio, 2012, ISBN 9781611749250, Audible ASIN B009899R76) I don’t often buy audiobooks on a whim, but after I finished listening to The Cuckoo’s Calling I was craving more British narration, and when Call the Midwife popped up as a suggestion on Audible, I decided to […]
The Cuckoo’s Calling (A Cormoran Strike Novel) Robert Galbraith (pseudonym of J.K. Rowling) Audiobook read by Robert Glenister Mulholland Books (2014), Paperback (ISBN 1478980826 / 9781478980827) Fiction, 464 pages Source: Purchased audiobook (Hachette Audio, May 2013, ISBN 9781611134933; Audible ASIN B00CTQ2ZS8) True confession time: I doubt I would have paid any attention to The Cuckoo’s Calling if I hadn’t learned that “Robert Galbraith” was a pseudonym, and that this detective novel was a no-longer-secret side project for […]
Midsummer Carole Giangrande (Facebook) (Twitter) (Goodreads) Inanna Poetry and Fiction Series (2014), Paperback (ISBN 1771331380 / 9781771331388) Fiction (novella), 150 pages Source: Publisher, via TLC Book Tours I don’t often read novellas. I’m not sure many people do, actually–they’re such an odd specialized form of fiction, and I suspect that probably makes it a challenge to get them published. I like that they’re more developed than short stories without requiring the time commitment of full-length fiction, but those same […]
