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All the Ugly and Wonderful Things

August 15, 2016

ugly

Sometimes there are great books that are almost impossible to review. An example is A Little Life—a novel of abuse that, while it was brilliant, was not for everyone. But, what was not difficult about it was the fact of the abuse—a subject that does not divide or cause unease. Bryn Greenwood ‘s debut novel All the Ugly and Wonderful Things is the opposite of A Little Life in ... Read More...

13 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, childhood, contemporary life, literary, Thomas Dunne Books

The Tsar of Love and Techno by Anthony Marra

July 20, 2016

tsar of love

I could not pass up the opportunity to share the love again for a book that I adored. I'm not a big short story reader, but Marra connects the dots so well that The Tsar of Love and Techno reads like an abstract art of a novel. It comes out in paperback tomorrow so if you missed it the first time around, read it now!   For art to be the chisel that breaks the ... Read More...

7 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, cultural, Hogarth, literary, Russia, short stories

The Trouble with Goats and Sheep

July 11, 2016

trouble

The summer of 1976 is one of upheaval for the families who live along the Avenue, a seemingly quiet British neighborhood. Mrs. Margaret Creasy has gone missing. Ten-year-old Grace takes the words of the local vicar that “If God exists in a community, no one will be lost” as her cue to find God within their neighborhood and in doing so, bring Mrs. Creasy back. She enlists her ... Read More...

5 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: 1970s, book clubs, childhood, debut, England

The Girls

June 27, 2016

girls

I wanted them to like me.  Such a simple sentence. Six words, and yet, coming three-fourths of the way through Emma Cline’s debut novel The Girls, they hold the key to the entire novel. They are instantly recognizable to any woman with a memory of her teenage years and they define fourteen-year-old Evie Boyd, the novel’s narrator. But as simple as they are they are also ... Read More...

10 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: 1960s, book clubs, coming-of-age, Random House

Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty

June 20, 2016

sons and daughters

  It seems like a fairly straightforward equation: a father plus a mother plus three children equals happiness, but when the pluses that bind their reality is removed these elements no longer add up and the results are wholly unexpected. In Ramona Ausubel’s new novel Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty the plus is money, lots and lots of it, enough that Fern and Edgar ... Read More...

10 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: 1960s, 1970s, book clubs, family, literary, Riverhead Books

The Time in Between

June 10, 2016

time in between

  This is the final review from my recent mental health reading and it was easily the most difficult because it’s non-fiction. The Time in Between is Nancy Tucker’s memoir about her life from the time she was a little girl until present day, with the focus on her teen years. Her life changes at age eleven, while attending a private girls’ school, which makes her insecure ... Read More...

5 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Non-fiction Tagged: book clubs, coming-of-age, Icon Books, memoir, mental health

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