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Fake Plastic Love

May 18, 2017

fake

  After almost five years of writing about books I kind of thought I’d seen it all. Not literally or in every way, but I firmly believed that plot and prose were inextricably intertwined. The best prose couldn’t save a bad plot and vice versa. Today I have to back off that belief because I just read a book that I really liked, but with writing that made me a little nutty. ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: coming-of-age, contemporary life, debut, Flatiron Books, friendship, Manhattan, new adult, retellings

Startup: A Novel

April 26, 2017

startup

  If your goal in writing a novel is to start conversation than Doree Shafrir succeeds in Startup. On the surface the novel is a quick-read satiric look at the young tech industry springing up in NYC, but underneath, business is the least of the issues Shafrir explores. At the center of the novel is Mack McAllister—the creator of TakeOff, an app that helps ease the stress ... Read More...

5 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, Little Brown and Company, new adult, New York City, social issues

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: 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 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

Edgar & Lucy: A Novel

March 27, 2017

edgar

  Having a life meant having a story. This is one of the first thoughts we hear from eight-year-old Edgar in Victor Lodato’s novel, Edgar & Lucy. It’s soon followed by the knowledge that the only way to know the story of when you were a baby is for someone else to tell it to you. And that’s Edgar’s biggest problem—neither his mother Lucy or his grandmother ... Read More...

6 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: childhood, contemporary life, literary, St. Martin's Press

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