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5 Star Week: Before the Wind

April 14, 2017

before the wind

There's no better way to wrap up a week of fabulous 5 star reading than with one of my favorite books of 2016. Jim Lynch is a Seattle author and this lovely book about a quirky family of  sailors works even if you hate water. It just came out in paperback so I'm talking it up all over again.   At the most basic level Jim Lynch’s new novel Before the Wind is the ... Read More...

1 Comment
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, family, Pacific Northwest, Vintage

5 Star Week: All the Light We Cannot See

April 12, 2017

light

  I may be writing this review to watch myself write because virtually every reader I know has already read Anthony Doerr’s All the Light We Cannot See. Ostensibly, my excuse is, this Pulitzer Prize winning novel originally published in 2014 is being re-released in paperback. But really? WHY did it take me this long to read this wonder of a novel? I have no decent reason. ... Read More...

16 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: coming-of-age, France, Germany, historical fiction, Pulitzer Prize, Scribner, WWII

5 Star Week: The Takedown

April 10, 2017

takedown

This doesn't happen very often, OK, never now that I think about it, but this week I have not one, not two, but three 5 star books that make me all evangelical. Only today's is a new release, but beyond that all three cover a diverse range of reading that will bring on the book love!   But I did always say there were only two ways to emerge from high school. ... Read More...

10 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, debut, New York City, social issues, teen years, young adult

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane

April 7, 2017

tea

  I have always enjoyed Lisa See’s novels for their intimate portrayals of women in China at various points in its history. The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane is her latest and, once again, See brings to life the stories about people and places about which I knew nothing. The novel is set in the 1980s in the Yunnan province, an area known for its tea. Li-Yan’s family, like ... Read More...

8 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: China, cultural, family, Scribner, social issues

The Enemies of Versailles

April 5, 2017

enemies

  The Enemies of Versailles is the final novel in Sally Christie’s Mistresses of Versailles trilogy. When we left King Louis XV, Madame de Pompadour, one of his longest lasting mistresses had died and with her went the reign of mistress as advisor. The fact that she was able to keep her exalted position long after their affair ended was due to the fact that she had no ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: Atria Books, France, historical fiction

The Arrangement: A Novel by Sarah Dunn

March 29, 2017

arrangement

  How to describe Sarah Dunn’s new novel The Arrangement? All that is in my head is the Seinfeld episode where Jerry and Elaine decide to break the standards of friends and become friends-with-benefits. They are oh-so-careful with rules and boundaries and are certain they have cracked the code for getting to have sex without becoming involved. Dunn goes one step further ... Read More...

9 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, humor, Little Brown and Company, marriage, midlife, New York City

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