-
Get a Free Issue
of our Ezine!
At BookBrowse we get asked a lot of book-related questions. While we can provide our own answers we've found it's often much more useful to turn the question over to our Facebook followers to get a broad range of opinions. Here is their advice for addressing a common but knotty book club problem:
Q. Our Book Club started about 4 years ago. We have 15 members of whom 12 attend regularly. New people have shown an interest in joining and there have been discussions about closing our membership but not all agree. How do we politely turn new members away and is it necessary?
If you're looking for a romantic novel for Valentine's Day (or any other day of the year for that matter) here are four excellent choices. But a word of warning - if you're after gushy regency romances, bare chested cowboys, or the latest 50 Shades knock off, you might as well leave now, as that's just not BookBrowse's thing. Instead here are four thoughtful stories which are long on love, relationships and exceptional writing, and short on heavy breathing. Perfect for gift giving, or buying for yourself!
At BookBrowse, we don't just review books, we go 'beyond the book' to explore interesting aspects relating to each book we feature. Here is a recent "Beyond the Book" feature for The True Tale of the Monster Billy Dean by David Almond:
The True Tale Of The Monster Billy Dean, first published in the UK in 2011 by Penguin's adult imprint, Viking, was reviewed as David Almond's debut for adults, but it was simultaneously released as a young adult novel by Puffin, another Penguin imprint. It is one of a growing number of books that straddles the borderlands of adult, young-adult, and middle-grade fiction while the adult audience for YA and MG literature continues to grow.
The war that began formally in August, 1914 changed the political and geographical map of Europe, the Middle East, and even much of the Far East--and, in broader but very real terms, the Earth itself. In many ways, we are still engaged in this war and the maps are still flowing. Though there was a period of 'entre deux guerres' in the 1920s and early 1930s--a false peace at best--the world has for the most part been on a war-time footing and economy for the past hundred years.
It's important to remember that time, to understand the people who lived through it, and to enter into the dynamics, the reverberations of which are still felt in our own time. These sixteen books, including histories, memoirs and novels, are some of the best from and about that period and give us an opportunity to experience this watershed in human history.
At BookBrowse, we don't just review books, we go 'beyond the book' to explore interesting aspects relating to each book we feature. Here is a recent "Beyond the Book" feature for The Twistrose Key by Tone Almhjell.
The Twistrose Key is full of frozen landscapes inspired by Norwegian winters – sleighs, ice caves, and sled runs, plus a good place to take the chill off with a mug of hot mulled cider. Here is a list of ten other novels for children that will give readers a good dose of frost and snow, either as inspiration for getting through the long winter, or for filling in what Mother Nature lacks in warmer climes.
 (1).gif)