Right within the first 20-30 pages the reader will be drawn irresistibly into an ever-changing orchard of characters from differing backgrounds and cultures facing inexorable desires, devastating losses and dark fears. So many stories within stories. . . Tatiana Soli’s rich writing style never lets go. Read it and let your mind explore Claire and Forster Baumsarg’s challenges and transformations and, then sometimes, even one’s own.
Tatjana Soli will be visiting our local library early next year and I very much look forward to meeting her and hearing her discuss this work as well as her first novel, The Lotus Eaters. I am still torn between choosing that or The Forgetting Tree as a future reading selection for our book discussion group.

I very much enjoyed Rosamund Lupton’s first novel Sister which came out last year – a literary thriller which hooked me immediately. So I was expecting great things from her second novel! Afterwards’ paranormal exploration of a mother and daughter, both hospitalized and comatose, invisibly witnessing their friends, family, and police through out-of-body experiences during their attempts to find out who set the school fire was riveting once one commits to that suspension of belief. But the novel was excessive in length and the mother’s constant introspection was a bit too saccharine for my taste. It’s a good thing that the surprise twist in the ending redeemed the time spent slogging through some of the earlier parts!

My final sum up on this debut novel of Amber Dermont: Her ability to write extremely well is unmarred. Her very deft play with language in many of her sailing and racing descriptions -wonderful. But her portrayal of the main character, Jason Prosper, became so convoluted, forever twisting through layers of sexual ambiguity, intense grief, teen camaraderie suffused with competition, and exuberant privilege-drenched egoism, I never took any serious interest in Jason Prosper or his world. That all said, I would still be interested in a second novel by this author, hopefully in a different time, a different place, with engaging characters and definitely a more focused story.

After reading the prologue and being quite taken by the both language and the images, I could almost touch the rugged Australian coast, so close and so vivid in Scott’s words. I was expecting to like this novel very much. And parts of the book brought nineteenth century Western Australia with the first contact between the Aboriginal Noongar and European settlers terrifically to life. But Bobby Wabalanginy’s ongoing story simply did not grab hold of my attention, not enough to carry me through the whole book. But I definitely felt the power and the beauty of Scott's writing and I think that will tempt me to reread this novel at a later time. And perhaps as a reader I must take some of the blame for missed connections with this novel.

The Night Circus brought me completely back to long-gone childhood days: settling in the big chair with a pile of books borrowed from the library, picking up one, curling up and completely losing myself into a wondrous faraway place populated with intense and captivating characters – ones that I might want to hang around with forever, and a story that leaves the everyday reality lost in dense fog. And continuing to read on and on, ignoring those annoying "come to the dinner" call outs or that mandatory "lights out, go to bed" order. An amazing first novel – and it better not be the last one from Erin Morgenstern!

I first read this novel over a month ago, and then also read another half dozen books and so unfortunately lost track of the finer points. So I've just re-read it - and I am very glad I did. Some books are simply born to be re-read, and then probably read again!

Very much in the way Melvin thought of Flannery O'Connor, this novel strategically rubbed the facade of the many social pretenses right off everyday small town social interactions. The novel was intriguing, with moments of brilliance, and lead the reader to look very closely at the things that really matter between the people in our lives!

High recommended - for both personal reading and for book group discussions.

About a month before I started A Cup of Friendship, I read Deborah Rodriguez’ earlier memoir, Kabul Beauty School. I remember enjoying the first half, but struggling to maintain interest throughout the rest of the book. I believe Deborah Rodriguez was able to achieve far more with her novel Cup of Friendship than she was with her earlier memoir. From her debut fiction all of the Afghan characters, the American characters, the cultures, the extreme gulfs between the cultures, the dangers, the challenges, and the hopes all coalesced into a very compelling and very readable novel drawing the reader far closer to Afghanistan than newspaper stories, media glimpses or certainly, even Ms. Rodriguez’s factual memoir.

Wow - Juliet is one of those amazing debut novels you will be so glad you that did not pass up! This quest-filled historical romance has a shining combination of magic, mystery and romance all told with scintillating humor and contemporary zing!

This is a very hard book to put down once you start reading and I liked it far better than Barry’s first book, The Lace Reader. Perhaps because for me the magical realism within The Map of True Places carried a bit more realism than fantasy. Zee Finch, with her funny name and motherless childhood kept my interest at speed as she searched to find her own way through her past, the present and finally centering on what she wanted to aim for in the future.

The complex characters, the atmospheric foray into Salem’s historical past and Zee's father's developing struggle with the onslaught of Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s all added to the complexities of life that kept shining throughout this novel.

Up until now I haven’t read any of Carol Goodman’s novels, and have always wanted to because of reviews and praise heaped on her earlier works. I certainly began reading Arcadia Falls with a strong anticipation for an intriguing mix of magic and mystery with complicated fairy tale undertones. However, before even getting a third of the way through, my reading was definitely dragging. Meg Rosenthal and her daughter Sally couldn’t seem to shake themselves out of predictable interactions and behavior which was better suited to a young adult novel. And the Arcadia School staff members were both underdressed and undercut in vague strangeness. The tale did recapture my interest when it became more immersed in the original founders of the school. I think if they had become the story unto itself, the book would have been overall more successful.

But this hasn’t deterred me from wanting to read some of her other works – Goodman is definitely a talented writer.