BookBrowse | Book Reviews and Recommendations

Juliet's Nurse
by Lois Leveen

interesting and fairly well-written (7/14/2014)

This was not a mind-blowingly amazing read, but neither was it bad. I found it interesting, enjoyable, and fairly well-written. The main character was mostly sympathetic, other than possessing what seemed to be a huge blind spot concerning how her charge felt about her. Perhaps that was intended, but it made for some uncomfortable reading moments. If you like Romeo and Juliet, or are interested in historical fiction or 1400's Veronese culture, this is certainly worth your time.

Mating for Life
by Marissa Stapley

great beginning, disappointing by the end (3/12/2014)

This was not at all a bad read, but it didn't live up to the promise of the first part. I found it touching and realistic until somewhere around the last third, at which point many new, less believable characters entered the picture, the action felt far more rushed, and the ending especially felt somewhat forced and trite. It was worth reading for me as I related to one of the characters in a way that is rare for

I Am Livia
by Phyllis T. Smith

Interesting, if you like ancient times (1/9/2014)

I love reading about ancient times, have a special fascination with ancient Rome, and like reading women's stories (especially in societies where inequality is so much worse than our own), so I was predisposed to like this book.

I found the writing to be serviceable, of the fairly prosaic "here's what happened next" variety, but as what happened to the narrator in her long life was fascinating to me, I didn't need breathtaking writing.

I refused to look up the actual historical person this is based on until after I finished, and I'm glad I did, as this is a different take on her that I found refreshing in retrospect.

Safe with Me
by Amy Hatvany

much better than expected (11/9/2013)

I had relatively low expectations for this book and was very pleasantly surprised to find myself liking it a great deal. I found it to be well-written and the characters interesting, engaging and, most of all, believable.

The subject matter is intense but dealt with realistically and sensitively. I certainly didn't expect to cry so often while reading, and since I usually don't go for tearjerkers, I never thought I would like the book as much as I did. Recommended, even for the skeptical.

The Disenchanted Widow
by Christina McKenna

I wanted to like it much more than I did (9/12/2013)

I found much of the plot hackneyed and contrived, and most of the characters very unappealing, in that they want everyone to treat them well but treat others appallingly most of the time. The two main characters don't meet until fairly far into the book, which added to the unbelievability of the ending in particular. I also guessed the big final plot twist about 30 pages in, which was disappointing. I enjoy learning about other cultures in my reading, but I found myself hoping that much of what I took to be insights into Irish culture in this book was in fact sarcasm, or a poor representation, as I found it so unappealing. My guess is many would find this story heartwarming, but I didn't.

Walk Me Home
by Catherine Ryan Hyde

occasionally interesting; not great (4/25/2013)

This was a somewhat interesting, but not great, read. I didn't care for the main character, finding her choices baffling and the basic premise (an 11 year old and a 16 year old walking hundreds of miles through the desert Southwest) unbelievable. The ending felt contrived, predictable, and too moralistic for my taste. There were some interesting scenes from the journey and their time on a Native American reservation, but overall there isn't much for me to recommend.

Golden Boy
by Abigail Tarttelin

Moving, maybe too heartbreaking? (1/21/2013)

I found this book well-written and thought-provoking, but also painfully, often needlessly, heart-wrenching. If you are interested in gender issues you should certainly check it out, but know that the story is driven by intense drama resulting from secret-keeping; secrets I think shouldn't have been kept. The issues involved are compelling enough that had the characters told the truth about themselves and the situations they found themselves in, how they dealt with it would still have made a fantastic story, but one far less agonizing. I assume the author wanted the reader to understand how intense and difficult these issues can be, but the secrecy element severely diluted the impact for me. Despite this, I think it is quite worth reading.

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

Interesting – to the right crowd – but repetitive (9/28/2012)

In general I think only wine enthusiasts will appreciate this book. I found it interesting because I like wine and went through a phase of learning more about it several years ago, but those with only a casual interest may find it drops too many names and technical terms to enjoy.

