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Reviews by Lee M. (Creve Coeur, MO)

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How to Find Your Way Home
by Katy Regan

A Different Love (10/10/2021)

Emily has a nice apartment, a good job, and her pick of well mannered young men and life is good but she has spent several years trying to find her brother Stephen. After he'd spent four years in prison, he never returned home and has been drifting along living with the …more

Beasts of a Little Land: A Novel
by Juhea Kim

A Girl Named Jade (8/15/2021)

Knowing so very little of the history of Korea this was an extremely difficult book to really immerse myself into as so many gaps, for me, existed. It's a historical saga that extends from 1917 to 1965 and portrays many unforgettable characters. Mostly they revolve around a …more

Daughters of Smoke and Fire: A Novel
by Ava Homa

Unknown Kurds (8/12/2021)

A moving and heart breaking tribute to all the Kurds still living, or trying to live, a normal life in Iran. Leila Saman was born Kurdish but she always felt guilty and insecure about her background. She knew she could speak Kurdish at home but but it was forbidden to speak …more

When Broadway Was Black: The Triumphant Story of the All-Black Musical that Changed the World (aka Footnotes)
by Caseen Gaines

Bright Lights (3/30/2021)

Great care and attention to detail has gone into this compilation of a defining part of Broadway. Many people think Hamilton was one of the first all Black forays, or at least one of the most important, which tends to nullify the other serious contributions that paved the …more

The Fortunate Ones
by Ed Tarkington

My Charmed Life (10/22/2020)

Charlie Boykin has graduated from eight grade and he and his friend Terrance are looking forward to high school. He lives in East Nashville with his mother and aunt and he will be attending as a white in a mostly black school again but thinks high school might be different. …more

The Patron Saint of Pregnant Girls: A Novel
by Ursula Hegi

We have Sleepy Hollow (4/30/2020)

Many, many eons ago, according to the Old Women of Strand, a humongous wave of the Nordsee came and totally buried the neighboring town of Runholdt. Ms Hegi uses this legend as she carefully creates a lyrical and beautiful impressionistic tale of the present town of Strand. …more

The Yellow Bird Sings: A Novel
by Jennifer Rosner

Magic (11/22/2019)

Another book about WWII, but this one is a melodic offering to all the lost souls anywhere on earth or even beyond. The music that Ms Rosner writes about just sings off the page into your heart and carries pain, sorrow, family love but most of all hope. This book is that great!

The Seine: The River that Made Paris
by Elaine Sciolino

More than a River (9/30/2019)

From Source-Seine in underground springs, seven to fifteen permanent sources, the Seine begins its journey to the sea. Most people think of the Seine and Paris as one, but as the author discovered and we learn the Seine is so much much more from the legend of the Gallo- …more

Yale Needs Women: How the First Group of Girls Rewrote the Rules of an Ivy League Giant
by Anne Gardiner Perkins

We Have Just Begun (7/4/2019)

This book tells the story of what happens when an all-male institution suddenly goes coed. Ms Perkins set up camp at Yale Manuscripts and Archives, and also interviewed 51 women and men to compile what happened at Yale from 1969 through 1972. Noteworthy is that the Equal …more

A People's History of Heaven
by Mathangi Subramanian

A Mighty Race (2/11/2019)

Snippets of unconditional love between five girls. Well written, some irony and descriptions of real poverty. Somehow I expected more. I guess I expected to be fired up and looking for ways to help these brave women, and yet I was just quietly and smartly proud of my race. …more

The Kinship of Secrets
by Eugenia Kim

What Comprises a Family (10/1/2018)

Ms. Kim probes the depths of tradition, honor, respect, and love. Taking an incident that she knows personally she weaves a heart-rending story of a family separated by time, war and continents. Do they endure, will they reunite, and is honesty about the past the best …more

So Much Life Left Over
by Louis de Bernieres

Without War (7/6/2018)

How great to find a wonderful, new to me, author to enjoy. Such crisp unexpected humor meshes into the story of the lives of a group of friends, all survivors of The Great War. The author covers a unique time period, 1918 to the 1940's and the after effect the war has on …more

Motherhood
by Sheila Heti

Career Advice (2/2/2018)

To say this book is different just does not cover it. It's a select compendium of many of the pros and cons of a private but important decision facing our female executive leaders of the 21st century. Very well written and covering some territory not previously discussed or …more

The Milk Lady of Bangalore: An Unexpected Adventure
by Shoba Narayan

Do Cows Smile (12/5/2017)

The price of milk, the price of cows, the price of friendship, all are superbly explored in this book. Some basis in fact, I believe, the narrative is enlivened by Ms. Nayaran's mischievous sense of humor. Her research regarding the customs and traditions about cows, …more

Mothers of Sparta: A Memoir in Pieces
by Dawn Davies

Also included... (9/19/2017)

Two books written as one. Fine author with a nack for neat descriptions and a flair for humor. The chapters do not follow in chronological order but are snippets from a full life, be it single, as a single mother or as a family. Some sections I heartily recommend but I have …more

The Twelve-Mile Straight: A Novel
by Eleanor Henderson

Such Shame (4/20/2017)

I don't know where to start, I loved this book SO MUCH! How Ms. Henderson got into the mind of so many people and wrote this astounds me! She made me feel I was just beside her in this tale of poverty, prejudice, hate and just plain evil. Mixed ancestry incest rounds out …more

Tell Me How This Ends Well
by David Samuel Levinson

Passover (2/22/2017)

Its 2022 and a family gathers for Passover. And the hilarity begins. All the serious, earth shattering, jaw-dropping troubles that can happen to each individual does happen and somehow Mr. Levinson makes it all funny, enjoyable and OH 'something like that happened in our …more

The Typewriter's Tale
by Michiel Heyns

Off the Mark (1/4/2017)

Right at the beginning I sensed this book and I would have problems. In my opinion an author does not have to write long loopy sentences and use obscure words to write an interesting Book. I am not inclined to enjoy reading Henry James' books,. Mr. Heyns did not change my …more

Caught in the Revolution: Petrograd, Russia, 1917 - A World on the Edge
by Helen Rappaport

The Other Side (10/28/2016)

I finished this book last night and I'm still speechless. We have all read about the Russian Revolution of 1917, but not this way, from the non Russian observers. And you are not reading, your are there! Ms. Rappaport started collecting eyewitness and written accounts of …more

Karolina's Twins
by Ronald H. Balson

Never Forget (7/9/2016)

Having read Mr. Balson's previous book, "Once We Were Brothers" I spent the first third of the book feeling like deja vu. Older person goes to Lawyer, and Detective to find information on a person and/or story that occurred during the Holocaust. His very repetitive …more

BookBrowse Book Club

The Jackal's Mistress
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From the New York Times bestselling author of Hour of the Witch, a Civil War love story of a Confederate wife and a wounded Yankee.

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Dream Count
by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

A searing new novel from the bestselling author of Americanah and We Should All Be Feminists, exploring four women's desires.

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