The Gilmore Guide to Books

Connecting Books and Readers One Review at a Time

  • Home
  • About Me
  • Reviews
    • Reviews by Author
    • Reviews by Title
    • Reviews by Genre
  • Podcast
  • Policies
    • Review Policy
    • Cookie Policy
    • Privacy Policy

Commonwealth: A Novel

September 12, 2016

commonwealth

The Keatings and the Cousins turn into one extended broken family when Mr. Cousins decides to kiss Mrs. Keating at her daughter Franny’s christening. Two divorces and relocation follow and what were two distinct sets of children merge into one unruly tribe in Virginia every summer. This is Ann Patchett’s latest novel, Commonwealth, and it is a story as comforting in its ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: American life, book clubs, family, Harper, literary, marriage

Inventing the Rest of Our Lives by Susan Levine Braun

August 19, 2016

inventing

Yesterday, I had a milestone-ish birthday. 55, which means I can no longer say I’m in my early 50s. Boo to that. I’m not generally one to find age markers to be difficult—I thought 40 was a blast, but this one, for whatever reason hit me harder than any other in awhile. I decided I really needed to let go of the self-doubt and irritation that’s been dogging me recently and jump ... Read More...

19 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Non-fiction Tagged: midlife

Miller’s Valley

May 2, 2016

miller's valley

Miller’s Valley is both the title and location of Anna Quindlen’s new novel. It is a tiny community where Mimi Miller’s family has owned and farmed their land for hundreds of years. Now it’s under threat because the government has decided to use a dam they put in decades ago to divert the river, flooding the town and turning it into a reservoir and a source of hydroelectricity. ... Read More...

10 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: 1960s, book clubs, coming-of-age, family, Random House

The Sellout: A Novel

March 28, 2016

sellout

How do you review a book when you’re not quite certain that you should or even that you should have been allowed to read it? This was the question in my mind after finishing Paul Beatty’s The Sellout.  The novel is set in a ghetto outside Los Angeles called Dickens and is about a young black man whose childhood is spent being homeschooled and basically tortured by his father, a ... Read More...

10 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, contemporary fiction, humor, pop culture, racism, satire, social issues

Forty Rooms

February 15, 2016

forty rooms

It is no small feat to write a novel about one woman’s life that taps into the universality of all women’s lives but Olga Grushin accomplishes just that in her new novel, Forty Rooms. With a construct based on the belief that— Forty is God’s way of testing the human spirit. It’s the limits of man’s endurance, beyond which you are supposed to learn something true each ... Read More...

11 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, contemporary life, literary, Putnam

Unbecoming

December 2, 2015

unbecoming

  Unbecoming follows a young woman named Grace from present day Paris to New York City and even Garland, Tennessee, slipping back and forth as her story and life unspool. In Paris, she is not even Grace but calls herself Julie and works for a woman who restores antiques and pays cash. As a young girl there was no stability in her life so when she met Riley in the fourth grade ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, mystery, thriller

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 55
  • 56
  • 57
  • 58
  • 59
  • …
  • 62
  • Next Page »
  • Bluesky
  • Email
  • Goodreads
  • Instagram
  • Substack

Save time and subscribe via email

No time to keep checking for new reviews? Enter your email address to subscribe and receive notifications of new posts by email. No spam!

Bookshop

Currently Reading

Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle
Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle
by Emily Nagoski
The Dutch House
The Dutch House
by Ann Patchett
Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me
Wild Game: My Mother, Her Lover, and Me
by Adrienne Brodeur

goodreads.com

Affiliate Disclosure

I’m an affiliate for Bookshop. If you click on a link that takes you to their site and make a purchase I’ll earn a small fee, which goes towards the costs of maintaining this site. Your support is appreciated. Thank you!

Archives

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License.

Theme Design By Studio Mommy · Copyright © 2026

Copyright © 2026 · Beyond Madison Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in