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A Little Life

March 9, 2015

little

  At the most basic level A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara is the story of four men who meet in college, move to New York City afterwards to pursue their careers, and whose lives stay entwined for the rest of the novel. They can be easily defined by their careers: Willem is an actor, JB an artist, Malcolm an architect, and Jude a lawyer. It is also quickly evident that, ... Read More...

16 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: coming-of-age, contemporary fiction, Doubleday, friendship, literary, Manhattan, social issues

It’s Not You, It’s Me: Mini-Reviews

March 6, 2015

it's

It's no secret that books are marvelously subjective--unless of course, they're badly written, in which case, of course, they must be ignored completely. Still, for every reader who loves spy thrillers there is one who does not. Even within genres there can be books that appeal to some but for whom others don't feel the same way. Along those lines, I'm adding a new type of ... Read More...

14 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: debut, Knopf, lists, Mariner Books, mini-reviews

Life from Scratch: a memoir of food, family, and forgiveness

March 4, 2015

top

It’s often said that fact is stranger than fiction but as I’m a big fiction reader I don’t often test that theory. All that changed when I read Life From Scratch by Sasha Martin. Martin is well-known for her blog, Global Table Adventure, where, in the span of four years she cooked a meal from every country in the world. That alone is accomplishment enough to fill a memoir but ... Read More...

6 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Non-fiction Tagged: book clubs, debut, food, memoir, recipes

The Buried Giant: A Novel

March 2, 2015

buried giant

    The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro begins as a tiny tale set in a drab village that amounts to little more than huts huddled around a rabbit’s warren of cave dwellings but grows into an epic tale set in the ashes of King Arthur’s reign. The land is quiet now after the decades of battle between the Saxons and the Britons but, while the peace is a welcome one, it ... Read More...

7 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: fantasy, Knopf, literary

A Spool of Blue Thread

February 27, 2015

spool

A Spool of Blue Thread is Anne Tyler’s newest novel. It is broken into four parts, three of which are about the present day lives of the Whitshanks and two are about previous generations. Initially, Tyler’s exploration is what we expect from a writer who has always been attuned to the rhythms of family life. There is Red and Abby, and their four children, Amanda, Jeannie, ... Read More...

9 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: family saga, historical fiction, literary, Random House

The Boatmaker

February 25, 2015

boatmaker

In a place where there is a Small Island, a Big Island, and a mainland, there is a man, given to very little speech, but too fond of drinking. When he is sober he is a carpenter A wonderful worker in wood. Every piece he works on comes out right, with nothing wasted. But this skill comes to him without effort. And because it came with no effort he has never respected it—or ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: debut, literary, Tin House

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