Recent Reader Reviews

A Fatal Inheritance: How a Family Misfortune Revealed a Deadly Medical Mystery by Lawrence Ingrassia is a very highly recommended deeply personal memoir of a family's medical tragedies merged with a medical thriller of cancer research as scientists work to discover answers.

Lawrence Ingrassia's family story is one where death from cancer is prevalent. In his family Ingrassia lost his mother, two sisters, brother, and nephew to different kinds of cancer at different points in their lives. In the 1960s his family became one of several that intrigued Dr. Frederick Pei Li and Dr. Joseph Fraumeni Jr. in their research into why some families experienced so many deaths by cancer. They began collecting records and analyzing data to understand cancer clusters in some families.

They published their results in a paper which showed that there was likely a genetic component involved and this discovery was named the Li–Fraumani Syndrome. Their paper was first published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, and wasn't widely known. Later genetic researchers were intrigued by the syndrome and with help from Li and Fraumani and the samples they collected from families they were able to discover a mutation in the p53 gene. This inherited mutation is responsible for the higher risk of cancer. Its discovery was groundbreaking in cancer research and offers hope for potential future research.

Ingassia does an excellent job sharing his family's and others deeply personal and emotional stories while also covering how the cancer research of Li and Fraumeni’s and others evolved. The merging of the personal tragedies with the ground breaking discoveries work well together and help create a tension and anticipation for some hopeful discovery for a future cure. The question of genetic research in regards to ethical considerations and personal privacy is also considered. Thanks to Henry Holt & Company for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War by Erik Larson is a highly recommended in-depth look at the months between Lincoln’s November 1860 election and the surrender of Fort Sumter which lead up to the Civil War.

Larson brings to bear his penchant for presenting extensive historical research in a vivid, compelling manner in the telling the story of a deeply divided nation and the events leading up to the start of the Civil War. "At the heart of this suspense-filled narrative are Major Robert Anderson, Sumter’s commander and a former slave owner sympathetic to the South but loyal to the Union; Edmund Ruffin, a vain and bloodthirsty radical who stirs secessionist ardor at every opportunity; and Mary Boykin Chesnut, wife of a prominent planter, conflicted over both marriage and slavery and seeing parallels between them. In the middle of it all is the overwhelmed Lincoln, battling with his duplicitous secretary of state, William Seward, as he tries desperately to avert a war that he fears is inevitable—one that will eventually kill 750,000 Americans."

For those who enjoy any and all historical accounts surrounding the Civil War, The Demon of Unrest will be a welcomed addition to your library. This has been hailed as one of the most anticipated books of the year. Personally, ever since I read Isaac's Storm, still a favorite, reading any new Eric Larson book is a necessity. The presentation was compelling and the research is extensive, but I'll sheepishly admit I wanted the narrative to move along just a little bit faster. However, I know several Civil War buffs who will revel in the details.

In the opening Larson does write, “I was well into my research on the saga of Fort Sumter and the advent of the American Civil War when the events of January 6, 2021, took place.” Rather than be so specific and pinning the current ideological divisions on one day, it might have behooved him to simply say that turmoil and division between Americans is present again. Thanks to Crown Publishing for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

I LOVE reading books! However, I usually first borrow books from the library (occasionally from family/friends) and then if I feel the novel deserves five stars AND I would happily re-read it, I will purchase it for my own collection.  This is primarily because I have limited space and limited funds. Occasionally I do buy a work of fiction immediately-when it is part of a series I already have or it is just so intriguing I am 100 confident it meets my criteria.

I was surprised by how quickly I became engrossed in Leigh Bardugo's latest book, "The Familiar."   I have other works by Bardugo, but it usually takes a chapter or two for me to become totally invested in the characters, setting and plot.  Luzia is a strong protagonist who unfortunately lives during the time of the Spanish Inquisition.  She is a converso (one of the Jewish faith who converts to the Catholic religion to stay alive) and an orphan and  a destitute servant, forced to sleep on a dirt floor and work constantly with no hope of a better life.  She is intelligent (having learned how to read as a child) and ambitious-yearning to improve her lot.  She is also gifted with a talent for magic (restoring broken items/healing injuries) and once her mistress, Valentina discovers this power things begin to get interesting.

She is forced to perform and we get to go along for the ride.  We watch her grow and discover her true nature and just how powerful she can be and also find love for the first time with Santangel-an immortal man who is not a good person.  We also see Valentina  blossom as a better woman and realize her husband, Marius, will never make her happy.   There are evil priests, there are powerful wealthy men with their own agendas, and an aunt that is more concerned with her own survival than really helping her niece..
Bardugo weaves a captivating tale, full of detail and richly constructed personalities.  It is difficult to put down!   It is ideal for those who love historical fiction and those who love literary fiction.   I am grateful to BookBrowse and Flatiron Books for the ARC- but I definitely would have gone out to buy it!! It is a keeper!!