The author's main message is that it is totally fine to simply enjoy wine-- without being snobby about it or having to understand or appreciate arcane tasting notes. It's a good message, but was repeated far too often. If you like wine and can skim, you may enjoy this book.

The Age of Miracles: A Novel
by Karen Thompson Walker

If you read SF you may be disappointed... (6/9/2012)

I so wanted to love this book! I read a lot of science fiction, and post-apocalyptic stories are some of my favorites (yes, weird, I know). But this book just didn't hit the mark for me-- I found the characters flat, the relationships less than believable, and the basic premise implausible enough to distract me from the story itself. In it's favor, the author gets the feel of California really well, and the ending was great.

The Land of Decoration: A Novel
by Grace McCleen

not what I expected (3/30/2012)

I didn’t like this as much as I’d hoped I would, but it’s entirely my own fault. For some reason I thought this was going to be a post-apocalyptic tale, which is one of my favorite kinds of stories. But (by my lights at least) living in a grey, downtrodden factory town in England and looking forward to the Biblical Apocalypse doesn’t count as being in that genre. So I kept waiting for the world to end, but spoiler alert! it didn’t.

Once I realized the book wasn’t what I’d thought it would be, I noted that the writing and characterization were very good, I just didn’t find myself very interested in the character’s dilemmas. If you go in expecting a heartrending portrayal of a young girl from an extreme religious background experiencing loss and trauma, you’ll be fine. If you go in expecting a dystopic slightly-future tale, you might be disappointed.

Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity
by Katherine Boo

heartbreaking, well written, memorable (1/23/2012)

As many others have noted, this is not an easy book to read. As I sit in my comfy house and type on my personal computer, just knowing that I experience a level of safety and security that is literally impossible to imagine for the people in this non-fiction narrative is both mind-stretching and heartbreaking. This glimpse into a few of the “little lives” impacted by the terrible inequalities that exist in the world is painful, eye-opening, and well worth a read by anyone who cares to know how others experience the world.

Wayward Saints
by Suzzy Roche

wish I liked it more (11/15/2011)

I wanted to like this book so much more than I did. The writer’s voice is interesting, but uneven in ways that don't seem to be stylistic choices: the language is sometimes formal, almost stilted, and other times gut-punchingly in-your-face. Although a few characters were memorable in themselves, I found most of their actions to be inexplicable, and struggled to feel much sympathy for them. As a first outing it’s worth a read if you really like the Roches and want some insight into the mind of Suzzy, or to learn about some people who are most likely not like you or anyone you know. I do hope she writes a second novel for adults.

Falling Together: A Novel
by Marisa De Los Santos

why do i like it so? (9/5/2011)

I haven't been able to articulate exactly why I loved this book... Is it something in me that longs for the intense kind of friendship it describes? Is it the characters, so well-drawn that I feel I know them, and love them even when they do or say what seem to me to be stupid, unkind, or senseless things? Or the interesting mix of mystery, friendship tale, and love story? I'm still uncertain, but if you're intrigued by the idea of a character-based book about love, loss, friendship, and how relationships change with time, give Falling Together a try. I think you'll be glad you did.

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

Interesting times, confusing timeline (1/12/2011)

Obviously a lot of research went into this book, and much of the history was fascinating, but overall the book wasn't cohesive or interesting enough for my taste. A full list of characters and their relationships would have been helpful (all the wives and daughters and college friends got confusing after the first few chapters), as well as a detailed timeline of wider culture events and important dates in the main characters' lives.

Had this been written in chronological order rather than thematically, I might have been able to read it more easily and thus like it more, but the amount of skipping back and forth between time periods didn't work for me. More than once an event was recounted and I found myself scratching my head ("Isn't he already dead?"), and then realized that we'd gone back a number of decades and I hadn't processed the dates correctly.

