BookBrowse | Book Reviews and Recommendations

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

An important chapter in education history (7/16/2019)

The pioneering cohorts of women at Yale in the early 1970s confronted many obstacles. The artificial quotas intended to make sure that Yale could continue to graduate its "one thousand male leaders" each year meant that women had to be at least twice as good as the men to even be considered for admission. And once they got there, they faced issues that their male fellow students didn't have to face, including safety concerns and sexual harassment (a phrase that didn't even exist at the time). This is an important book about an important chapter in education history. And Perkins has managed to make it an interesting story, too.

More News Tomorrow: A Novel
by Susan Richards Shreve

Enriching ambiguity (4/22/2019)

Usually when you have a narrative structure that alternates between the present and the past, you expect the parts in the past to answer all the questions. Shreve decided not to do that in this case. At first I was disappointed, but on further reflection, I decided that it actually enriched the book to leave what actually happened in the past ambiguous.

The Last Romantics
by Tara Conklin

The Last Romantic (12/15/2018)

I enjoyed that depiction of the relationships between the siblings - how they came together as children to get themselves through "the pause" and how their relationships fell apart later. But I didn't think that the big reveal that Fiona built up to as she was telling the story really paid off. I also a nit to pick about the use of historical details to set the time. She says that their father's funeral was in March 1981 and that Jimmy Carter was president. Reagan was inaugurated in January 1981. That detail has absolutely no bearing on the plot, but if you're going to include a historical detail, please get it right. I saw no evidence that it was meant to show that Fiona's memory was failing. Overall, I liked Tara Conklin's first book, The House Girl, much better.

Eternal Life
by Dara Horn

Making Eternal Life worth it (11/8/2017)

I loved this book. I've read most of Dara Horn's novels, and this one ranks near the top for me. To buy into the idea that somebody can trade their death in a vow to God, and thus live forever, you have to do some serious suspension of disbelief. But once you do that, the struggles that Rachel faces ring true. If you live forever, you have to repeatedly watch people you love die. And you have to leave people behind when they get too close to your secret. But every time she begins again, Rachel finds ways to make her life that doesn't end worth living. The lessons she learns could help us all.

The Stars Are Fire
by Anita Shreve

Disappointed (3/14/2017)

I've read most, maybe even all, of Anita Shreve's previous books, so I really wanted to like this more than I did. I had trouble getting into the story, but the pace picked up some after the fire. I enjoyed the story well enough, but the extremely short sections, many only one paragraph long, within each chapter made the narrative feel very jerky. I was glad whenever I saw a slightly more extended scene with dialogue. The book jacket described the book as suspenseful, but I didn't really feel the suspense at all. Shreve has a long-enough track record of books I enjoyed that I will still be willing to give her chance in the future, but I don't think this ranks with her better books.

Circling the Sun: A Novel
by Paula McLain

A different angle on Out of Africa (5/9/2015)

I'm embarrassed to admit that I had never heard of Beryl Markham before I read this book. She made some bad choices along the way, but what a strong woman. The thing that she ultimately became famous for is only a minor part of this book. Instead, the story that McLain tells could be considered the origin story of Beryl Markham the aviator. The descriptions of Africa and the colonists of the early 20th century are vivid. My main complaint is that the book drags in a couple of places, but never enough to make me want to stop reading. I didn't actually enjoy the book Out of Africa, but it's nice to read about the same characters from another perspective.

The Hollow Ground: A Novel
by Natalie S. Harnett

Less than I hoped for (4/4/2014)

I was interested to read a book set against the backdrop of the Centralia mine fires. But this book turned out to be less than I hoped for. I found it distracting to set the story in the context of a real historical event and then make up place names for it. In terms of the story itself, I felt no real connection to the characters. The only one that I felt came close to being fleshed out was the narrator. And her story was so overly melodramatic that I found myself thinking what more could possibly happen to this kid.

Glitter and Glue: A Memoir
by Kelly Corrigan

Touching story of a woman's relationship with her mother (12/11/2013)

Many of us worry about turning into our mothers, but maybe that's not such a bad thing. It was only as a nanny and then as a mother herself that Corrigan came to understand the many ways in which her mother had been the glue that held her family together. This memoir of how the author's relationship with her mother has changed over the years is deeply touching. I defy anyone to read the last two pages (before the epilogue) and not get a little misty eyed.

Songs of Willow Frost
by Jamie Ford

Songs of Willow Frost (7/10/2013)

I read and enjoyed Jamie Ford's first novel, The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet, so I was set to enjoy his second one as well. He did not disappoint. He drew me into the world of immigrant and native-born Chinese Americans in the 1920s and 1930s. I found myself getting angry at and for characters. When events unfolded in ways that went against my modern sensibilities, I had to remind myself that things were a lot different then, especially for women. And if you were a Chinese woman... Ford does a great job of evoking the boom times of the 20s and the early days of the Depression. I defy folks who read this book to not be moved.

Children of the Jacaranda Tree
by Sahar Delijani

Children of the Jacaranda Tree (2/20/2013)

This book follows two generations of Iranians--those who were young adults at the time of the revolution and their children. The book bounces around in time, and the best developed chapters are those set in the prisons during the parents' generation. While I was glad to get to read about a bit of modern history from an unfamiliar perspective, I found that there were just too many characters to keep straight. I wanted to construct a family tree so that I could keep straight which parents went with with children, but I'm not sure that would have helped. There seemed to be very little narrative arc carrying the book forward. Instead, the chapters seemed very disconnected. Most confusingly, the author kept introducing major characters right up to the end. I was disappointed in a book that I had great hopes for. I think I would have liked it more had it been written as a set of loosely connected short stories.

