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

2 A.M. at The Cat’s Pajamas

December 24, 2014

2a.m. at the cat's pajamas

  Author Marie-Helene Bertino creates an unusual and charming story in 2 A.M. at The Cat’s Pajamas in that while it takes place in the 24 hours before Christmas Eve the only thing Christmas-like about it is that it brings together a disparate group of travelers, all looking for salvation.  There is nine-year-old Madeleine; Lorca, the owner of The Cat’s ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, childhood, contemporary life, Crown, debut, magical realism

The Other Typist

December 1, 2014

other typist

  Suzanne Rindell sets her novel The Other Typist in 1920s New York City where Rose is one of a new kind of working woman, earning her living as a typist for the police department. She is an orphan living a quiet simple life despite working in a job that exposes her to some of the roughest men in the city. When Abolition begins, the department needs additional typists as ... Read More...

9 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: 1920s, book clubs, debut, historical fiction, mystery, Penguin

A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing

October 22, 2014

girl half formed

  The heart cannot be wrung and wrung. Eimear McBride brings her main character to life with prose so fractured that A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing reads a bit like Clockwork Orange. There is no made-up language, but McBride uses a combination of Magnetic Poetry and Yahtzee to throw out words in random order with punctuation as an afterthought. Abandon any hope for sentence ... Read More...

12 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews Tagged: Coffee House Press, contemporary fiction, debut, literary

Gretel and the Dark

October 15, 2014

gretel

Unless you’re reading a book of short stories it is unusual to get more than one scary plot in a single novel, but that is exactly what happens in Eliza Granville’s debut novel Gretel and the Dark. There is Lilie, the beautiful young patient of Dr. Josef Breuer, Sigmund Freud’s mentor.  She is found beaten, abused and with her head shaved. She only speaks when ordered and ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, coming-of-age, debut, Europe, historical fiction, Riverhead Books, WWII

How to Build a Girl

September 24, 2014

build a girl

I want to be a self-made woman. I want to conjure myself out of every sparkling, fast-moving thing I can see. I want to be the creator of me. I’m gonna begat myself. Caitlin Moran’s How to Build a Girl is the hell-bent lovechild of Angela’s Ashes and Almost Famous—overlarge, impoverished family with a drunken non-working father and a teen daughter with a love of music and ... Read More...

9 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, Coffee House Press, coming-of-age, debut, Ireland, teen years

The Miniaturist: A Novel

August 25, 2014

miniaturist

Set in 1686 The Miniaturist by debut author Jessie Burton is the spellbinding story of an eighteen-year-old girl married off to an older merchant who lives in Amsterdam. She arrives on his doorstep with no idea of what marriage entails or the fact that she has been procured to enhance his reputation, for her family is poor but with a pedigree. Little does she know that her ... Read More...

16 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: 17th century, book clubs, ecco, historical fiction, Holland, magical realism

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 42
  • 43
  • 44
  • 45
  • 46
  • …
  • 54
  • 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