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The Portable Veblen

February 5, 2016

portable veblen

  To say that The Portable Veblen by Elizabeth McKenzie gets nutty is not a derogatory comment because Veblen, the main character, is obsessed with squirrels. As in talk to them, think they’re talking to her, anthropomorphize them. Her fiancé Paul is not as fond of them, but as a research neurologist who has created a medical device that will revolutionize the management ... Read More...

8 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary fiction, Penguin Press

Be Frank With Me

February 3, 2016

be frank

  M.M. (Mimi) Banning is a southern college drop-out who writes a novel at age 20 that wins the Pulitzer and sells millions of copies, after which time she withdraws from the world, never to write again. Sound familiar? (Hint: Harper Lee). All right, so it is, but from that single point author Julia Claiborne Johnson spins an exuberant tale of snark and intelligence in Be ... Read More...

8 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary life, debut, William Morrow

Hunters in the Dark

January 13, 2016

hunters in the dark

  Lawrence Osborne was a travel journalist and currently lives in Bangkok, but his latest novel Hunters in the Dark is not one that will inspire readers to head to Southeast Asia. Instead, it has a Heart of Darkness feel—where the language spoken by the natives is not one that can ever be learned by foreigners and behind nods and smiles is a deep-seated, unforgiving ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, contemporary fiction, cultural, Hogarth, literary, Southeast Asia

The Guest Room

January 6, 2016

guest room

  Chris Bohjalian always manages to tell a great story and in a way that encompasses its truth, but in The Guest Room he delves into the kind of subjects that make us squeamish—the underbelly of our society, a place most of us never hear about. Richard Chamberlain is a happily married investment banker who agrees to host his younger brother’s bachelor party at his home in ... Read More...

12 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, contemporary life, Doubleday, social issues

Dryland: A Novel

November 13, 2015

dryland

  Julie Winter is a sophomore in high school and if navigating those waters is not enough, there are the perceptions of her by people at her school. Her brother Jordan was a swimmer of Olympic caliber and so everyone who meets her thinks she must be a potential swimming superstar. When she is asked to join the swim team, she does, but Julie is not Jordan. That Jordan now ... Read More...

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

The Improbability of Love

November 2, 2015

improbability

  When Annie buys a painting at a junk shop in London she has no idea what she’s getting herself into. It’s supposed to be a gift for a new boyfriend but when he’s a no-show she keeps it. The now ex-boyfriend is only one more disappointment in a life that seems to be stalled, in Hannah Rothschild’s new novel, The Improbability of Love. At 31 Annie has a temporary job ... Read More...

9 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: art, debut, Knopf, literary

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