Calling Me Home
by Julie Kibler

Shining a light on a sad side of history (12/4/2012)

There weren't many surprises in this book; I could see most of the developments coming from a mile away. But I was OK with that, because I really cared about what happened to these characters. This is a book that deserves to be read, especially with regards to U.S. history of "sundown towns." And if you want to know more about this unfortunate side of our history, I suggest you follow this book with James Loewen's non-fiction "Sundown Towns."

How to Love Wine: A Memoir and Manifesto
by Eric Asimov

Turning wine into an emotional experience (9/6/2012)

Eric Asimov is trying to save the world from the tyranny of tasting notes, wine scores, and blind tastings. While there's nothing intrinsically bad about them, he just finds that the information gleaned from them is unhelpful. In fact, he finds that by suggesting that there is a "right answer" to wine, these common practices of the wine community take wine out of context and serve primarily to spark anxiety in people who fear that they don't know enough to understand or appreciate wine. Asimov hopes to convince people that is possible to enjoy and even love wine without being able to pinpoint every last flavor and aroma. He wants it to be an emotional experience, not merely an intellectual one. He weaves this manifesto with the humorous telling of his own journey as a wine lover. If you already love wine, this is a book for you. And if you think that you could love wine if you only knew enough, this book is definitely for you.

The Innocents: A Novel
by Francesca Segal

OK but not great (5/17/2012)

I was intrigued by the premise--retelling the story of Age of Innocence in a modern setting. Even though we have such a fascination with scandal, it seemed like it would be a stretch to make such a scenario seem believable in the 21st century, but Francesca Segal seems to have pulled it off. Despite a turn toward melodrama at the end, the situation seems realistic enough. I don't know enough about the London Jewish community to know whether the portrayal is an accurate one. As Adam struggles with his feelings toward his fiancee and her cousin, I wanted to smack him and tell him to get over it. Despite that or maybe even because of it, I found that I didn't really care whom he chose, because I didn't particularly like Rachel or Ellie. The book was a relatively quick read, and it was OK but not great.

Sacre Bleu: A Comedy d'Art
by Christopher Moore

Great fun (2/16/2012)

Christopher Moore has tackled Shakespeare and the Gospels, among other cultural icons. This time he turns his sights on art and the Impressionists, with a specific focus on the color blue. His story mixes the supernatural with real people. It's great fun seeing how he incorporates some of the best-loved artists. You do have to be willing to suspend disbelief, but once you do that, you can't help but have a good time. Even though I loved this book, I'm holding back a point the way I hold back my standing ovations. If given too freely, they mean nothing. Moore's books are clever, but I doubt anybody would mistake them for great literature.

Arcadia: A Novel
by Lauren Groff

Wanted to know more (12/14/2011)

The only character I felt any connection to was Bit. Perhaps that was intentional, but the other characters ran together for me. Also, the different sections were so disconnected, with no real sense of how the characters got from point A to point B to point C. Again, this might be intentional, given this line: "What they found moving, they told him later, were the blanks between the frames, the leaps that happened invisibly between the then and the now." (This refers to portraits in an art exhibit.) I just couldn't get past the fact that I wanted to know more about what was in those blanks.

The Leftovers: A Novel
by Tom Perrotta

An apocalypse for the rest of us (7/5/2011)

The landscape in Tom Perrotta's book is very different from anything I would describe as "post-apocalyptic". In fact, he could be describing suburban America today. I actually found that to be the strength of the book. He didn't try to deal (at least not much) with the theology of the rapture (or Sudden Departure, as he called it). There is a little bit of folks dismissing what happened as not being the "actual" rapture, because they're convinced that when the time comes, of course they'll be one of the ones to disappear and not be a leftover. But, for the most part, Perrotta just takes that event--whatever it really was--as a given. He doesn't really try to explain it. And that's good, because any explanation would fall flat. It's already in the past, and his characters are grappling with the question of how do you go on when so many loved ones have just vanished but everything else is the same as it ever was.

The Sweetness of Tears: A Novel
by Nafisa Haji

Realistic struggles with faith and doubt (3/7/2011)

I enjoyed reading this take on the many ways that religion affects our lives and the ways we often struggle with faith and doubt. My one complaint is that there were too many narrators. I had trouble keeping the different voices separate.

The Philosophical Breakfast Club: Four Remarkable Friends Who Transformed Science and Changed the World
by Laura J. Snyder

Slow read, but worth it (1/4/2011)

The writing style tended to be more academic than your typical popular book, so it was occasionally slow going. The author tends to go off on tangents that, although they come back around to her four protagonists, could probably be deleted without hurting the book. Despite these minor flaws, I enjoyed reading this book about a part of the history of science that I know very little. I'm glad that I pushed through to the end.

The Blind Contessa's New Machine: A Novel
by Carey Wallace

I wanted it to be better (6/2/2010)

This book was a fast read, but it didn’t grab me. Carolina Fantoni, the contessa of the title, was the only character who seemed particularly fleshed out. The characters are based on historical figures, so perhaps Wallace had less to work with for the characters of Pietro (the husband) and Turri (the friend and inventor of an early typewriter). I did enjoy Wallace’s description of Carolina’s experience as she was going blind. This wasn’t a bad book, but I wanted it to be better.

Romancing Miss Bronte: A Novel
by Juliet Gael

Getting to know Charlotte Bronte (2/18/2010)

Jane Eyre has been my favorite book since I was in fourth grade, so it was with pleasure that I read this fictionalized account of the life of Charlotte Bronte. I don't know enough about the details of Bronte's life to comment on the historical accuracy of Gael's depiction, but I do know that she breathed life in Bronte in ways that would never be possible with a biography. Charlotte is fully developed as a character and I came away with the feeling that I really knew her.

Reviews by Celia A. (Takoma Park, MD)

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