Little Brown and Company Archives - The Gilmore Guide to Books

Ask Not by Maureen Callahan

Catherine — Fri, 14 Nov 2025 08:54:48 +0000

Reams of paper have been expended in dissecting the Kennedys in all their tragedy and fame. Now, author Maureen Callahan joins the fray with a knockout punch in Ask Not. The book’s subtitle is The Kennedys and the Women They Destroyed, but in case Callahan’s being too subtle this is a scathing exposé about the […]

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January Reading Wrap-Up

Catherine — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 05:15:06 +0000

What a month. Parts of January left me stunned while others made me cry with relief. I’ll leave it at that. As for my reading, the year is starting out strong. I read 18 books, with more than half being 3.5 stars or higher. But I also DNFed three books in January, which is unusually […]

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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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Homeland Elegies: A Novel

Catherine — Mon, 05 Oct 2020 04:06:07 +0000

These days, I’m attuned to fiction that takes my mind off reality. Not necessarily easy or soothing, but novels that grab me with their drama (Against the Loveless World) or distract me with their lovely prose (Monogamy). It’s with some surprise then that I’m reviewing Homeland Elegies, a complex novel I’m still not sure I […]

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September Reading Wrap-Up

Catherine — Fri, 02 Oct 2020 04:02:33 +0000

I’ve been tired of 2020 in virtually all my end-of-month posts, but Justice Ginsburg’s death in September pretty much broke me. I found some solace in reading, but some of my nonfiction choices indicate just how far this year has pushed things. There is no ‘normal’ in my reading right now as shown by […]

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June Reading Wrap-Up

Catherine — Wed, 01 Jul 2020 04:30:04 +0000

Goodbye, June! I wish I could say I was going to miss you, but honestly, there hasn’t been a month in 2020 that I haven’t been ready to escape. Only there is no such thing. There is gratitude that my life and the lives of those I care about are safe and secure (as much […]

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January Reading Wrap-up

Catherine — Fri, 31 Jan 2020 05:35:43 +0000

My January reading was as all over-the-board as the weather here in Ann Arbor. Some of it depressed me as much as the foot of heavy wet snow we got, but then there were some days (and books) that were pure sunshine. My art—it’s about choosing when I release the shutter. It’s not […]

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Ten Best Books of 2019

Catherine — Fri, 20 Dec 2019 05:30:48 +0000

Well, what do you know. Rather than being my usual contrarian self, I actually have ten books I consider to be the best of 2019. Of course, that doesn’t include the eight debut novels I wrote about on Wednesday, but let’s not split hairs. The point is: ALL of these books are marvelous. Even […]

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Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America

Catherine — Wed, 11 Dec 2019 05:58:19 +0000

Last week, I left behind heavy nonfiction with Adam Rippon’s memoir, Beautiful on the Outside, but today I’m back with a heavy dose of reality. Dopesick is Beth Macy’s well-researched and documented rise of opioid addiction in America. Specifically, in the Appalachians—starting with the over-prescribing of high dose Oxycontin to coal miners in the late […]

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Necessary People: A Novel

Catherine — Thu, 14 Nov 2019 08:55:41 +0000

It always seems as if being the friend of a really wealthy person would be fun—going expensive places, but never having to pay, exotic vacations, great gifts. But it never plays out that way in fiction. The last novel I read about a rich girl/poor girl friendship was Social Creature, which I disliked when its […]

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