“Prophet Song” by Paul Lynch would seem like a novel stunt if many award-winning Irish books did not seem similar. There are not many paragraph breaks and quotation marks here. You get the point of dystopian suffering even when unsure what is happening. Although this is fiction, it echoes the complicated fears of the Irish today.

Eilish Stack is a typical Irish wife and mother. Still, her husband is a trade unionist for the country’s workers, a controversial position that results in his sudden capture and eerie interrogation. Ireland descends into chaos and confusion, and the author has the challenge of projecting the nation's bewilderment without confusing the readers. Their leaders are paranoid, vicious, and suffocating.

There is a lot of detailed setup and character development, but I was most interested in the main plot’s story arc: this woman living without her husband and at risk of losing her son. Eilish hangs onto the past because nothing about their future seems promising.

History reminds us that The Troubles eventually improved, but we do not see it coming here in Dystopia.
The echoes of modern culture, where doubt and skepticism surround news from specific sources, resonate strongly. When the government controls information, confusion reigns. The depiction of war from within adds an extra layer of mayhem, mirroring the complexities of our world. The perspective of an innocent resident creates a palpable sense of claustrophobia, drawing the reader into the narrative.

The writing style, characterized by long sentences and much longer paragraphs, may initially feel overwhelming. However, it quickly immerses you in the narrative, intensifying the sense of loss and bewilderment. This is not a book for those seeking an easy, low-key read. The subject matter and writing quirks ensure a challenging, thought-provoking experience.

Extinction by Douglas Preston combines a compelling murder mystery and cutting-edge science in a Michael Crichton-esque plot. This excellent mind-blowing thriller is very highly recommended. One of the best!

The exclusive Erebus Resort is located in a hundred-thousand acre valley of in the mountains of Colorado. Through genetic manipulation Erebus specializes in the "de-extinction" of Pleistocene megafauna, like woolly mammoths, giant ground sloths, Irish Elk, giant armadillos, and the indricothere. These prehistoric animals have had their genes for aggression removed for the safety of the visitors at the resort. For their honeymoon Mark and Olivia Gunnerson go backpacking at Erebus to see the prehistoric animals there and then disappear in the night.

County Sheriff James Colcord notes the obvious attack on the couple left behind a copious amount of blood but no bodies, so Colorado Bureau of Investigation Agent Frances (Frankie) Cash is called in to track down the perpetrators. Since Mark is the son of a wealthy billionaire, the first assumption is a gang of eco-terrorists are trying to send a message about the resort.

This is a gripping murder mystery full of extinct creatures, perpetual tension, breathtaking twists, and shocking developments that gallops at a heart-stopping pace. Once you start reading the ingenious narrative you will not want to stop until you reach the unpredictable, stunning final denouement. Once the plot took off, I was following in what ever direction Preston led me. I kept trying to predict what was going to happen and was surprised at every turn.

What made Extinction even better (if that were possible) are the variety of fully realized characters and personalities that populate the novel. Frankie and Colcord are great characters and the interaction between the two is appealing even when they seemingly clash. All the supporting characters are presented as unique individuals and you will easily distinguish between them while reading as fast as possible to see what in the world is going to happen next.

Additionally, much like Crichton, Preston has done his research and knows the science behind the direction his plot takes. At the end of the novel Preston shares the real science and the direction it is taking right now. Great characters, action-packed plot, and expert plotting and pacing make this one of the best novels of the year. Thanks to Forge Books for providing me with an advance reader's copy via NetGalley. My review is voluntary and expresses my honest opinion.

This is a sneaky book. It starts off at a crawl with the characters and plot unraveling at a slow, deliberate, and measured pace…until wham! At about the halfway point, the book just grabbed me in an intense, haunting, and almost disturbing way. I was sucked into it like quicksand. At first it was nothing, and then it wouldn't let go. And I couldn't stop reading.

Written by Lily King, this is award-winning literary fiction that is a diamond in the rough. It's the early 1930s. American Nell Stone and Brit Schuyler Fenwick, known as Fen, are married anthropologists studying primitive tribes living along the Sepik River in New Guinea. Nell has just published a mainstream book (that is, not an academic treatise) on Samoan child-rearing that includes information on their sexual practices. The book is a bestseller, giving Nell publicity and money. All Fen has done is publish a single academic monograph. He is deeply envious of Nell's commercial success, which has also landed them a lucrative grant for their work in New Guinea. As they are leaving one tribe, they meet up with another anthropologist, Andrew Bankson. At first, his friendship supports and strengthens Nell and Fen's troubled marriage, but soon enough Bankson's erotic feelings and sexual desire for Nell create a love triangle that infuriates Fen, who is determined to do something completely inappropriate and unethical—and as it turns out, tragic—to cement his own professional status over Nell.

The book is written primarily from Bankson's perspective in the first person. But other chapters from Nell's perspective are written in the third person, as well as excerpts from her journals that Bankson is given years later. Bankson has his own issues. His father and two brothers are dead, and Bankson has tried, but failed, to die by suicide. His professional life is stalled. He is deeply unhappy. But everything changes when he meets Nell.

And the ending is oh so sad.

