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

Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta

November 9, 2022

carlotta

Carlotta has had a time of it. She was sent to prison for 23 years because she was holding a gun nearby when someone was murdered. Worse, when she got there, she was a young man who knew he was meant to be a woman. Something the state had no interest in hearing and something that brought her a world of misery because they would not transfer her to a women’s prison. Now, she’s ... Read More...

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary fiction, contemporary life, literary, social issues

Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng

November 7, 2022

missing

What better time to review a novel set in an unspecified time in America’s not-too-distant future than the day before an election? Celeste Ng’s novel, Our Missing Hearts, could either be the way things should be or a dystopian hell, depending on your beliefs. I’ll leave it to you to suss out where I stand, but it shouldn’t be too difficult. Bird is 12-years-old and lives with ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, dystopia, literary

Signal Fires by Dani Shapiro

October 25, 2022

signal

Author Dani Shapiro wastes no time plunging her pen into the marrow of human experience in her latest novel, Signal Fires. It’s a summer night in 1985 and the Wilf family, Ben, Mimi, and their teenaged children Sarah and Theo are about to go from a happy family living to four individuals reeling from unexpected trauma. Before that chapter can be completely digested Shapiro fast ... Read More...

13 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, family, literary

How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water

October 11, 2022

drown

Cara Romero is one of the many unfortunate workers whose job is lost in the 2008 recession. Now, in order to receive an unemployment check she must undergo 12 sessions with a work coach to help her find other job opportunities. What unfolds in the novel How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water is the transcription of these sessions that ultimately focus less on work and more on ... Read More...

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

The Complicities: A Novel

September 26, 2022

complicities

Con man Bernie Madoff’s life inspired a plethora of novels about the aftermath of a wife left to clean up her husband’s mess. Or at least try to escape it. By and large, they come from a perspective of innocence. But in Stacey d’Erasmo’s new novel, The Complicities, she opts to forgo the black-and-white ease of innocent or guilty to go with something much more compelling—the ... Read More...

Leave a Comment
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, contemporary life, literary

The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell

September 19, 2022

marriage

I adored Maggie O’Farrell’s last novel, Hamnet. She returns, with another novel set in the 1500s, but in Italy this time. The Marriage Portrait is about a young Italian princess and bride, Lucrezia of the famous Medici family, known for its support of key artists and scientists of the Renaissance. The Marriage Portrait is both her story and the name of one of the few portraits ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: 16th century, historical fiction, Italy, literary

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • …
  • 10
  • 11
  • 12
  • 13
  • 14
  • …
  • 67
  • 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