Farrar, Straus and Giroux Archives - The Gilmore Guide to Books

2020 Underrated Gems

Catherine — Mon, 21 Dec 2020 05:27:57 +0000

Well, it’s that time of year again…the extravaganza of lists about everything BEST in the world. I’ll be joining the fray, but my two lists (debuts and overall best) won’t be going up until after Christmas. For today, I wanted to give some love to four very different books I thought were gems, but that […]

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Three Dystopian Worlds: Mini-Reviews

Catherine — Mon, 11 Nov 2019 08:54:41 +0000

Somehow, in the midst of my own chaos I found myself reading three dystopian novels that painted a bleak picture for humans. You’d think I would have chosen soothing books about rainbows and unicorns, but in their own way each of these books worked to take my mind out of my life and into […]

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gods with a little g

Catherine — Fri, 16 Aug 2019 07:58:45 +0000

On Monday, I reviewed a novel centered around the lives of two ministers, but it was not a book focused on organized religion. Today’s novel, gods with a little g, is the opposite, with religion at the center of everything in Rosary, California. An oil refinery town that has proudly merged church and state, to […]

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Death is Hard Work

Catherine — Fri, 15 Feb 2019 08:14:55 +0000

Bolbol’s father has just died in Damascus. Before he did, he made one final request of his son—he wants to be buried in the family’s plot in his hometown. It’s two hours away and without thinking Bolbol agrees. It’s only as he’s contacting his sister, Fatima, and his brother, Hussein, that the enormity of his […]

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The Uncommon Reader by Alan Bennett

Catherine — Mon, 12 Nov 2018 08:32:06 +0000

Everyone knows the old saying that the best things come in small packages. I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to refer to jewelry, but I’m happy to report that it can also be true of books. For any number of reasons recently, a perfect storm on too many fronts had left me unable to process anything […]

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March Reading Wrap-Up

Catherine — Fri, 30 Mar 2018 07:53:50 +0000

Lion or lamb is the big question, both for the weather and March’s reading. In Seattle we often had lion-like winds and cold temps but with the bright sunshine-y fun that feels as cute and welcome as lambs. In reading, I have to say if I look at the two to mean strength versus […]

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The Transition by Luke Kennard

Catherine — Mon, 15 Jan 2018 08:02:50 +0000

What if you had broken the law and rather than being sent to prison you could opt into a program that would make you a better person? The upside is it’s not prison, you get to keep your job, you have no living expenses, and when you’re finished after six months you’ll be provided with […]

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Sourdough: A Novel by Robin Sloan

Catherine — Mon, 18 Sep 2017 07:19:56 +0000

September has already been a month of heavy (literally) reading. Namely, Ken Follett’s latest, which clocked in at a daunting 928 pages. It is one of those times when I have loved having an e-book because I have a tendency to fall asleep in bed while reading and a book like that could have […]

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The Answers: A Novel by Catherine Lacey

Catherine — Fri, 23 Jun 2017 07:48:49 +0000

Catherine Lacey’s new novel, The Answers appealed to me because of its premise: intimacy in the modern world of technology. At the novel’s center is Mary, a young woman, who used to be known as Junia, born in the Tennessee mountains to a father who believed the only way to truly worship God was […]

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Back to Moscow

Catherine — Mon, 09 May 2016 07:16:41 +0000

Having recently read and adored The Tsar of Love and Techno I wasn’t sure I needed another book about contemporary Russian life. Happily, I ignored myself and read Back to Moscow anyway. Guillermo Erades’ novel looks at the modern day Russian experience from the microcosm of a young man in Moscow. Martin is twenty-four […]

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