If you can manage to keep a lot of dates clear in your head the book might work better for you, and if you are at all interested in the history of science and/or England in the mid to late 1800's, I think it is worth reading.

The Beauty of Humanity Movement: A Novel
by Camilla Gibb

Vivid, compelling, recommended (12/1/2010)

I found this a compelling, very well-written book that touches on many issues and ideas: Vietnam and Vietnamese history, culture and society; family; art and politics; how cultures and traditions shift in the face of history; “outsider” perspectives on America and Americans; food and cooking; and love and relationships. I've been to Hanoi, where the book takes place, once, for only a single week, but found her descriptions so accurate that I assumed her cultural and historical perceptions must be as well. Highly recommended.

The Lost and Forgotten Languages of Shanghai: A Novel
by Ruiyan Xu

some goodness, ultimately disappointing (10/18/2010)

Other than some well-turned phrases and compelling images, I found this novel disappointing. The characters seemed unsympathetic, their actions and words weren't believable, and I didn't feel the deep sense of another culture and locale that can redeem similar otherwise faulty books for me. Throughout I kept hoping that something would click, that it would start to feel more coherent, satisfying or meaningful, but it never did. Because I did enjoy some of the language I would give this author's second novel a try, but I would be hard-pressed to recommend this one.

After the Fall
by Kylie Ladd

written in an interesting way (6/14/2010)

Despite my general lack of interest in the subject (a passionate extramarital affair) I found After the Fall to be a compelling and interesting read. The plot unfolds via first-person accounts from each of the major players, progressively revealing the characters and their perspectives along with the story. How Ladd accomplishes this was the most interesting part of the book for me, though I also enjoyed the details that tie the work distinctly to its Australian setting. Overall I felt as if I had an onstage seat at a too-intimate play about adultery and betrayal.

The Swimming Pool
by Holly LeCraw

good writing, but not my cup of tea (2/25/2010)

On the positive side, I think The Swimming Pool is a very well-written novel, and I found it interesting enough to keep reading to the end. On the less-positive side, I finished the book feeling I should have enjoyed it more. I didn’t care about most of the characters, and couldn’t identify with them or their choices. You might enjoy this book if you enjoy suspense, sexual tension, well-written “spicy bits” (though there aren’t all that many of them), and getting into the heads of characters who are obsessed with their sex-interests and secrets.

The Fifth Servant
by Kenneth Wishnia

Fascinating! (11/11/2009)

I'm not normally a mystery reader, so I chose this due to the setting, namely the Jewish ghetto in Prague in 1592. I enjoy languages and there are plenty in this book-- Yiddish, Hebrew, Czech, German, Polish, sprinkled throughout the text -- but understanding the non-English words is fairly easy, either from context or the very helpful glossary provided. I found the plot compelling, the historical, religious and cultural details fascinating, and the way the story was told intriguing.

What began as a slight frustration became something of a game for me: while reading I found myself wanting to pay extra-close attention to characters and events in (what seemed to be) the background, because I never knew which, if any, might become the focus of the next chapter. Regular mystery readers, or those who read more slowly and/or carefully, might not experience this, and while my fellow quick-and-dirty readers might find it annoying, I found it an engaging challenge.

I found some of the Inquisition details too graphic for my taste, but all in all it was an extremely enjoyable read; highly recommended.

The Elephant Keeper
by Christopher Nicholson

this is a Keeper! (6/12/2009)

I really enjoyed this book. I found the style engaging and consistent with the time frame and location (18th century England). The character of the narrator-cum-hero was interesting, if occasionally perplexing, and the author did a good job of making the keeper’s near-obsession with his elephant charges seem utterly reasonable.

Readers interested in the setting, animals in general, or elephants in particular, should enjoy this one. I read it the same week I read Sara Gruen's Water for Elephant, and I think anyone who liked Water would also want to read Keeper.

Reviews by Susan B. (Rutledge, MO)

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Reviews by Susan B. (Rutledge, MO)

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