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A House Without Windows

August 24, 2016

a house without

  Author Nadia Hashimi’s family is from Afghanistan and her time spent listening to their stories and travelling in Afghanistan herself gives her novels the weight of truth. Her last novel, The Pearl that Broke its Shell, was a blend of the modern day with the story of the fabled women who guard an ancient shah’s harem. In A House Without Windows she stays firmly in ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: Afghanistan, book clubs, contemporary life, William Morrow, women

Bright, Precious Days

August 22, 2016

bright precious days

  Russell and Corrine Calloway move in all the right circles, but at the grand banquet that is New York society they’re seated at the children’s table. Yes, Russell owns his company, but it’s a publishing firm and while it has cachet it doesn’t have much cash. They live at an enviable address downtown, but in a cramped loft with one bathroom for four people. When Bright, ... Read More...

5 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, friendship, Knopf, Manhattan, marriage, midlife

How to Party with an Infant

August 17, 2016

how to party

  At twenty-eight Mele Bart finds herself as a single mother, because after giving birth to daughter Ellie her boyfriend Bobby tells her he was "kind of engaged" to someone else.  What?! Not one to wallow and with a infant to care for, Mele moves on. In an effort to have some kind of life outside her apartment she tries to find support in one of the neighborhood groups of ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, family, humor, San Francisco, Simon & Schuster

All the Ugly and Wonderful Things

August 15, 2016

ugly

Sometimes there are great books that are almost impossible to review. An example is A Little Life—a novel of abuse that, while it was brilliant, was not for everyone. But, what was not difficult about it was the fact of the abuse—a subject that does not divide or cause unease. Bryn Greenwood ‘s debut novel All the Ugly and Wonderful Things is the opposite of A Little Life in ... Read More...

13 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, childhood, contemporary life, literary, Thomas Dunne Books

Invincible Summer

August 10, 2016

invincible summer

  Less than a quarter of the way into Invincible Summer and I realize why the novel feels so comfortable—I’ve superimposed the characters from Four Weddings and Funeral over the ones Alice Adams creates. This is not a bad thing because the story is not derivative, but you do have a small, tightly knit, British group of friends who get together once a year, not for ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: debut, friendship, Little Brown and Company, London

How I Became a North Korean

August 8, 2016

north korean

How I Became a North Korean by Krys Lee is a lot like the Korean delicacy kimchi—a confounding blend of elements that, until it has fermented, can be confusing and difficult to appreciate. But, just like kimchi, by halfway through the novel the three disparate main characters have released their identities to make the story come together. Danny is a sixteen-year-old boy, living ... Read More...

8 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: China, contemporary life, North Korea, racism

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