This is a piercing, and perceptive tale of the human heart and the havoc that is wreaked when egos collide, sexual tensions run high, and smart people lose their sense of boundaries.

A note: The book was inspired by events in the life of anthropologist Margaret Mead and her relationships with her second and third husbands, R.F. Fortune and Gregory Bateson. Some of the story is true to Mead's life, and some of it is imagined.

In a word: brilliant!

This is a book about Vietnam in the very early days of the war, a story you've never heard before. This is a book about the women, the wives of the important men—diplomats, engineers, intelligence officers, attorneys, and military brass. These bright young men were sent to Saigon in the early '60s to do mostly secret work while their pretty little wives threw garden parties and cocktail parties with local servants doing all the work. This is a book about two of those women, who didn't exactly fit the mold.

Written 60 years later as a kind of memoir/letter by Tricia to her friend Charlene's daughter, Rainey, this is the story of a brief stint in Vietnam in 1963. Peter and Tricia are working class Irish Catholics from Yonkers. He is eight years older than she and is in Vietnam working as an attorney for Navy intelligence. They are desperately trying to have a baby. Charlene and her husband, Kent, have been there a while with their three children, 8-year-old twins Rainey and Ransom and baby Roger. Charlene is pretty, smart, bossy, a bit of a bully, and a vivacious hostess; she also has a passion for "doing good" that is wonderful but heartbreaking in who gets hurt in the process. Life is so different for these women, and not only because they are in Vietnam. They are considered nothing more than "helpmeets" for their husbands. Trish often writes, "You have to remember how it was in those days. For women. For wives." They are women on the periphery. Women no one takes seriously. Meanwhile, outside their wealthy, guarded compounds, Vietnamese children are starving, families are living in abject poverty, and people are dying in surprise attacks by the Viet Cong. What is the moral obligation of these protected, pampered wives as they seek absolution in a broken, tragic place that is gearing up for a horrifying war?

Bonus: Barbie dolls have a big part in this book—a part that is both surprising and appalling.

Beautifully written with so many details and lush descriptions that it transports the reader back to this time and place, this remarkable novel is an enlightening and provocative expose on unseen women with unseen lives. This is a story of Vietnam you've never heard before.

I was immediately drawn in by the first paragraph in chapter 1 - a young woman making a choice - and the choices she makes continue throughout the whole book, just as they do for all of us during our whole lives.

Though this story revolves around an Iranian woman's choices within the historical time of political and societal upheaval in her country, there are many parallels to others, in other countries, including our own. This particular historical journey takes us through some of the history of nuclear power, weapons and the fight for nuclear disarmament in the 70s-90s, which provides the backdrop to the protagonist's choices within her marriage & mothering, friendships, career goals, wishes and dreams.

I found the book to be a wonderful fusion of love & marriage, family, personal growth, social change, and historical background. I learned more about the Iranian people (and their cooking), the global politics of disarmament, and how both familial and societal expectations are ever present in the choices we make wherever we are in this world.

For me, Half a Cup of Sand and Sky was a magnificent and well-written read!

“The House of Doors” by Tan Twan Eng tells interconnected tales about characters within the same realm. A married couple, Lesley and Robert, allow a famous writer and his assistant to live with them in a time of personal trouble. Secrets about their marriage arise, and drama they did not expect arises. Malaysia serves as the backdrop.

What was going on in China at the time significantly affected the day-to-day life of this young family. Gender politics are the main struggle when Lesley’s closest female friend shockingly murders her alleged attempted rapist, and everyone assumes her guilt prematurely. Out of context, the comments to women would especially shock and anger you.

You will need some knowledge about Chinese revolutionaries in the early 20th century, but nothing that a few fiction books could not provide. This requires the backstories of all present, including writer Willie and his assistant Gerald. They placed a particular interest in revolutionary Dr. Sun Yat Sen, and his story will cure Willie’s writer’s block and search for something new. Adultery shows double standards despite widespread bigamy.

Following along is easy since the storytelling has fewer characters than usual but more plot lines. I wanted to stay in the book, and this only increased as the story progressed. I received a cultural knowledge of “angmoh” (white people) living in Malaysia and China that I would not have known otherwise. Lesley questioned traditions that others would not.

The engaging novel's themes echo throughout each character arc: homosexuality, gender equality in marriages, and the Chinese revolutionaries in the 1920s. All historical fiction worth its salt shares this. These novels exist to remind us how little we know about Chinese history and why so many of these stories exist. My favorites from the past two years have been by Asian authors.

Meissner’s searing chronicle of the lives of Rosie and Helen is the most enlightening I have read since reading “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” when I was fifteen years old. I am now seventy-five. I learned three new words within the first few chapters: Eugenics, Salpingectomy and Synesthesia. It is also the first time I have ever read the “Acknowledgements” section at the end of any book and was astonished at its revelations. Fellow readers, this one is hard to put down and the kernels of truth informing its plot and characters harder to dismiss when you finally turn the reading lamp off at bedtime. As Meissner reminds us, "Let us not forget our past, lest we repeat it."