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Reviews by Gwendolyn D. (Houston, TX)

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With or Without You: A Memoir
by Domenica Ruta
Good but not what I expected (12/14/2012)
I was originally attracted to this book by its title. Having grown up on U2, this title evoked a certain sentimental yearning that I associate with the U2 song of the same title. Needless to say, the book is nothing like the song. This is a tough-to-read memoir that tellsmore
The Forgetting Tree: A Novel
by Tatjana Soli
Lyrical family epic (9/12/2012)
I really enjoyed reading about this farming family, particularly the strong matriarch. The first part of the novel was entertaining and heartbreaking. The last third of the book takes a dark turn that I wasn't expecting. Overall, I enjoyed the experience, but the last thirdmore
Niceville: A Novel
by Carsten Stroud
Entertaining (5/17/2012)
This supernatural suspense novel has something for everyone. There are so many characters and different plots and subplots, that everyone will find something interesting in here (even if you might be bored by some of the novel's elements). I really enjoyed the Southernmore
The Memory of All That: George Gershwin, Kay Swift, and My Family's Legacy of Infidelities
by Katharine Weber
An entertaining family memoir (6/29/2011)
I really enjoyed this family memoir. I picked up the book because of it's content on George Gershwin, one of my favorite musicians. I was thrilled to find that the book covers so many more interesting people than just Gershwin. There's Kay Swift, who was Gershwin's lovermore
Outlander
by Diana Gabaldon
Even literary snobs will love this! (3/10/2011)
I admit to being somewhat of a literary snob. My shelves are lined with the likes of Philip Roth, Joyce Carol Oates, and Ian McEwan. I generally avoid historical fiction, and I’ve never enjoyed romance or fantasy. So why do I love Outlander so much? I’m not exactly sure,more
The Philosophical Breakfast Club: Four Remarkable Friends Who Transformed Science and Changed the World
by Laura J. Snyder
An engaging history of modern science (1/13/2011)
The Philosophical Breakfast Club is a comprehensive history of the beginnings of modern science told from the alternating perspectives of four Cambridge students. In the early 1800s, William Whewell, Charles Babbage, John Herschel, and Richard Jones met at Cambridge andmore
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
by Amy Chua
Raising Children the Chinese Way (11/3/2010)
This book is Amy Chua's story about raising her daughters "the Chinese way." Chua explains how she was relentlessly strict with her daughters in order to get them to excel at school and music. She contrasts her method with "the Western way" of raising children. Thismore
The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives: A Novel
by Lola Shoneyin
Entertaining and thought-provoking (6/16/2010)
Baba Segi, a Nigerian businessman, has just added a fourth wife to his family. The new addition awakens jealousies and conflicts among Baba Segi’s other wives. The story is mostly told via the alternating perspectives of each of the four wives. Some might find thismore
The Swimming Pool
by Holly LeCraw
Difficult to Put Down (3/8/2010)
'The Swimming Pool' is a tragic family drama. So many horrible things happen to Marcella, the protagonist of this debut novel, that it’s amazing she is able to function. Her marriage is lost, her lover dies unexpectedly, her child is sent away, and that’s just to start.more
The Secret of Everything
by Barbara O'Neal
Self Discovery with a Dash of Romance (10/31/2009)
Grappling with the guilt of a recent hiking catastrophe, adventure tour leader Tessa Harlow heads to the fictional town of Los Ladrones, New Mexico to research a possible future tour. While in Los Ladrones, deeply buried memories surface, and Tessa must come to terms withmore
Sweeping Up Glass
by Carolyn Wall
A compelling protagonist but a flawed plot (8/10/2009)
In the backwoods of Kentucky, Olivia Harker Cross struggles to raise her grandson while living with her cantankerous mother and maintaining the family grocery business. Everything’s fine in this unconventional family until poachers start killing the Alaskan silver wolvesmore
Some of the Dead Are Still Breathing: Living in the Future
by Charles Bowden
An ecologically sensitive Hunter S. Thompson (2/8/2009)
This is a collection of journalistic musings about the troubled state of the world and humanity's (mainly negative) impact on it. Bowden is a study in contraries. He lives in the world of drugs, whores, crime, and seedy motel rooms, but at the same time, he carefullymore
The Toss of a Lemon
by Padma Viswanathan
A novel to get lost in if you have the time (8/18/2008)
The Toss of a Lemon is a 600+ page epic about three generations of an Indian family, covering the years 1896 to 1958. The matriarch of the family, a Brahmin widow, scrupulously adheres to the dictates of her caste and rarely leaves the confines of her household. In contrastmore
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society
by Mary Ann Shaffer, Annie Barrows
Lacking Substance (7/27/2008)
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a lighthearted epistolary novel about an author who travels to Guernsey, a British island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy. The protagonist, Juliet Ashton, is a writer with a warm personality and anmore
A Case of Exploding Mangoes
by Mohammed Hanif
Not to be missed! (4/3/2008)
This whirlwind of a book follows Junior Officer Ali Shigri of the Pakistan Air Force as he entangles himself in the complicated world of national politics. A host of colorful characters all seem to be working against each other, seeking revenge, glory, power, and sometimesmore
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