The Tell: A Novel Hester Kaplan Harper Perennial (January 2013), trade paper (ISBN 0062184024 / 9780062184023) Fiction, 352 pages A version of this review was previously published in Shelf Awareness for Readers (January 22, 2013). Shelf Awareness provided a galley of the book and compensation for the review. Opening lines: “For weeks he’d waited for the wild lilacs arching over the carriage house to come to bloom. Then, back from teaching and a plodding swim […]
Daddy Love Joyce Carol Oates Mysterious Press (January 2013), hardcover (ISBN 0802120997 / 9780802120991) Fiction (mystery/thriller), 240 pages A version of this review was previously published in Shelf Awareness for Readers (January 18, 2013). I was provided with a galley of the novel and compensated for the review. Opening lines: “Take my hand, she said. “He did. Lifted his small hand to Mommy’s hand. This was maybe five minutes before the abduction. “Did she see […]
Listening for Madeleine: A Portrait of Madeleine L’Engle in Many Voices Leonard S. Marcus (Goodreads) Farrar, Straus, and Giroux (November 2012), hardcover (ISBN 0374298971 / 9780374298975) Nonfiction: biographical essays, 384 pages A version of this discussion was published in Shelf Awareness for Readers (December 4, 2012). Shelf Awareness provided an Advance Readers Copy of the book and payment for the review. Opening lines:“She was born in New York City on November 29, 1918, the only child […]
Block 11 Piero degli Antoni (translated by Erin Waggener) St. Martin’s Press (October 2012), hardcover (ISBN 1250001021 / 9781250001023) Fiction, 240 pages A version of the following was previously published in Shelf Awareness for Readers (October 30, 2012) as a compensated review assignment. An advance reader’s copy of the book was provided to facilitate the assignment. Opening lines: “’Wake up. Wake up, my darling.’ “The old man sleeping next to her opened his eyes with great […]
Between Heaven and Here Susan Straight McSweeney’s (September 2012), Hardcover (ISBN 1936365758 / 9781936365753) Fiction, 208 pages A version of this review was previously published in Shelf Awareness for Readers (September 25, 2012). Opening lines (from the Advance Reader’s copy): “When Sidney came out of the taqueria and headed down the alley, he saw Glorette Picard on her knees, her back to a shopping cart parked near the fence, her face held up to the […]
ME, Who Dove Into the Heart of the World Sabina Berman (Blog) (Goodreads) Translated from Spanish by Lisa Dillman Henry Holt and Co. (2012), Hardcover (ISBN 0805093257 / 9780805093254) Fiction, 256 pages A version of this review was previously published in Shelf Awareness for Readers (August 17, 2012). Shelf Awareness provided an Advance Reader’s Copy (via the publisher) and monetary compensation. Opening lines: “1 … the sea … … and the white sand beach … […]
Motherless Child Marianne Langner Zeitlin Zephyr Press (July 2012), trade paper original (ISBN 0983297053 / 9780983297055) Fiction, 300 pages A version of this review was previously published in Shelf Awareness for Readers (August 3, 2012), which provided an advance reader’s copy and compensation. Opening Lines: “At nine-thirty on a cool November morning in 1977, Elizabeth Guaragna picked up a copy of the New York Times from a a vendor at her subway station and, in […]
Have Mother, Will Travel: A Mother and Daughter Discover Themselves, Each Other, and the World Claire and Mia Fontaine (Facebook) William Morrow (July 2012), Hardcover (ISBN 0061688398 / 9780061688393) Memoir, 320 pages A version of this review was previously published in Shelf Awareness for Readers (July 27, 2012). Opening lines, from the Introduction: “‘One word, Mia–schistosomiasis.’ “An occupational hazard of writing is research; you look up the risks of eating sushi and five hours later […]
Inside Alix Ohlin (Twitter) Knopf (June 2012), Hardcover (ISBN 0307596923 / 9780307596925) Fiction, 272 pages A version of this review was previously published in Shelf Awareness for Readers (June 8, 2012). Opening lines: “At first glance she mistook him for something else. In fading winter light he could have been a branch or a log, even a tire; in the many years she’d been cross-country skiing on Mount Royal, she’d found stranger debris across her […]
Drowned Therese Bohman (Swedish-language blog) (Twitter) translated by Marlaine Delargy Other Press (May 22, 2012), Paperback original (ISBN 1590515242 / 9781590515242) Fiction, 224 pages A version of this review was originally published in Shelf Awareness for Readers (May 29, 2012). Opening lines: “The train is exactly on time as it pulls into the platform. My whole body feels listless as I stand up and get my bag down from the luggage rack above the window, […]
A version of this review was previously published in Shelf Awareness for Readers (4/27/2012). Let’s Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir) Jenny Lawson (The Bloggess) (Twitter) (Facebook) Amy Einhorn Books/Putnam (2012) Hardcover (ISBN 0399159010 / 9780399159015) Nonfiction/memoir, 336 pages Source: ARC from publisher Reason for reading: compensated review Opening lines (from the Introduction): “This book is totally true, except for the parts that aren’t. It’s basically like Little House on the Prairie but with […]
A version of this review was originally published in Shelf Awareness for Readers on April 3, 2012. The Good Father: A Novel Noah Hawley Doubleday (2012), Hardcover (ISBN 0385535538 / 9780385535533) Fiction, 320 pages Source: ARC from publisher Reason for reading: compensated review Opening lines: ““Thursday night was pizza night in the Allen household. My last appointment of the day was scheduled for eleven a.m., and at three o’clock I would ride the train home […]
