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The Word Exchange: A Novel

February 6, 2015

word exchange

I've finally been hit by what so many of you have in the last few months- a whopper of a cold that has left me unable to formulate even the simplest thoughts. The Word Exchange just came out in paperback and as it was one of my favorite books for 2014, I'm sharing the review for the second time.     A meme (/ˈmiːm/ meem) is "an idea, behavior, or style that ... Read More...

1 Comment
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, debut, dystopia, literary, science fiction

The Jaguar’s Children

February 2, 2015

jaguar's children

  There is always some fact in fiction but in The Jaguar’s Children by John Vaillant there is likely to be much more than expected. The story is a simple one in terms of characters and staging because it takes place inside a water tanker truck over the course of three days when it is left in the desert near Nogales, Arizona after stopping due to mechanical problems. The ... Read More...

5 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, contemporary fiction, debut, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, literary, Mexico, social issues

And the Dark Sacred Night

January 28, 2015

dark

Kit Noonan is in his early 40s and finds himself stuck at a place in his life where he doesn’t want to be. Jobless, he stays at home with his twin son and daughter while his wife works. When she suggests that his inability to get on with his life is related to the fact that he doesn’t know who his biological father is, he begins a backwards search to move forward. This is Julia ... Read More...

1 Comment
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: Anchor Books, book clubs, family

The Girl on the Train

January 23, 2015

girl on the train

Take the unreliable narrator format from Gone Girl and multiply it times three and you’ve got Paula Hawkins’ debut novel The Girl on the Train. Three women—Anna, Rachel, and Megan—all pass through the same time and space but each from a very different perspective, varying from sad to what appears to be flat out crazy. For Rachel, being unable to conceive leads to solace found ... Read More...

6 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, debut, mystery, Riverhead Books

The Undertaker’s Daughter

January 21, 2015

undertaker

Kate Mayfield takes readers into the world of her childhood in The Undertaker’s Daughter, a memoir that combines the unique circumstances of growing up in the 1960s in a small town in Kentucky while living above a funeral home. Through her we learn about a life and family held tight by the rituals of death. For Kate and her siblings, life was an odd combination of normalcy and ... Read More...

6 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Non-fiction Tagged: book clubs, coming-of-age, Gallery, memoir, Southern life

Slow Motion: A Memoir of a Life Rescued by Tragedy

January 14, 2015

slow motion

I have always believed my mother would live forever. While I have never said goodbye to my father without the thought crossing my mind that I might never see him again, my mother has seemed indestructible, fixed in my consciousness like a gnarled and stately tree that has taken root there. If she is ripped away at this moment in my life, she will take her roots with her and I ... Read More...

4 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Non-fiction Tagged: book clubs, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, memoir

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