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Dietland: A Novel

July 22, 2015

dietland

  Once I had a taste of real food, I always wanted more. I spent my days tiptoeing around food, the way one might tiptoe into a baby’s room while it’s sleeping. One wrong move and the baby wakes up and screams. That’s how it was with hunger, too. Once it awakes, it screams and screams and there’s only one way to quiet it.  First of all, I promise to restrain myself from ... Read More...

5 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: contemporary fiction, debut, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

The Book of Speculation

July 8, 2015

Debut novelist Erika Swyler does not waste any time before throwing the reader into the deep end of The Book of Speculation. The novel begins with Simon Watson, a librarian with the ability to hold his breath for underwater for almost ten minutes at a time, a skill passed on to him by his mother before she drowned herself when he was seven. Now, he lives alone in the family’s ... Read More...

2 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: debut, historical fiction, magic, mystery, St. Martin's Press

Girl at War: A Novel

June 24, 2015

girl

Ana is from Croatia but now lives in America and attends college in New York. Despite having been in the U.S for a decade she suddenly finds herself overcome by memories of her life in Croatia in 1991—the beginning of the Yugoslavian civil war. These memories increase in intensity until she can no longer sleep at night. In desperation, she decides to go back to Croatia to try ... Read More...

7 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: cultural, debut, Eastern Europe, historical fiction, war

The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton

June 10, 2015

miniaturist

Set in 1686 The Miniaturist by debut author Jessie Burton is the spellbinding story of an eighteen-year-old girl married off to an older merchant who lives in Amsterdam. She arrives on his doorstep with no idea of what marriage entails or the fact that she has been procured to enhance his reputation, for her family is poor but with a pedigree. Little does she know that her ... Read More...

9 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, debut, ecco, historical fiction

The Martian: A Novel

May 29, 2015

martian

If you’re an astronaut there is only one goal in life: make it onto a space mission. There is also one greatest fear: get left behind on a space mission. For Mark Watney, this fear has just come true on the planet Mars in Andy Weir’s debut novel, The Martian. When a dust storm arises while the crew is on the surface it means the mission has to be aborted. While trying to get ... Read More...

8 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: book clubs, debut, Random House, science fiction, suspense

The Knockoff

May 27, 2015

knockoff

It’s no secret that I love fashion and all things related to it. The September issue of the major magazines is one of my favorite purchases of the year so a novel about the world of fashion publishing is bound to be a big bowl of happy for me. In The Knockoff Imogen Tate is the long-time editor of Glossy magazine. When she returns to the helm after six months of medical leave ... Read More...

3 Comments
Filed Under: Book Reviews, Fiction Tagged: chick lit, contemporary fiction, debut, Doubleday

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